| Kim Kessaris | |
| Fullname: | Kimberly Lynn Kessaris |
| Birth Date: | 27 March 1973 |
| Careerprizemoney: | $41,101 |
| Highestsinglesranking: | No. 124 (July 17, 1989) |
| Australianopenresult: | 3R (1989) |
| Wimbledonresult: | 2R (1989) |
| Usopenresult: | 1R (1989) |
| Highestdoublesranking: | No. 381 (October 24, 1988) |
Kimberly Lynn Kessaris (born March 27, 1973) is a former professional tennis player from the United States.
Kessaris grew up in Hendersonville, North Carolina, the daughter of Jim and Peggy. Her father, a dentist by profession, got her started in tennis when she was five. She attended the local Heritage Hall school.[1]
Considered a tennis prodigy, she was a top ranked junior and trained at Nick Bollettieri's Tennis Academy in Florida.[2]
Kessaris made her WTA Tour debut at Charleston in 1987, just days after her 14th birthday.
In 1988 she was beaten by Steffi Graf in only 32-minutes at a tournament in Mahwah.[3]
At the 1989 Australian Open she defeated Andrea Farley in the girls' singles final to become the first American to win an Australian Open junior title.[4] [5] She also qualified for the main draw of the women's singles and made the third round.
Her best performance on the WTA Tour was a quarter-final appearance at the 1989 Virginia Slims of Houston as a lucky loser and that July she reached her highest ranking of 124 in the world.[6]
Following the 1990 Australian Open she left professional tennis, aged 16.