Ilana Kloss

Player

Birthday March 22, 1956

Birth Sign Aries

Birthplace Johannesburg, South Africa

Age 67 years old

Nationality South Africa

#23348 Most Popular

1956

Ilana Sheryl Kloss (born 22 March 1956) is a former professional tennis player, tennis coach, and commissioner of World TeamTennis from 2001–21.

1972

She won the Wimbledon juniors singles title in 1972, the US Open juniors singles title in 1974, and the US Open Doubles and French Open Mixed Doubles titles in 1976.

Before turning professional, she won the juniors singles title at Wimbledon in 1972.

1973

She won three gold medals at the 1973 Maccabiah Games in Israel.

Kloss was born in Johannesburg, South Africa.

She is Jewish.

Kloss is married to Billie Jean King, the US tennis player.

She won the SA doubles title with Linky Boshoff in 1973, 1975, and 1977.

She also played in the Maccabiah Games in Israel, winning gold medals in the singles, women's doubles (with Helen Weiner defeating silver medalists Vicki Berner and Pam Gullish of Canada in the finals), and the mixed doubles in the 1973 Maccabiah Games.

In 1973, she won the title in Cincinnati with Pat Walkden, defeating Evonne Goolagong and Janet Young in the final.

From 1973 until 1977, Kloss was a member of the South African team that competed in the Federation Cup.

She compiled a 12–5 win–loss record.

1974

In 1974, she won US Open juniors singles title.

She was the youngest No. 1 player in South African history.

Kloss joined the San Francisco Golden Gaters WTT team in 1974, and reached the WTT Finals with the team in 1975.

1976

She was the World's No. 1 ranked doubles player in 1976, and World No. 19 in singles in 1979.

Kloss was ranked No. 1 in the world in doubles and No. 19 in singles in 1976.

That year, she won doubles titles at the US Open, the Italian Open, the US Clay Courts, the German Open, the British Hard Courts Championship, and Hilton Head, as well as the mixed doubles title at the French Open.

Linky Boshoff was her most frequent doubles partner.

She left the Golden Gaters prior to the 1976 season to team in order to fully participate in clay-court tournaments in Europe which conflicted with the WTT schedule.

1977

She also won a silver medal in mixed doubles in the 1977 Maccabiah Games, losing to Peter Rennert and Stacy Margolin.

In 1977 she won the Canadian and German championships and the British clay court championship.

1978

Kloss returned to the Golden Gaters for the 1978 season.

1983

In 1983, she coached the Chicago Fyre to a WTT Championship and was named Coach of the Year.

1985

In 1985, Kloss was a player and coach for the Miami Beach Breakers, and became vice-president of WTT in 1987 and executive director in 1991.

1999

In 1999, Kloss won the US Open doubles and mixed doubles championship on the 35-and-over tour.

2001

Since 2001, she has been the chief executive officer and commissioner of World Team Tennis.

2006

Kloss, who is Jewish, was inducted into the US National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2006.

2010

She was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2010.

2018

The two were married in a secret ceremony in 2018 and have been together for over 40 years.

The two of them became minority owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team in September 2018 - so she has a 2020 World Series championship to her credit - and Angel City FC, a Los Angeles–based team that began play in the National Women's Soccer League in 2022, in October 2020.