Mariaan de Swardt (born 18 March 1971) is a former professional tennis player from South Africa, who was active from 1988 to 2001. She twice represented her native country at the
Summer Olympics, in
1992 and
1996,[1] and was a member of the
South Africa Fed Cup team in 1992 and from 1994 to 1997. In 2006, de Swardt became a U.S. citizen.[citation needed]
De Swardt won two Grand Slam titles in mixed-doubles competition, the
1999 Australian Open and the
2000 French Open with partner
David Adams.[2][3]
She also won four women's doubles titles and reached as high as world No. 11 in the doubles
WTA rankings. She has one
WTA Tour singles title from 1998 and reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 28 in 1996.
Since retiring from tennis, she has been a commentator for
Eurosport and South African television, and has coached at professional, collegiate and recreational level with her base being at Atlanta, Georgia. She resides in Houston, Texas, and is a teaching professional at The Houstonian Club. In 2004, she set up a non-profit charity, the Pet Care Fund, to help animals.[4]
^Djata, Sundiata (2008). Blacks at the Net : Black Achievement in the History of Tennis (1 ed.). Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press. p. 82.
ISBN978-0815608981.