Ilana Kloss


Ilana Sheryl Kloss is a former professional tennis player, tennis coach, and commissioner of World TeamTennis, since 2001. She was the World's No. 1 ranked doubles player in 1976, World No. 19 in singles in 1979.

Personal life

Kloss was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and is Jewish.
Kloss is the partner of Billie Jean King, the US tennis player. The two of them became minority owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team in September 2018.

Tennis career

Before turning professional, she won the juniors singles title at Wimbledon in 1972. 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 both the women’s doubles and the mixed doubles in the 1973 Maccabiah Games, and winning a silver medal in mixed doubles in the 1977 Maccabiah Games.
In 1974, she won US Open juniors singles title. She was the youngest No. 1 player in South African history. In 1973, she won the title in Cincinnati with Pat Walkden, defeating Evonne Goolagong and Janet Young in the final.
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. In 1977 she won the Canadian and German championships and the British clay court championship.
In 1999, Kloss won the US Open doubles and mixed doubles championship on the 35-and-over tour.

Federation Cup

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.

Halls of Fame

Kloss, who is Jewish, was inducted into the US National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2006. She was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2010.

World Team Tennis

Kloss joined the San Francisco Golden Gaters WTT team in 1974, and reached the WTT Finals with the team in 1975. 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. Kloss returned to the Golden Gaters for the 1978 season. In 1983, she coached the Chicago Fyre to a WTT Championship and was named Coach of the Year. 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. Since 2001, she has been the chief executive officer and commissioner of World Team Tennis.

Grand Slam tournament finals

Women's doubles: 1 (1 title)

Mixed doubles: 1 (1 title)