Debbie Spence Nasim (born August 9, 1967) is a former professional tennis player from the United States.
Biography
Spence grew up in Cerritos, a city in Los Angeles County. She is one of three daughters of Tom and Francine Spence. Her father worked as a school teacher at a Cerritos College and was the men's tennis coach there.[1]
Junior career
With her father as coach, she began playing tennis competitively at the age of eight.[2]
In her early years she was followed around the tour by author Karen Stabiner, who wrote a book called "Courting Fame", an at times critical portrayal of the promising junior, which attracted attention towards a young Spence.[3]
At the age of 16, as the top-ranked amateur in the country at under-18 level, she made the decision to quit high school in order to prepare herself for a career in professional tennis.[1]
Professional tennis
Spence began competing professionally in 1984 and made her grand slam debut at the 1984 US Open, where she beat Alycia Moulton in the first round, then took ninth seed Lisa Bonder to three sets in a second round loss.[5] Only a month after she turned professional, aged 17, she won the 1984 Ginny of San Diego, over Betsy Nagelsen in the final. She ended her first year on tour with a world ranking of 47.
In 1985 she was a semi-finalist at the Ginny Championships in Florida and made it to the quarter-finals of a further four WTA tournaments, as well as the fourth round of the 1985 French Open.[6]
At the beginning of the 1986 season she was ranked a career best 35 in the world. By 1987 however she had dropped out of the top 100 and she retired from professional tennis after the 1987 US Open, aged 20.[2]
