The record of being the youngest US Open debutant belongs to Kathleen “Kathy” Horvath, who played her first main draw at Flushing Meadows in 1979 at the age of 14 years five days.
Horvath made it to the main draw after winning all three matches in the qualifying round. On her 14th birthday, she defeated Frenchwoman Brigitte Simon-Glinel 6-4, 6-4 before taking down Anne Chevalier, Glinel’s compatriot, 6-3, 6-0 in the second round. Horvath beat Czech player Yvona Brzakova, an opponent 12 years older than her, 6-3, 6-2 to book her spot in the main draw and create history.
While she did lose 6-7, 2-6 to Australia’s Dianne Balestrat in the first-ever main draw match at a Major, she set a record that still stands. In the same edition, Tracy Austin became the youngest US Open champion at the age of 16 years, eight months and 28 days, defeating four-time defending champion Chris Evert, 6-4, 6-3, in an all-American final.
Coached by Harry Hopman and Nick Bollettieri, Horvath won six titles and reached a career-high ranking of 10.
She is also remembered for another achievement apart from her US Open debut as a teenager. At the French Open in 1983, she managed to upset defending champion Martina Navratilova 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 in the fourth round. It was Navratilova’s only loss in the entire season in which she won 86 matches but that defeat to the American prevented her from completing the Grand Slam.
Horvath retired from professional tennis in 1989 and earned undergraduate and MBA degrees from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and then worked in finance at Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch.
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