If ever you wanted to find a player who personified tennis’ global reach, consider Mary Pierce. For more than a decade, the Pierce has lived and coached in Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean. Born in Montreal to a French mother and an American father, Pierce was raised in Florida, eventually competed under the French flag, and reached six Grand Slam singles finals in Australia, Europe and North America – including victories at the 1995 Australian Open and Roland-Garros in 2000.
“I loved the traveling,” said Pierce, who turned pro at the age of 14 and reached Slam singles finals in her teens, 20s and 30s. “I loved visiting different countries and getting to know different cultures.”
But the appreciation Pierce had for the world was likely exceeded by her hearty appetite for competition. As Pierce recently explained, “The more on the line, the more pressure, the more stress, I loved those matches the most.”
The year was 1985. On a typical sticky Florida day, the ten-year-old Mary was on her way home from school with a friend named Rachel, a fine tennis player who that afternoon took Mary to a set of courts in the area. “I didn’t like to sweat,” said Pierce, “so I stayed inside in the air conditioning.” But when one of the players asked Pierce if she’d like to hit a few balls, she thought, why not?
Within an hour, an instructor asked Pierce how long she had been playing.
Today.
No way.
But it was true. Mary Pierce was a complete natural.
Two years after she first picked up a racquet, Pierce was ranked #2 in the country in the USTA girls singles 12-and-under division. By this time, under the supervision of her father and coach, Jim, Mary was on the court every day for at least six hours.
In 1989, at the age of 14, Pierce became the youngest American ever to turn pro. By the end of 1992, she’d earned four WTA singles titles and finished the year ranked 13 in the world.
Having admired such forceful baseliners as Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Andre Agassi and Chris Evert, Pierce too built a strong baseline game, her drives struck hard, flat and deep. Any player up against an in-form Pierce found herself primarily a witness to a blistering salvo of power and precision.
In 1994, at Roland-Garros, the 19-year-old Pierce lit up the clay, dropping just ten games in her first six matches. Most dazzling of all: a 6-2, 6-2 semifinal win over Stefanie Graf. Though Pierce would lose in the finals to Hall of Famer Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario, it was clear she had the goods to be a perennial contender.
It had never been easy being Jim Pierce’s daughter. His coaching style had often been excessively demanding and at times, to the detriment of many, Mary most of all, frequently inappropriate. So it was that in 1994, Mary parted ways with Jim and began to work with such coaches as another Hall of Famer, Nick Bollettieri and, as the 1995 Australian Open got underway, Sven Groeneveld.
In Melbourne that year, Pierce again caught fire. As in Paris, she won six matches without the loss of a set to reach the finals. And once again, the opponent was the plucky Sánchez-Vicario. But this time, Pierce won by a convincing score of 6-3, 6-2 – the first time a French woman had won a major singles title since Hall of Famer Françoise Dürr took the title at Roland-Garros in 1967. Said Pierce, “To be able to do that at 20 years old for me felt in a way early and quick. But at the same time I felt I was ready for it.”
Five years later, as Pierce hungered to win her homeland Slam, she found a new source of strength. In March 2000, Pierce became a Christian, a moment she considers the turning point in her life. “My life, tennis, why I’m playing, how I see people, just everything changed,” said Pierce. Accompanied to Paris by her brother David as a hitting partner, Pierce that year approached Roland-Garros with exceptional tranquility and, aided by David’s crafty, left-handed game, a sharp, rolling topspin forehand.
The results were vivid. Most notable were a pair of three-set wins, Pierce taking out three-time French Open champion Monica Seles in the quarters and world number one Martina Hingis in the semis. On the verge of cramps versus Hingis, Pierce afterwards was immediately rushed to the tournament medical center. She recovered impressively. In the finals, Pierce beat the experienced clay-courter, Conchita Martínez, 6-2, 7-5. Said Pierce, “There are not words to describe what it feels like.” For good measure, she and Hingis also won the doubles.
The next half-decade was difficult for Pierce, her tennis hindered by various injuries. She began 2005 ranked 29 in the world. Over the previous four years, Pierce had only won a single WTA title. But, again accompanied by David, Pierce found renewal at Roland-Garros. Win after win followed, most profoundly in the quarterfinals, when Pierce upset first-seeded Lindsay Davenport. She went on to reach the finals, beaten by Justine Henin. “That 2005 French Open was just so special and so sweet,” said Pierce.
But while some veterans stage a singular comeback tournament, Pierce’s Roland-Garros effort was the launching pad for a resurgence that lasted all year long. At Wimbledon, a run to the quarters and a mixed doubles title with Mahesh Bhupathi. Pierce then closed out the summer with sizzling run at the US Open. In the fourth round, she avenged her Roland-Garros loss to Henin. There followed gritty victories over compatriot Amélie Mauresmo in the quarters and Elena Dementieva in the semis. Alas, in the finals, Pierce again lost to an in-form Belgian; in this case, Kim Clijsters. Happy to have gone so far, Pierce said after that match, “I really just keep playing because I feel like that’s what I should be doing right now with my life.” By the end of 2005, she’d won two singles titles, reached the finals of the WTA season-ending championships and finished the year ranked number five in the world.
Unfortunately, more injuries surfaced for Pierce in 2006. Spring was marred by a right foot injury. There followed right ankle problems, a right adductor strain and then, at a tournament in Linz in October, a ruptured ACL in Pierce’s left knee that would prove to be career-ending. Though she had hoped to make a fourth appearance for the French Olympic team in 2008, Pierce in time recognized the end had come. From teen prodigy to sturdy veteran, Mary Pierce’s career had been long and brilliant.
