Early life and family

Rubin is the daughter of Edward D. Rubin, a state judge in Louisiana, and his wife, Bernadette Fontenot Rubin; they have two other children.

Tennis career

Throughout her long career, she has been ranked as high as No. 6 in the world even though she has been plagued by injuries. Rubin was the third African-American woman in the Open era to reach the top ten after Zina Garrison and Lori McNeil.

Rubin reached the quarterfinals at the French Open in 1995, 2000, and 2003; in 1995 on her way to the quarterfinals she defeated Jana Novotná 7-6, 4-6, 8-6 after falling behind 0-5, 0-40 in the third set and after saving nine match points. Also in 1995 in the second round of Wimbledon, Rubin defeated Patricia Hy-Boulais 7-6, 6-7, 17-15. The 58 games are the most for a women's match.

In 1996, she reached the Australian Open semifinals, defeating Gabriela Sabatini in the fourth round and Arantxa Sánchez Vicario 6-4, 2-6, 16-14 in the quarterfinals. The 48 games in the quarterfinal are the most for a women's match at the Australian Open. Rubin lost in the semifinals to Monica Seles 6-7, 6-1, 7-5 despite holding a 5-2 lead in the third set. Rubin rose to her career-high ranking of No. 6 after reaching the final of the Lipton Championships in 1996 where she lost to Steffi Graf.

Rubin has defeated several other top players, including Lindsay Davenport, Justine Henin, Amélie Mauresmo, and Serena Williams. Her 2002 upset of Williams in the Los Angeles quarterfinals ended the top-ranked player's winning streak of 21 matches, a stretch that carried Williams through titles at the French Open and Wimbledon.

In 2003, she was invited by Hong Kong Tennis Patrons' Association to play The Hong Kong Ladies Chellenge 2003 but she lost to her compatriot and former Yugoslavian Monica Seles 7-5, 1-6, 2-6 in the singles final.

Rubin received a wild card into the 2006 US Open, where she lost in the first round to World No. 9 Nicole Vaidišová 6-4, 6-3. Since then Rubin has struggled with injuries.

Rubin was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame on June 29, 2013.

Awards

• 1995: ATA Athlete of the Year
• 1995: TENNIS Magazine Most Improved Player of the Year
• 1995: US Tennis Association Female Athlete of the Year
• 1995: WTA Most Improved Player of the Year
• 2002: Family Circle Player Who Makes a Difference Award
• 2003: USTA Service Bowl Award

Career statistics

Grand Slam women's doubles finals (2 (1-1))

Outcome	Year	Championship	Partner	Opponents in Final	Score in Final
Winners	1996	Australian Open	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Lindsay Davenport Mary Joe Fernández	7-5, 2-6, 6-4
Runner-up	1999	US Open	Sandrine Testud	Serena Williams Venus Williams	6-4, 1-6, 4-6

WTA Tour singles finals 19 (7-12)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	November 3, 1991	Scottsdale, United States	Hard	Sabine Appelmans	5-7, 1-6
Runner-up	2.	February 13, 1994	Chicago, United States	Hard	Natasha Zvereva	3-6, 5-7
Runner-up	3.	June 25, 1995	Eastbourne, United Kingdom	Grass	Nathalie Tauziat	6-3, 0-6, 5-7
Runner-up	4.	August 13, 1995	Manhattan Beach, United States	Hard	Conchita Martínez	6-4, 1-6, 3-6
Runner-up	5.	March 30, 1996	Key Biscayne, United States	Hard	Steffi Graf	1-6, 3-6
Winner	1.	February 9, 1997	Linz, Austria	Hard (i)	Karina Habšudová	6-4, 6-2
Runner-up	6.	November 1, 1998	Quebec City, Canada	Carpet (i)	Tara Snyder	6-4, 4-6, 6-7(6-8)
Winner	2.	January 17, 1999	Hobart, Australia	Hard	Rita Grande	6-2, 6-3
Runner-up	7.	November 7, 1999	Quebec City, Canada	Carpet (i)	Jennifer Capriati	6-4, 1-6, 2-6
Runner-up	8.	January 15, 2000	Hobart, Australia	Hard	Kim Clijsters	6-2, 2-6, 2-6
Winner	3.	November 5, 2000	Quebec City, Canada	Carpet (i)	Jennifer Capriati	6-4, 6-2
Runner-up	9.	May 25, 2002	Madrid, Spain	Clay	Monica Seles	4-6, 2-6
Winner	4.	June 22, 2002	Eastbourne, United Kingdom	Grass	Anastasia Myskina	6-1, 6-3
Winner	5.	August 11, 2002	Los Angeles, United States	Hard	Lindsay Davenport	5-7, 7-6(7-5), 6-3
Winner	6.	May 24, 2003	Madrid, Spain	Clay	María Sánchez Lorenzo	6-4, 5-7, 6-4
Winner	7.	June 21, 2003	Eastbourne, United Kingdom	Grass	Conchita Martínez	6-4, 3-6, 6-4
Runner-up	10.	September 14, 2003	Bali, Indonesia	Hard	Elena Dementieva	2-6, 1-6
Runner-up	11.	September 21, 2003	Shanghai, China	Hard	Elena Dementieva	3-6, 6-7(6-8)
Runner-up	12.	October 26, 2003	Luxembourg, Luxembourg	Hard (i)	Kim Clijsters	2-6, 5-7

WTA Tour doubles finals 17 (10-7)

