Rhonda Rajsich (born October 7, 1978) is an American racquetball player. She has been World Champion in Women's Singles twice, and Pan American Champion 6 times (4 times in Women's Singles & twice in Women's Doubles), as well as US Open champion four times. Rajsich was the #1 player on the Ladies Professional Racquetball Tour season ending rankings four times – three straight seasons from 2005–06 to 2007-08 and then again in 2010–11. She is of Serbian descent.
Junior career
Rajsich played racquetball several years as a junior with some success, although most of it came in doubles. She won Girls U12 Doubles at the 1991 World Junior Championships with Vanessa Tulao. Rajsich and Tulao won Girls U14 Doubles at the USA Racquetball Junior Olympics in 1992 and 1993. In 1994, they won Girls U16 at both the World Junior Championships and the USA Racquetball Junior Olympics.
In 1995, Rajsich began a streak of three consecutive Girls U18 Doubles at the USA Racquetball Junior Olympics. She won the first and third with Tulao (1995 and 1997) and the second with Dawn Gates (1996). Rajsich took the double at the 1996 World Junior Championships, as she won both Girls U18 Singles and Doubles with Sadie Gross. Rajsich's last junior title came in Girls U18 Singles at the 1997 USA Racquetball Junior Olympic Championships.
Collegiate career
Rajsich played basketball rather than racquetball in college. She first played at Phoenix College in the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference, where she was freshman of the year in 1997-98, and was a first-team all-conference player in both 1997-98 and 1998–99.
She then transferred to Stephen F. Austin University and played for the Ladyjacks in 1999-2000 on a team that went 28-4 and won the Southland Conference Championship.
2000-01 to 2004-05 - Career begins
Rajsich began playing the women's pro tour in the 2000–01 season. Immediately, she made an impact, as she reached the final of the 2000 US Open, in her first time playing that event and only her 3rd event of the season. Also, Rajsich won the last event of the season: Tournament of Champions in Portland, defeating Laura Fenton in the final. The win helped her finish the season ranked 3rd, starting a streak of being ranked within the top 6 that continues to present.
In 2001–02, Rajsich again won an event - in Rosarito Beach, where she defeated Kerri Wachtel — and was a finalist in Lakewood, Colorado, losing to Jackie Paraiso. In 2002, Rajsich made her first appearance with Team USA by competing in Women's Singles at the 2002 Pan American Championships (then Tournament of the Americas), where she was bronze medalist after losing in the semi-finals to Josée Grand'Maître of Canada.
Rajsich didn't win a pro title in the 2002–03 season, but she didn't lose in the Round of 16 either, as she had five times over the previous two seasons. She did reach one final that season: in Albuquerque, where she lost to Paraiso. Overall, Rajsich was ranked 4th at season's end.
Rajsich won only one title in the 2003–04, but it was the big one: the 2003 US Open. It was her second US Open final, and she played Christie Van Hees, as she did back in 2000, but this time Rajsich won, 6-11, 11–7, 11–4, 11–7. Rajsich was a finalist in one other event that season, which was in Tempe, Arizona, where Van Hees got the better of her. She finished the season ranked 3rd, which was a career-best.
Rajsich won Women's Singles at the US National Championships for the first time in 2004, which led to her playing Women's Singles at the 2004 World Championships in Anyang, South Korea, where she lost to Angela Grisar in the quarterfinals, 15–14, 15–10.
Rajsich reached three finals in the 2004–05 season, which was one better than she'd done previously in her career, and that began a streak of at least three finals a season that she maintained until the 2016–17 season. Rajsich went 1–2 in those three finals, winning in Miami, where she defeated Grisar in the final, but coming runner up in Nashville to Van Hees and at the 2004 US Open to Cheryl Gudinas, 11–8, 11–5, 8-11, 12–14, 11–3. She finished the season ranked 3rd, as she had the season before.
2005-06 to 2010-11 - Prime years
Rajsich began a period of seasons with multiple pro tour wins in the 2005–06 season. She again beat Grisar to win the Miami Open, and also won in New Orleans by defeating Paola Longoria in what was their first meeting in a final. Rajsich was also runner-up in two events that season, including the 2005 US Open, where Van Hees got the better of her. All together her results led to Rajsich becoming the #1 player on the women's tour for the first time.