| Biography | Barbara Potter (born October 22, 1961 in Woodbury, Connecticut) is a former tennis player from the United States, who competed professionally on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, winning six singles titles and nineteen doubles titles.
Potter turned professional in 1978. A left-hander, she reached the semifinals at the U.S. Open in 1981, and the quarterfinals at the Australian Open in 1984, and Wimbledon in 1982, 1983 & 1985. At the WTA Tour Championships, she reached the semifinals in singles in 1984 and was runner-up in doubles with Sharon Walsh in 1981.
Potter reached a career high ranking of #7 in 1982. She also played in three Grand Slam finals, the 1982 US Open women's doubles, and the 1982 and 1983 US Open mixed doubles. She lost all three, the women's doubles with Sharon Walsh and both mixed doubles with Ferdi Taygan.
In 1986, Potter suffered two herniated disks in her back at a tournament in England and was forced off the tour several times, but after a grueling exercise and fitness program, successfully returned to the tour.
She was a member of the 1982 and 1984 USA Wightman Cup teams and the 1988 United States Fed Cup team. In 1989, she re-aggravated a persistent back condition at the beginning season when she was involved in an automobile accident. She retired in November 1989 due to deteriorating hip cartilage. Potter currently resides in Harlem, Georgia. |