Anke Huber (born 4 December 1974) is a German retired top-five professional tennis player. She was the runner-up in women's singles at the 1996 Australian Open and the 1995 WTA Finals. Huber won twelve singles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour. She finished inside the top twenty for ten seasons, and achieved a career-high ranking of four in October 1996. Early life Huber was born in Bruchsal, Baden-Württemberg. She started playing tennis at the age of seven, after being introduced to the game by her father, Edgar. In junior competition, she won the under-12 German Championships in 1986, the under-14s in 1987, the under-16s in 1988, and the European Championships in 1989. She was also a semifinalist at Wimbledon's junior tournament in 1990. Career Huber made her Grand Slam tournament debut at the 1990 Australian Open, a year before she graduated from high school. After defeating Maider Laval and Elise Burgin, she was defeated in the third round by 13th-seeded Raffaella Reggi. In August 1990, she defeated Marianne Werdel Witmeyer to win the Schenectady tournament, a warm-up for the US Open. Jennifer Capriati then defeated Huber in the first round of that tournament 7–5, 7–5. Huber was the runner-up in her next event, losing in Bayonne to Nathalie Tauziat in straight sets. She finished 1990 ranked World No. 34. Huber became Germany's top female tennis player upon Steffi Graf's retirement in 1999. Only two years later, however, it was Huber's turn to hang up her racquet. She cited a persistent ankle injury and the desire for a "normal life" as the reasons for her retirement. She originally planned to quit after the 2002 Australian Open, her favorite tournament, but changed her mind when she unexpectedly qualified for the year-ending Sanex Championships in Germany. "I thought there's nothing better than to celebrate saying goodbye in front of the home fans in your own country", said Huber. Huber's final match took place on 31 October 2001, against Justine Henin, which she lost 6–1, 6–2. During her twelve-year professional career, Huber reached 23 singles finals (winning twelve of them), 29 singles semifinals, and 50 singles quarterfinals. Her career record in singles was 447–225, and she amassed US$4,768,292 in career prize money. Huber represented her country at three levels: the Olympic Games in 1992 in Barcelona and in 1996 in Atlanta; the Fed Cup from 1990 through 1998 and in 2000 and