Mark Woodforde (born 23 September 1965) is a former professional
tennis player from Australia. He is most famously remembered as one half of "
The Woodies", a doubles partnership with
Todd Woodbridge.
Woodforde was born in
Adelaide, and joined the men's professional tennis
ATP Tour in 1984. Woodforde won four singles titles, including his hometown Adelaide tournament twice. His best result in a Grand Slam was reaching the semi-final of the Australian Open in 1996, his 38th Grand Slam singles tournament, which remains a record for the longest time taken to reach a maiden semi-final. Woodforde is best known for his doubles success, having won twelve Grand Slam doubles titles in his career – one
French Open, two
Australian Opens, three
U.S. Opens, and a record six
Wimbledons. Eleven of these victories came as a member of the Woodies, and he won the 1989 U.S. Open doubles with
John McEnroe. He also won five Grand Slam mixed doubles titles – one
French Open, two
Australian Opens, one
U.S. Open, and one
Wimbledon; thus making an overall total of 17 Grand Slam doubles titles.
He enjoyed the greatest success of his career when playing men's doubles with Woodbridge, combining his left-hand baseline play with Woodbridge's swift volleying reflexes at the net. They were the
ATP Doubles Team of the Year four times, and all together the Woodies won 61 ATP doubles tournaments (Woodforde won 67 in his...
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