Ashley Harkleroad Biography

Ashley Harkleroad 

Born: May 2, 1985, Rossville, Illinois, United States

Height: 1.75 m

Weight: 55 kg

Turned pro: June 12, 2000

Spouse: Alex Bogomolov, Jr. (m. 2004–2006)

Ashley Harkleroad (born May 2, 1985), is an American tennis player. Born in Rossville, Georgia, Harkleroad reached a career-high ranking of no. 39 on June 9, 2003.

Harkleroad turned pro on June 12, 2000. Her debut was at the ITF tournament in Largo, Florida, in 1999. The following year she played her first WTA qualifying event in Miami, Florida and her first Grand Slam at the U.S. Open. In 2001, she returned to the same events while improving her status on the ITF Circuit. In 2002, she won her first tour matches, reaching the second round at San Diego, Hawaii, and Bratislava, where she made her first doubles semifinal with partner Maria Emilia Salerni. She ended 2002 in the top 200 for the first time in her career.

Her breakthrough year was 2003, when at Charleston she defeated three top-20 players (no. 16 Elena Bovina, no. 19 Meghann Shaughnessy, and no. 9 Daniela Hantuchova), losing just 11 games along the way to reach her first tour semifinal, before losing to Justine Henin-Hardenne. She became the lowest-ranked semifinalist (no. 101) in the event's history since unranked Jennifer Capriati reached the finals in 1990.

After that performance, she climbed from no. 101 to climb to no. 56. She then reached the semifinals again at Strasbourg and scored her second top-10 win and second over Daniela Hantuchová at Roland Garros while reaching the third round. It was the second time she had passed the first round at a Grand Slam. On June 9, 2003 she entered the top 50 at no. 39 and reached the final in doubles at the Japan Open in Tokyo.

In 2004, she made her career first Tour final in Auckland, before losing to defending champion Eleni Daniilidou. For most of the 2005 season, Harkleroad sat out due to various injuries and an illness in the family, but the time she was on court was spent on the ITF Women's circuit, winning two titles. She did, however, reach a tour doubles final at Quebec City.

Harkleroad started playing tennis at age four. She is currently coached by Chuck Adams and formerly coached by José Luis Clerc and Jay Berger. Her father, Danny, works in the printing industry and played college football at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Her mother, Tammy, is a school teacher, and played college tennis at Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Tennessee. Harkleroad got the nickname 'Pebbles' while living in Flintstone, Georgia, a small town that has one traffic light[citation needed]. Harkleroad married ATP pro Alex Bogomolov, Jr. in December 2004 but they divorced in October 2006. She is married to former ATP pro Chuck Adams. During US Open coverage on the USA network on August 29, 2008, commentator John McEnroe announced that Harkleroad was pregnant with Adams's child. She gave birth to son Charlie on March 30, 2009.[4] On April 4, 2011, she gave birth to their second child, daughter Loretta Lynn.