Abigail Michal Spears (born July 12, 1981) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She started playing in 1988 when she was 7 years old. She was number 10 in the world for doubles. Outside of tennis she enjoys watching movies and going to the beach to surf or play beach volleyball. Her idols are Steffi Graf and Monica Seles. She was suspended for doping offences from 7 November 2019 until 7 September 2021. She retired on 16 September 2021.

Biography

July 12, 1981 Abigail Spears was born in San Diego, California.

2000–2011

Spears turned professional in 2000. She reached the third round at the 2005 Australian Open and the first round at the 2005 French Open, 2005 Wimbledon tournament (where she also reached the third round in the doubles tournament with Lisa McShea), and the 2005 US Open. She reached the third round at the 2008 Wimbledon doubles tournament with Raquel Kops-Jones, and the duo bettered that result by reaching the quarterfinals at the 2008 US Open. Spears also qualified in singles for the US Open twice. She achieved a singles ranking of world No. 66 on June 6, 2005. Her highest doubles ranking was world No. 11 on June 24, 2013. Spears has not won a WTA singles title, but as of the end of December 2018 she has won 21 WTA doubles titles. She participated in the US Open doubles draw eleven times between 1998 and 2010.

2012

Spears and compatriot Raquel Kops-Jones were one of the most successful doubles team of the 2012 season, winning four titles at Carlsbad, Seoul, Tokyo and Osaka. The pair also reached two other finals as well as the quarterfinals of Wimbledon.

2017: Grand Slam breakthrough

2017 was expected to be Spears' farewell year on tour. At the Australian Open, she partnered with Juan Sebastián Cabal to win the mixed-doubles tournament. In the final, they defeated the second-seeded team of Sania Mirza and Ivan Dodig 6–2, 6–4. The American-Colombian duo recovered from a 1–4 deficit in the second set to reel off five straight games to clinch the title. It was a revenge match for Spears, having lost to Mirza the last time she made it to a Grand Slam final losing 9–11 in the super tiebreak to Mirza and Bruno Soares at the 2014 US Open.

Significant finals

Grand Slam finals

Mixed doubles: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-ups)

Premier Mandatory/Premier 5 finals

Doubles: 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

WTA career finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Doubles: 31 (21 titles, 10 runner-ups)

Grand Slam performance timelines

Singles

Doubles