Liezel Huber, the 4th ranked doubles player on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, is switching teams. No, not partners – nationalities. The South African native who now lives in Houston, Texas, was officially sworn in as a US citizen last Sunday in the Space City. Huber’s husband is also American.
The 30-year-old from Durban, who has won two Slam titles at Wimbledon, has been working for some time to play for the stars and stripes. Now, with her citizenship secured, she will begin representing the USA this week at the Acura Classic in San Diego, where is the top seed with partner Cara Black. Her WTA Tour profile has already been updated.
She’s looking forward to taking the court next month in Flushing Meadows to play her first major under the US flag.
"It's amazing," Huber told Houston television station, KTRK. "I'll be playing in the US Open as an American. So, that's a dream come true."
Huber also hopes to represent the United States at the Beijing Olympics next year, where a possible pairing with top American doubles specialist Lisa Raymond would give the Americans a good chance to earn a medal.
Huber, who still speaks with a South African drawl, is not the first tennis pro to change nationalities. Ivan Lendl tried to gain citizenship through special legislation known as the “Lendl Bill” being proposed in an effort to help him qualify to represent the US at the 1988 Seoul Games. But he failed when necessary waivers from his native Czechoslovakia were not issued in time. Lendl was eventually granted citizenship in 1992, when he became eligible through traditional means of naturalization.
In 1981, Lendl’s fellow Czech Martina Navratilova also received US citizenship. Later, so did Monica Seles, who represented the former Yugoslavia until her 1993 stabbing at a tournament in Germany. She was naturalized in March of 1994. Both Seles and Navratilova went on to represent the US at the Olympics games in 2000 and 2004, respectively.