Mariaan de Swardt

Mariaan de Swardt was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. She brings a wealth of professional playing experience with her to Huber Tennis Ranch. She played on the WTA Tour from 1988 – 2001. One of her proudest moments was becoming a US citizen in November 2006.

Since 1988, she has won two Grand Slam titles in mixed doubles competition, including the 1999 Australian Open and the 2000 French Open with partner David Adams. Mariaan's highest world doubles ranking was 10 and highest singles ranking, 26 in the world. She represented South Africa in the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games.

She worked with a junior tennis program in Hilton Head, S.C and coached professionally and recreationally in Atlanta, GA for the last 5 years. Mariaan was the assistant women's coach at Georgia Tech for two seasons.

After playing Federation Cup for South Africa for more than 10 years, Mariaan coached the Federation Cup team for 3 years. Mariaan's experience as a professional tennis player and coach, collegiate and recreational level, gives her a unique perspective to help kids and adults of all levels get where they want to go. She has also helped numerous kids obtain scholarships at US Colleges.

Along with the two Grand Slam wins, she was named the 2000 Female Most Valuable Player in World Team Tennis and finished the 1995 season ranked No. 1 in women's doubles with Martina Navratilova, helping lead the New Jersey Stars to the league championship. Mariaan has 4 World Team Tennis Championships to her name and played WTT for more than 12 years. She has been coaching the Delaware Smash for the last 4 years. Perhaps the best singles win of her career also came in 1995 as she defeated then top-ranked Steffi Graf at a tournament in Brighton, dealing Graf only her second loss of the year to that point.

Aside from her professional tennis career, Mariaan has been involved with numerous charities including the Girls and Boys Club of Hilton Head, SC and Atlanta, GA. She has also been a commentator for Eurosport and South African television in her career. One of Mariaan's off court passions are a non profit she started with her sister, Daleen, "Pet Care Fund". They started in 2004 to help homeless, abused and neglected animals.

Mariaan is also an avid snowboarder, golfer and ice hockey fan.

I know that we can offer kids and adults, recreational or professional something extra at Huber Tennis Ranch. I'm really excited to be part of this tennis program.