Born in Canada to an American father and a French mother, Mary Pierce, who started playing tennis at the age of ten in Florida, won the US under 12s Championships in 1987. She started her professional career at the early age of 14, and her father Jim turned his hand to tennis coaching, but had a difficult relationship with the US tennis authorities. The family decided to move to France.

Trained at the National Centre at Roland-Garros, Mary Pierce won her first French title in Palermo in July 1991, took part in the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992 and reached the quarter finals of the Australian Open in 1993. This period was marked by her break from her father, who had been banned from the courts. Nick Bollettieri then became her trainer.

She played in front of a French audience in the final of Roland-Garros in 1994. Having beaten the German player Steffi Graf, she was then beaten by the Spanish player Arantxa Sanchez, whom she went on to beat in the final of the Australian Open in 1995.

Following a difficult season in 1996, she bounced back in 1997, won the Federation Cup and reached the final of the Masters. In 2000, trained by her brother David, she took the title at Roland-Garros.

Having won the Federation Cup with Amélie Mauresmo in 2003, she reached the finals of Roland-Garros and the US Open in 2005. But she suffered injury in 2006. Since then, having had to pull out of the Olympic Games in Peking in 2008 and in spite of a still painful knee, Mary Pierce still won't hear of retiring from active sport.