Jane O'Donoghue

Jane O'Donoghue (born 29 March 1983) is a retired British tennis player who turned professional in 2000 and played her last match on the pro circuit in 2007. During her career, she won three ITF singles and six ITF doubles titles. In July 2006, she reached a career-high singles ranking of 189, and over one year later, she reached 184 in the world in the doubles rankings. O'Donoghue reached the second round of her Grand Slam, Wimbledon in 2004 and 2005. After retirement, she began working for the LTA as a coach.

Personal life O'Donoghue was born in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in Greater Manchester in 1983. Her father John is a PE teacher, her mother works in a bank, and her two older brothers, Paul and Mark, both studied at the University of Oxford. She has 10 GCSEs all of which are grade A. She began playing tennis at age 9 and turned professional at the age of 17.

Career Junior (1997–2001) O'Donoghue competed on the junior ITF Circuit from July 1997 until June 2001. She won one singles title over the course of her four-year career, at the 2001 Japan Open Junior Championships, and she was a semifinalist four times and a quarterfinalist on eight occasions. She reached the second round of Wimbledon twice in 2000 and 2001 but her greatest junior Grand Slam success came in 2001 when Jane reached the third round of the Australian Open. Her junior career ended with a singles win–loss record of 40–32 and a career-high ranking of world No. 28 (achieved 2 January 2001).

O'Donoghue won her only junior doubles title in August 1999 partnering Elena Baltacha. She also reached three more finals, three semifinals and seven quarterfinals

1998–2001 O'Donoghue played her first match on the adult ITF Circuit in September 1998 in the qualifying draw for the $10k in Sunderland. She finished the season without a world ranking.

She attempted to qualify for three $10k events in 1999 but did not win a match. She again finished the season without a world ranking.

O'Donoghue started her 2000 season with her first main draw ITF appearance courtesy of a wildcard into the $10k event in Hatfield. In August, O'Donoghue reached the final of a $10k. She finished the year with a ranking of world no. 564. Her year-end ranking at the end of 2001 was world No. 471.

2002 In January 2002, O'Donoghue won her first professional title in Bournemouth Two weeks later, she won the second ITF title of her career in Hatfield. She received a wildcard into the main draw of Wimbledon where she lost to the top seed Venus Williams in the first round. In the second half of the year, she reached two quarterfinals of $25k tournaments and finished the year with a ranking of world No. 295.

2003 In May, she reached the final of the $10k event in Edinburgh. She was given a wildcard into Wimbledon and was beaten in round one by Marlene Weingärtner. Her season-ending ranking was world No. 235.

2004 At Wimbledon, O'Donoghue beat Lindsay Lee-Waters in the first round to give her the first Grand Slam main-draw victory of her career. She finished the year as world No. 231.

2005 to 2007 In 2005, she again was given a wildcard into Wimbledon, losing to Nathalie Dechy in the second round. Her year-end ranking in 2005 was world No. 250, and her season-ending ranking in 2006 was world No. 336. She retired from professional tennis in April 2007.

ITF Circuit finals Singles: 6 (3–3) Legend $100,000 tournaments $75,000 tournaments $50,000 tournaments $25,000 tournaments $10,000 tournamentsFinals by surface Hard (1–2) Clay (2–1) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0)

Doubles: 11 (6–5) Legend $100,000 tournaments $75,000 tournaments $50,000 tournaments $25,000 tournaments $10,000 tournamentsFinals by surface Hard (4–3) Clay (1–1) Grass (1–1) Carpet (0–0)

Grand Slam performance timeline