Career
Kohde-Kilsch was born Claudia Kohde in Saarbrücken, but added the hyphenated "-Kilsch" to her name which came from her adoptive father Jürgen Kilsch, an attorney. She has 1 younger sister, Katrin. She began playing tennis when she only 5, and was soon a rising junior player.
Kohde-Kilsch turned professional on 1 January 1980, and by 1981 she had handed a rare first round defeat to Martina Navrátilová in Oakland. She went on to win four singles titles that year. In 1982, she captured the title at Pittsburgh and in 1984 she triumphed at the German Open, defeating Kathleen Horvath of the United States, 7–6(8), 6–1.
In 1985, she reached the Australian Open and French Open semi-finals and also won in Los Angeles. Later that year, she defeated Navrátilová in the quarter-finals on the way to a final round match with Chris Evert at the Canadian Open, where she eventually lost to Evert, 6–2, 6–4. In 1987, she again reached the finals of the German Open, where she lost to a rising Steffi Graf 6–2, 6–3.
In women's doubles, Kohde-Kilsch won the 1985 US Open women's doubles championship with Helena Suková and in 1987, partnering again with Suková, she won the 1987 Wimbledon women's doubles championship.
Between 1984 and 1987, Kohde-Kilsch and Suková, sometimes referred to as the "twin towers" for their height, paired to win 14 doubles tournaments. At the 1988 Summer Olympics, she partnered with Steffi Graf in the doubles competition and together they were awarded the bronze medal in the event.
Kohde-Kilsch currently lives in Saarland with her husband, Chris Bennett, and their son, Fynn. The couple operate CeKay Music, a music publishing house and production company.
Read more about this topic: Claudia Kohde-Kilsch
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