Joanna Mary Durie (born 27 July 1960) is a British former tennis player. Her highest singles ranking was world number five; in doubles she reached number nine, and won two Grand Slam titles, both in the mixed doubles with Jeremy Bates.
Born in Bristol, England, Jo Durie was the last British woman to reach the semifinal of a Grand Slam tournament until Johanna Konta reached the semifinal of the 2016 Australian Open, and the last British woman to win a major title in any discipline, until Heather Watson won the 2016 Wimbledon mixed doubles title with Henri Kontinen.
Singles career
After a successful junior career which included winning junior British titles on all three surfaces (grass, hard court and indoor) in 1976; Jo Durie turned professional in 1977, and played her first match at Wimbledon that year against the eventual champion Virginia Wade. In 1980 Durie suffered a major back injury which kept her out of the game for eight months. However, she made a successful return to the woman's tennis circuit in 1981, reaching the fourth round of the singles at Wimbledon and the US Open and climbing to her highest singles ranking so far of 31.WTA singles ranking, 31 December 1981
Her most successful year as a singles player was 1983, ending the season at No. 6 in the world rankings and on the prize money leader board. As an unseeded player Durie reached the semifinals of the French Open, beating both Pam Shriver and Tracy Austin along the way. Later that year she made another Grand Slam singles semifinal appearance at the US Open, where she eventually lost to Chris Evert in straight sets. Her dramatic rise up the singles rankings that year ended with a quarterfinal at the Australian Open in December. Durie's success as a singles player during 1983 gained her a coveted place at the 1984 WTA Tour Championship as the fifth seed.
Her most successful year at Wimbledon as a singles player came in 1984 when she reached the quarterfinals, beating a 15-year-old Steffi Graf in a memorable fourth-round match. It was just after Wimbledon that she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 5.
She won two top-level WTA singles titles (both in 1983) at Mahwah, New Jersey and Sydney, and had career wins over Steffi Graf, Zina Garrison, Pam Shriver, Hana Mandlíková, and Tracy Austin. Further back injuries in 1989 led to a remodeling of her service action. Durie made her last appearance in a WTA tour singles final at the Virginia Slims of Newport tournament in 1990. In 1991 at the age of 30, and one of the oldest singles competitors that year, she had another successful run to the fourth round of the US Open.
She was ranked the No. 1 British player for most of her career. She won the British National Singles title a record seven times. She was the second British woman player after Virginia Wade to win $1 million in prize money.
Doubles career Partnering her fellow British player Jeremy Bates, Durie won the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon in 1987, the first British doubles team to win the title for fifty-one years. In 1991 they became the first British doubles team ever to win the Australian Open mixed doubles title. As of 2013 both of these records still stand. As a team Bates and Durie reached an additional three mixed doubles quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 1986, 1990 and 1993. They also reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in 1992 as defending champions.
Durie would go on to win five woman's doubles titles from eighteen finals during her career. Her most successful year as a doubles player, aside from the Grand Slams in 1987 and 1991 was in 1983, when she reached six finals, winning three titles. Durie also reached the semifinals of the women's doubles at the French Open and Wimbledon. By virtue of this success she gained a place at the 1984 WTA Tour Championship in doubles, and reached the final partnering Ann Kiyomura.
Durie won the British National Doubles title a record nine times.
Team tennis Durie was a stalwart member of the British Wightman Cup (1979, 1981–89), British Federation Cup (1981–95) and British European Cup teams (1989–92). Durie was the youngest member of the British Federation Cup team, alongside Virginia Wade and Sue Barker, which reached the team final in 1981. Durie led the British team to victory in the European Championship in Prague in 1992.
Retirement Durie retired from competitive tennis at the Wimbledon Championships in 1995, (her 18th appearance at the Championships), and marked it with a memorable performance. After three successive operations on her left knee, Durie went into the Championships ranked No. 326 in the world, yet reached the second round of the ladies' singles. She beat France's Alexia Dechaume-Balleret, ranked No. 85 in the world, in straight sets in the first round. Her second round, and last singles match at Wimbledon, was against Jana Novotná. Her last match at Wimbledon was a mixed doubles match on Centre Court, where she played alongside her long-standing partner Jeremy Bates.
She is among the players with a winning record against Steffi Graff, leading 4–3 in head-to-heads.
After retiring from the professional tour, Durie had heart surgery to rectify a problem for which she had originally been prescribed Beta blockers early in her career. She did not take the prescribed medication, as she didn't feel well after taking them. She revealed this fact in March 2016 in an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, after the revelation that Maria Sharapova had been found taking a similar heart-issue drug, which later had been banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.BBC Radio 5 Live, Breakfast show, 8 March 2016
Since retirement, Durie has worked as a TV tennis commentator for both the BBC and British Eurosport. Durie was part of the BBC's commentary team up to and including the 2026 Wimbledon Championships, during which she announced her retirement from commentary duties after 30 years.
She used to coach British number one Elena Baltacha alongside her own former coach Alan Jones. She won back-to-back Wimbledon Ladies' Senior Invitation doubles titles in 1996 and 1997.