Legend
Grand Slam Title (1/1)
WTA Championship (0/0)
Tier I (1/1)
Tier II (5/3)
Tier III (1/2)
Tier IV (2/0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winners	1.	September 26, 1993	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Lisa Raymond	Amanda Coetzer Linda Wild	6-4, 6-1
Winners	2.	January 16, 1994	Hobart, Australia	Hard	Linda Wild	Jenny Byrne Rachel McQuillan	7-5, 4-6, 7-6
Runner-up	1.	November 6, 1994	Quebec City, Canada	Carpet (i)	Linda Wild	Elna Reinach Nathalie Tauziat	4-6, 3-6
Winners	3.	May 14, 1995	Prague, Czech Republic	Clay	Linda Wild	Maria Lindström Maria Strandlund	6-7, 6-3, 6-2
Runner-up	2.	October 8, 1995	Zürich, Switzerland	Hard (i)	Caroline Vis	Nicole Arendt Manon Bollegraf	4-6, 6-7(4-7), 4-6
Winners	4.	January 28, 1996	Australian Open, Melbourne	Hard	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Lindsay Davenport Mary Joe Fernández	7-5, 2-6, 6-4
Winners	5.	February 25, 1996	Oklahoma City, United States	Hard (i)	Brenda Schultz-McCarthy	Katrina Adams Debbie Graham	6-4, 6-3
Winners	6.	March 17, 1996	Indian Wells, United States	Hard	Brenda Schultz-McCarthy	Julie Halard-Decugis Nathalie Tauziat	6-1, 6-4
Winners	7.	April 14, 1996	Amelia Island, United States	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Meredith McGrath Larisa Neiland	6-1, 6-1
Runner-up	3.	September 21, 1997	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Julie Halard-Decugis	Monica Seles Ai Sugiyama	1-6, 0-6
Runner-up	4.	October 26, 1998	Quebec City, Canada	Carpet (i)	Sandrine Testud	Lori McNeil Kimberly Po	7-6(7-3), 5-7, 4-6
Runner-up	5.	September 12, 1999	US Open, Flushing Meadows	Hard	Sandrine Testud	Serena Williams Venus Williams	6-4, 1-6, 4-6
Winners	8.	October 10, 1999	Filderstadt, Germany	Hard (i)	Sandrine Testud	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Larisa Neiland	6-3, 6-4
Runner-up	6.	November 14, 1999	Philadelphia, United States	Carpet (i)	Sandrine Testud	Lisa Raymond Rennae Stubbs	1-6, 6-7(2-7)
Winners	9.	July 30, 2000	Stanford, United States	Hard	Sandrine Testud	Cara Black Amy Frazier	6-4, 6-4
Winners	10.	October 22, 2000	Linz, Austria	Carpet	Amélie Mauresmo	Ai Sugiyama Nathalie Tauziat	6-4, 6-4
Runner-up	7.	October 28, 2001	Linz, Austria	Hard (i)	Els Callens	Jelena Dokić Nadia Petrova	1-6, 4-6

ITF Circuit singles finals (2 (2-0))

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	February 5, 1995	Midland, Michigan, United States	Hard (i)	Brenda Schultz-McCarthy	6-3, 6-2
2.	December 15, 1996	Salzburg, Austria	Carpet	Mirjana Lučić	6-1, 6-3

ITF Circuit doubles finals (3 (3-0))

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score
1.	January 20, 1991	Mission, United States	Hard	Nicole London	Jessica Emmons Betsy Somerville	6-3, 2-6, 6-4
2.	February 5, 1995	Midland, Michigan, United States	Hard (i)	Brenda Schultz-McCarthy	Laxmi Poruri Varalee Sureephong	6-3, 6-2
3.	December 15, 1996	Salzburg, Austria	Carpet	Mirjana Lučić	Anca Barna Adriana Barna	6-3, 6-2

Major tournament singles performance timeline

Tournament	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	Career SR
Australian Open	A	A	1R	1R	4R	2R	SF	4R	1R	4R	2R	1R	A	4R	4R	A	A	A	0 / 12
French Open	A	Q2	1R	A	1R	QF	A	2R	4R	2R	QF	A	4R	QF	A	Q1	A	A	0 / 9
Wimbledon	A	Q1	1R	2R	1R	3R	A	1R	3R	1R	1R	1R	4R	3R	1R	A	A	A	0 / 12
US Open	1R	2R	4R	3R	1R	4R	A	1R	2R	1R	3R	3R	4R	1R	3R	A	1R	A	0 / 15
Grand Slam SR	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 1	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 3	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 0	0 / 1	0 / 0	0 / 48
WTA Tour Championships	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	A	A	A	1R	A	1R	RR	A	A	A	A	0 / 4
Year End Ranking	521	83	83	69	23	15	17	30	34	22	13	54	13	9	53	546	481	NR

• A=did not participate in the tournament
• SR=the ratio of the number of tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played

Head vs. Head

• Anna Kournikova 1-4
• Martina Hingis 2-8
• Silvia Farina Elia 3-2
• Serena Williams 1-1
• Lindsay Davenport 3-9
• Daniela Hantuchová 0-2
• Elena Dementieva 2-5
• Venus Williams 1-9
• Jennifer Capriati 5-6
• Steffi Graf 0-7
• Karina Habšudová 5-0
• Anke Huber 1-1
• Arantxa Sánchez Vicario 4-4
• Monica Seles 0-5

[ Source: Wikipedia ]