Faye Urban
Major Accomplishments
Top-ranked player in Canada from 1967-1969 and was in the Top 10 in the country for nine years.
Competed on the Canada Fed Cup team from 1966-1970.
Won the Canadian Open doubles title from 1965-1969.
First Canadian to be seeded at the US Championships and was gold medal winner at the 1969 Canada Games.
Biography
Faye Urban was a very accomplished junior player in Canada as she was a finalist at the Canadian Closed Junior Championships in singles and mixed doubles in 1958. That same year she was the Canadian and Ontario Junior Champion. In 1959, at the age of 14, she won the Western Ontario under 14 title and a year later she was the Ontario and Quebec provincial junior champion.
Urban was a very successful doubles player, winning several events as a junior player and several more on the WTA Tour. She won the Canadian Open (Rogers Cup) doubles title in 1965 with fellow Canadian, Brenda Nunns, whom Urban had competed with as a junior. Urban then came back in 1966, this time competing with Vicki Berner and won the Canadian Open doubles title again. The duo won the title every year following 1966 until their last time in 1969.
Urban also competed in the Canadian tournament’s singles draw and was a finalist in 1965, but lost to American Julie M. Heldman 6-3, 8-6. She reached the final again in 1968, but was defeated by Peaches Bartkowicz of the United States 6-3, 6-3. She then captured the title the following year, defeating doubles partner, Berner in the final 6-2, 6-0. Third time was a charm. She is the last Canadian to take home the Rogers Cup trophy.
Urban began playing for the Canadian Fed Cup team in both singles and doubles in 1966, alongside Vicki Berner, Brenda Nunns and Louise Brown. Their first match of the year was against Bulgaria and Canada won 2-1, but they fell in the second round to England 3-0. In 1967, Canada defeated Switzerland 2-1 and in 1968 Urban competed on the team as a playing captain. Urban’s last years playing for Canada were in 1969 and 1970 as the team defeated Hungary and Norway.
Urban won the 1967 Pan Am Games bronze medal in doubles with partner Vicki Berner and Urban captured the gold medal at the 1969 Canada Games. She competed in Wimbledon five times and reached the quarter-finals at the 1967 tournament.
In 1966, she was voted the Athlete of the Year by both the city of Windsor and the province of Ontario.