{{short description|American tennis player}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}} {{Infobox tennis biography | name = Debbie Spence | image = | fullname = Debbie Spence Nasim | country_represented = {{USA}} | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1967|8|7}} | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | height = | plays = | careerprizemoney = $128,615 | singlesrecord = | singlestitles = 1 WTA | highestsinglesranking = No. 35 (January 6, 1986) | currentsinglesranking = | AustralianOpenresult = | FrenchOpenresult = 4R (1985) | Wimbledonresult = 1R (1986, 1987) | USOpenresult = 2R (1984) | doublesrecord = | doublestitles = | highestdoublesranking = | currentdoublesranking = | AustralianOpenDoublesresult = | FrenchOpenDoublesresult = 1R (1985) | WimbledonDoublesresult = | USOpenDoublesresult = 1R (1984) }} '''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.<ref name="Gallagher">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/13/books/little-match-girl.html|title=Little Match Girl|last=Gallagher|first=Maria|date=April 13, 1986|work=New York Times|accessdate=January 20, 2018}}</ref>
===Junior career=== With her father as coach, she began playing tennis competitively at the age of eight.<ref name="McConnell">{{cite news|url=http://newsok.com/article/2257082|title=Tennis Is a Great Living But Spence Found Out It Can Be Tiresome, Too|last=McConnell|first=Jerry|date=February 26, 1989|work=The Oklahoman|accessdate=January 20, 2018}}</ref>
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.<ref name="Howard">{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-08-12-sp-18723-story.html|title=Debbie Spence Finds Fame Is Costly|last=Howard-Cooper|first=Scott|date=August 12, 1986|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=January 20, 2018}}</ref>
She won the 1983 Orange Bowl competition and was runner-up to Pascale Paradis in the girls' singles at the 1983 French Open.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.itftennis.com/juniors/players/player/profile.aspx?playerid=20001632|title=ITF Tennis - Juniors - Player Profile - Spence-Nasim, Debbie (USA)|publisher=International Tennis Federation|accessdate=January 20, 2018}}</ref>
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.<ref name="Gallagher"/>
===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.<ref name="Stabiner">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/02/magazine/a-courtship-with-fame.html?pagewanted=6|title=A Courtship with Fame (book excerpt from "Courting Fame")|last=Stabiner|first=Karen|date=February 2, 1986|work=New York Times|accessdate=January 20, 2018}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-06-02-sp-15111-story.html|title=Connors Threatens to Pull Out, Then Wins|last=Associated Press|date=June 2, 1985|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=January 20, 2018}}</ref>
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.<ref name="McConnell"/>
===Life after tennis=== Now known by her married name Nasim, she works as a realtor in Carlsbad, California.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/08/past-forward-what-happens-to-prodigies-when-they-grow-up/?mtrref=www.google.com.au&gwh=042A372719E84525E84E931B70AB8E45&gwt=pay|title=Past Forward: What Happens to Prodigies When They Grow Up?|last=Lau|first=Maya|date=November 8, 2012|work=The New York Times|accessdate=January 20, 2018}}</ref>
==WTA Tour finals== ===Singles (1-0)=== {|class="sortable wikitable" !Result !{{ns}}Date{{ns}} !Tournament !Tier !Surface !Opponent !class="unsortable"|Score |- | style="background:#98FB98;" |Win | September, 1984 | San Diego, U.S. | Ginny Circuit | Hard | {{flagicon|USA}} Betsy Nagelsen | 6–3, 6–7, 6–4 |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{WTA}} * {{ITF}}
{{s-start}} {{s-sports}} {{succession box | before = {{flagicon|CAN}} Carling Bassett | after = {{flagicon|ITA}} Gabriela Sabatini | title = Orange Bowl Girls' Singles Champion <br/><small>Category: 18 and under</small> | with = | years = 1983 }} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spence, Debbie}} Category:1967 births Category:Living people Category:American female tennis players Category:Sportspeople from Cerritos, California Category:Tennis players from Los Angeles County, California Category:21st-century American women Category:20th-century American sportswomen