Lisa Bonder


Lisa Bonder, also known as Lisa Bonder-Kreiss or Lisa Bonder-Kerkorian, is a retired professional tennis player from the U.S. During her career she won four singles titles on the WTA circuit and reached a highest ranking of No. 9 in August 1984.

Career

Bonder played on the WTA tour from 1981 to 1991 and won four titles before retiring, the first in 1982 in Hamburg, West Germany, and then three tournaments in Tokyo from 1982 to 1983. She reached the fourth round of the US Open in 1983 and 1984 and at Wimbledon in 1984. She also reached a quarterfinal at Roland Garros in 1984, defeating Corinne Vanier, Vicki Nelson, Amy Holton and former champion Virginia Ruzici before losing to Camille Benjamin. Notable career victories include wins over Chris Evert, Mary Joe Fernandez, and Andrea Jaeger. Bonder reached a career high ranking of no. 9, and retired with a 139–126 win/loss record.

Personal life

Parents

Born in Columbus, Ohio to Seth and Julia Bonder, who later divorced, she was raised in Saline, Michigan. Her father Seth, an American engineer who founded Vector Research, Inc., was born in the Bronx to Russian emigrants who worked in the garment district.

Daughter

Bonder was involved in a high-profile child support lawsuit with her ex-husband of 28 days, billionaire Kirk Kerkorian. Kerkorian, 48 years her senior, suspected that Steve Bing, Bonder's ex-boyfriend, was the father of her daughter. Kerkorian hired "private eye to the stars", Anthony Pellicano, during the dispute. Pellicano took used dental floss from Bing's discarded waste to obtain DNA paternity testing, succeeding in confirming that Bing was the father. Pellicano also wiretapped Bonder's phone calls. Pellicano subsequently was convicted on various charges, including wiretapping and racketeering, involving this and many other cases, and he received a 15-year prison sentence. One of Kerkorian's attorneys was also convicted of racketeering for hiring Pellicano to tap Bonder's phone, and received a three-year prison sentence which was confirmed on appeal.

Change of name

She married Tom Kreiss on 10 January 1988, and changed her surname to Bonder-Kreiss. She divorced Kreiss to marry Kirk Kerkorian in 1999 then was divorced again less than one month later.

WTA Career finals

Singles: 5 (4–1)

ResultNo.DateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScore
Win1.Jul 1982HamburgClay Renáta Tomanová6–3, 6–2
Win2.Oct 1982:fr:Classic du Japon|TokyoHard Shelley Solomon2–6, 6–0, 6–3
Win3.Sep 1983TokyoCarpet Andrea Jaeger6–2, 5–7, 6–1
Win4.Oct 1983TokyoHard Laura Arraya6–1, 6–3
Loss1.Aug 1984IndianapolisClay Manuela Maleeva4–6, 3–6

Doubles: 1 (0–1)

ResultNo.DateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Loss1.Nov 1985TampaHard Laura Gildemeister Carling Bassett
Gabriela Sabatini		0–6, 0–6

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

Tournament19811982198319841985198619871988198919901991Career SR
Australian OpenAAAA2RNHAAAAA0 / 1
French OpenA3R3RQF2R3R2R1RAAA0 / 7
WimbledonA1R4R3R1R2R1RAAA1R0 / 7
US Open1R2R4R4R2R3R3R1RAA1R0 / 9
SR0 / 10 / 30 / 30 / 30 / 40 / 30 / 30 / 20 / 00 / 00 / 20 / 24
Year-end ranking122413416365549126300303110-