Significant finals Grand Slam tournaments Mixed doubles: 2 (2 titles) ResultYearChampionshipSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreWin 1987 Wimbledon Grass Jeremy Bates Nicole Provis Darren Cahill 7–6(12–10), 6–3Win 1991 Australian Open Hard Jeremy Bates Robin White Scott Davis 2–6, 6–4, 6–4
Year-end championships Doubles: 1 (runner–up) ResultYearChampionshipSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss 1984 New York Carpet (i) Ann Kiyomura Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver 3–6, 1–6
WTA career finals Singles: 6 (2–4) LegendTier I (0–0)Tier II (0–0)Tier III (0–1)Tier IV (0–0)Tier V (0–0)Virginia Slims, Avon, other (2–3) ResultW/L DateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss 0–1 Jun 1980 Beckenham, UK Grass Andrea Jaeger 4–6, 1–6Loss 0–2 Feb 1982 Greenville, U.S. Hard (i) Cláudia Monteiro 4–6, 6–3, 4–6Win 1–2 Aug 1983 Mahwah, U.S. Hard Hana Mandlíková 2–6, 7–5, 6–4Loss 1–3 Oct 1983 Brighton, UK Carpet (i) Chris Evert-Lloyd 1–6, 1–6Win 2–3 Nov 1983 Sydney, Australia Grass Kathy Jordan 6–3, 7–5Loss 2–4 Jul 1990 Newport, U.S. Grass Arantxa Sánchez Vicario 6–7(2–7), 6–4, 5–7
Doubles: 18 (5–13) LegendTour Championships (0–1)Tier I (0–0)Tier II (0–3)Tier III (0–1)Tier IV (1–0)Tier V (0–1) Virginia Slims, Avon, other (4–7) ResultW/L DateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss 1. Jun 1979 Beckenham, UK Grass Debbie Jevans Elizabeth Little Kerryn Pratt 1–6, 4–6Win 1. Jun 1982 Birmingham, UK Grass Anne Hobbs Rosie Casals Wendy Turnbull 6–3, 6–2Loss 2. Jan 1983 Houston, U.S. Carpet (I) Barbara Potter Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver 4–6, 3–6Win 2. Mar 1983 Boston, U.S. Carpet (i) Ann Kiyomura Kathy Jordan Anne Smith 6–3, 6–1Win 3. May 1983 Berlin, Germany Clay Anne Hobbs Claudia Kohde-Kilsch Eva Pfaff 6–4, 7–6Loss 3. Jun 1983 Eastbourne, UK Grass Anne Hobbs Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver 1–6, 0–6Win 4. Aug 1983 Mahwah, U.S. Hard Sharon Walsh Rosalyn Fairbank Candy Reynolds 4–6, 7–5, 6–3Loss 4. Oct 1983 Brighton, UK Carpet (i) Ann Kiyomura Chris Evert-Lloyd Pam Shriver 5–7, 4–6Loss 5. Feb 1984 Livingston, U.S. Carpet (i) Ann Kiyomura Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver 4–6, 3–6Loss 6. Feb 1984 VS Championships, U.S. Carpet (i) Ann Kiyomura Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver 3–6, 1–6Loss 7. Jun 1984 Eastbourne, UK Grass Ann Kiyomura Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver 4–6, 2–6Loss 8. Aug 1984 Mahwah, U.S. Hard Ann Kiyomura Martina Navratilova Pam Shriver 6–7(3–7), 6–3, 2–6Loss 9. Mar 1989 Boca Raton, U.S. Hard Mary Joe Fernández Jana Novotná Helena Suková 4–6, 2–6Win 5. Apr 1990 Singapore Hard Jill Hetherington Pascale Paradis Catherine Suire 6–4, 6–1Loss 10. Sep 1990 Leipzig, Germany Carpet (i) Manon Bollegraf Lise Gregory Gretchen Magers 2–6, 6–4, 3–6Loss 11. Oct 1990 Brighton, UK Carpet (i) Natasha Zvereva Helena Suková Nathalie Tauziat 1–6, 4–6Loss 12. Sep 1991 St. Petersburg, Russia Carpet (i) Isabelle Demongeot Elena Brioukhovets Natalia Medvedeva 5–7, 3–6Loss 13. Feb 1993 Paris, France Carpet (i) Catherine Suire Jana Novotná Andrea Strnadová 6–7(2–7), 2–6
Grand Slam performance timelines
Singles Tournament 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995Australian OpenAAAAA3R3RQF2R3RNH4R2R3R2R2R2RAAAFrench OpenAAA1R1R2RSF2R1R1R1R2R1RA1R3RAAAWimbledon1R1R2R1R4R1R3RQF4R3R3R2RA1R2R1R1R1R2RUS OpenAAAA4R3RSF1R1R3R2R1R1R1R4R1R1RAAYear-end rankingNR1237353312882426247360118646060192343292
Doubles Tournament 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995Australian OpenAAAAA2R2RQF2RSFNHQF1RQF1R1R2RAAAFrench OpenAAA1R3R3RSF1RA2RAA2RAAAAAAWimbledon1RA3R1R1R2RSFSFQF1R1R3RA2R1R2R2R1R2RUS OpenAA2RA3R2R2R3R2R1RQF2R2R1RQF2R2RAAYear-end ranking10254243433639708451215186
Mixed doubles Tournament 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 Career SRAustralian OpenAAAAAAAAAANHAAASFWQFAAA 1 / 3French OpenAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 0 / 0Wimbledon1R1RA2R3R2R3RAQFQFW2RAQF3R3RQF2R2R 1 / 16US OpenAAAAAAAAAAAA1RASF1RAAA 0 / 3 Note: The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December.
Federation Cup