The youngest of seven children, Garrison started playing tennis at the age of 10 and entered her first tournament at the age of 12. At 14, she won the national girls' 18s title. In 1981, she won both the Wimbledon and
US Open junior titles and was ranked the world No. 1 junior player. Garrison graduated from
Sterling High School in Houston, Texas in 1982. Garrison began suffering from the eating disorder
bulimia when she was 19, following the death of her mother. Garrison turned professional in 1982, and skipped her graduation at Ross Sterling High School to compete in the
French Open, her first tournament as a professional, where she reached the quarterfinals. She was awarded the
WTA Newcomer of the Year in 1982. Despite battling bulimia during her first few years on the tour, Garrison enjoyed notable success on-court. She reached the
Australian Open semifinals in 1983, her first full year on the tour, and finished the year ranked world No. 10. She won her first top-level singles titles in 1984 at the European Indoor Championships in Zürich. In 1985, Garrison beat world no. 3
Hana Mandlíková and world no. 2
Chris Evert on her way to winning the
Amelia Island Championships. She was also a Wimbledon semifinalist in 1985, and in 1986, she won her first tour doubles at the
Canadian Open (partnering
Gabriela Sabatini). At the Australian Open in 1987, Garrison won the mixed doubles (partnering
Sherwood Stewart) and finished runner-up in the women's doubles (partnering
Lori McNeil). A year later, Garrison and Stewart captured the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon. At the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Garrison teamed with
Pam Shriver to win the women's doubles gold medal for the United States, defeating
Jana Novotná and
Helena Suková of Czechoslovakia in the final. Garrison defeated Shriver in the quarterfinals of the singles event, where she won a bronze medal. At the US Open, she defeated defending champion Navratilova for the first time in her career, advancing to the semifinals, where she lost to Sabatini. In 1989, Garrison defeated
Chris Evert 7–6, 6–2 in the quarterfinals of the US Open in Evert's final tournament. Garrison lost to Navratilova in the semifinals. She finished 1989 ranked at career-high No. 4 in singles. The highlight of Garrison's career came in 1990 at Wimbledon, as she defeated
Samantha Smith,
Cecilia Dahlman,
Andrea Leand,
Helena Suková, then French Open champion
Monica Seles in the quarterfinals 3–6, 6–3, 9–7, and defending Wimbledon champion and world No. 1,
Steffi Graf, in the semifinals 6–3, 3–6, 6–4 to reach her only Grand Slam singles final, becoming the first African-American woman to do so since Gibson. Moreover, it ended Graf's record 13-time streak of Grand Slam finals. Then, she lost to Navratilova 4–6, 1–6, who thus won her record ninth women's singles title at Wimbledon. Garrison claimed her third mixed-doubles title at Wimbledon that year (partnering
Rick Leach). In 1992, Garrison finished runner-up in the Australian Open women's doubles (partnering
Mary Joe Fernández). At Wimbledon in 1994, Garrison beat world No. 2
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario on the way to her 15th and final Grand Slam quarterfinal appearance. Garrison retired from professional tennis in 1996. From 1982 to 1995, she remained uninterrupted in the world's top 25. During her career, she won 14 top-level singles titles and 20 doubles titles. ==Personal life and post-tennis career==