Mary Carillo

Mary Carillo
Singles
Country	United States
Residence	Naples, Florida Greenwich Village, New York
Date of birth	March 15, 1957 (1957-03-15) (age 52)^[1]
Place of birth	Queens, New York, USA
Turned pro	1977^[2]
Retired	1980
Highest ranking	No. 33 ()^[3]
Doubles
US Open	QF (1977)
Mixed Doubles
Career record	1–4
Career titles	1
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
French Open	W (1977 w/J.McEnroe)
Wimbledon	QF (1977 w/J.McEnroe)
Last updated on: September 1, 2009.

Mary Carillo (born March 15, 1957, in Queens, New York) is an American sportscaster and former professional tennis player.

1 Tennis career
2 Post-tennis career
3 Personal life
- 3.1 Filmography
4 Awards and honors
5 See also
6 Notes
7 External links

Tennis career

Carillo played on the women's professional tennis circuit from 1977 to 1980. She was ranked as high as number 33, in the WTA Rankings, from January through March 1980, then retired due to knee injuries. She won the French Open mixed doubles title with partner and childhood friend John McEnroe in 1977. Carillo and McEnroe then made it to the quarterfinals of Wimbledon, and later that year Carillo was a women's doubles quarter finalist at the U.S. Open.

Post-tennis career

Tennis coverage

Carillo began her television career working for USA Network from 1980 through 1987, PBS from 1981 through 1986 and MSG from 1981 through 1988. She started with ESPN in 1988 and continued with them for nine years, returning in 2003. Her work on the U.S. Open for CBS Sports began in 1986, and continues to the present. In addition, Carillo worked as both a host and analyst on HBO’s Wimbledon coverage from 1996 to 1999, and on Turner Sports’ coverage of Wimbledon from 2000 to 2002. In May 2003 Carillo joined NBC Sports as an analyst on the network’s French Open and Wimbledon coverage, having made her debut as an analyst on NBC for the 1996 Family Circle Cup tennis event.

Carillo’s candid and insightful commentary has earned her accolades throughout the industry, including the distinction of being called "the sport’s top analyst" by Sports Illustrated. ^[4] She is known for her deep voice, quick wit and pointed sense of humor. Like her long-time friend John McEnroe, Carillo is known for her colorful turns of speech, and is credited with coining the phrase "Big Babe Tennis" to describe the era in women's tennis dominated by large, powerful players such as Lindsay Davenport, Serena Williams and Venus Williams.^[5] Carillo's unabashed and opinionated style of tennis commentary has drawn criticism from several top players, notably Andre Agassi, Serena and Venus Williams, and Maria Sharapova.^[6] Nevertheless, she has been named Best Commentator by Tennis Magazine (1988–91), Best Commentator by World Tennis magazine (1986) and Broadcaster of the Year by the Women's Tennis Association (1981 and 1985).

Carillo has written three books, all related to tennis: Tennis My Way (1984) with Martina Navratilova, Rick Elstein's Tennis Kinetics: With Martina Navratilova (1985), and Tennis Confidential II: More of Today's Greatest Players, Matches, and Controversies (2008) with Paul Fein. She is a former member of the WTA's Board of Directors.

Olympic coverage

Carillo served as tennis analyst in both Sydney (2000) and Atlanta (1996) and as the skiing reporter for CBS’ coverage in Nagano (1998), Lillehammer (1994) and Albertville (1992).

At the 2004 Athens Games Carillo earned critical praise in her debut as a full-time Olympic host on Bravo’s coverage in addition to anchoring USA Network’s live, Grand Slam-style coverage of the tennis gold medal finals. During NBC’s coverage of the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics she covered bobsled, luge and skeleton competitions. Her comment that men’s doubles luge is "like a bar bet gone bad" was recognized as "line of the year" in many sports television columns. In addition, Carillo’s work co-hosting the 2002 Closing Ceremony alongside Dan Hicks earned her critical acclaim.

At the 2006 Winter Games in Torino Carillo hosted "Olympic Ice," a daily figure skating show on USA Network. She co-hosted the critically acclaimed daily figure skating television program with Scott Hamilton, Dick Button, and Jamie Salé and David Pelletier.

Carillo served as late night show host, closing ceremony host, and "Friend of Bob" for the 2008 Beijing Games, her ninth Olympic assignment and her sixth with NBC. Her role focused on cultural commentary and "slice of life" pieces about China.^[7] She repeated these duties – late-night host and human-interest reporter – for NBC in their coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. She was also one of the torch bearers during the torch's tour through Canada.

Other activities

Carillo has been a correspondent on HBO’s "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" since 1997, winning a Sports Emmy Award for her Real Sports feature on the Hoyt Family.

In 2009, Carillo co-hosted the 133rd Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show broadcast on USA Networks.

Personal life

Carillo splits her time between Naples, Florida, and New York's Greenwich Village. She was married for 15 years to tennis instructor Bill Bowden. They divorced in 1998 and have two children, Anthony and Rachel. Her brother is the author Charlie Carillo.

Filmography

Carillo appeared in the 2004 film Wimbledon as herself.

Awards and honors

Carillo received a Peabody Award, one of television’s highest honors, for co-writing with Frank Deford the HBO documentary "Dare to Compete: The Struggle of Women in Sport."
Twice named Broadcaster of the Year by Women's Tennis Association (1981, 1985)
Named "Best Commentator" by World Tennis Magazine (1986), Toronto Star (1986), and TENNIS Magazine (1988–91)
Won a Sports Emmy Award for her feature on the Hoyt Family.