Eric Taino (born March 18, 1975 in Jersey City, New Jersey,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

) is a retired

ATP Tour The ATP Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The second-tier tour is the ATP Challenger Tour and the third-tier is the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour. The equivalent women's organ ...

American tennis player, who later represented the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

in international competition. Before turning pro, he was the #1 player and captain of the then #2 nationally ranked

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

tennis team and achieved All-American honors. His teammates included fellow pros

Justin Gimelstob Justin Jeremy Gimelstob (born January 26, 1977) is a retired American tennis player. Gimelstob has been a resident of Morristown, New Jersey, and as of 2009 lived in Santa Monica, California. He was the top-ranked boy in his age group at the ag ...

and

Kevin Kim Kevin Kim (born July 26, 1978) is an American retired tennis player. Career He entered the top 100 in 2004, reaching a career-high singles ranking of World No. 63 in March 2005. In 1993, Kim won the USTA National Boys' 16 Indoor Doubles Champi ...

. As a junior player, he won the 1992 US Open – Boys' Doubles with Jimmy Jackson by defeating the

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

ans future World no. 1 singles player

Marcelo Ríos Marcelo Andrés Ríos Mayorga (; born 26 December 1975) is a Chilean former world No. 1 tennis player. Nicknamed ''"El Chino"'' ("The Chinese") and ''"El zurdo de Vitacura"'' ("The Lefty from Vitacura"), he became the first Latin American play ...

and

Gabriel Silberstein Gabriel Silberstein (born 17 October 1974) is a former professional tennis player from Chile. Biography Early career As a junior he was a strong performer and most notably finished runner-up in the boys' doubles with Marcelo Ríos at the 1992 U ...

. He started a professional career in 1997 and achieved the highest ranking of World No. 122 as a singles player on the

in November 2003. He was also ranked as high as 52nd in the world in April 2000 as a doubles player. He won a doubles title in 1999 Singapore Open with

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

ian partner and future World no. 1 doubles player

Max Mirnyi Maksim "Max" Mikalaevich Mirnyi ( be, Максім Мікалаевіч Мірны, ; russian: Максим Николаевич Мирный, ; born 6 July 1977) is a Belarusian former professional tennis player. Mirnyi became a doubles speci ...

beating

The Woodies The Woodies was the nickname given to the tennis doubles pairing of Australians Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, one of the most successful pairings in tennis history. The Woodies combined Woodforde's left-handed baseline play with Woodbr ...

in the final. In 2006, Taino won the bronze medal in the men's doubles tournament at the Asian Games held in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the count ...

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

together with his fellow

Filipino-American Filipino Americans ( fil, Mga Pilipinong Amerikano) are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipinos and other Asian ethnicities in North America were first documented in the 16th century as slaves and prisoners on ships sailing to and from New ...

partner Cecil Mamiit, losing to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n pair and top doubles players

Mahesh Bhupathi Mahesh Shrinivas Bhupathi (born 7 June 1974) is an Indian former doubles world No. 1 tennis player. In 1997, he became the first Indian to win a major tournament (with Rika Hiraki). With his win at the 2006 Australian Open mixed doubles, he ...

and

Leander Paes Leander Adrian Paes ( ; born 17 June 1973) is an Indian former professional tennis player. He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players ever. He holds the record for the most doubles wins in the Davis Cup. Paes won eight men's ...

. He played for the Philippines Davis Cup team until 2008. Since his retirement, Taino returned to UCLA to finish his degree and remains active in tennis, coaching and playing in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, where he resides with his family.

Junior Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 1 (1 title)

ATP Career Finals

Doubles: 7 (1 title, 6 runner-ups)

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 7 (3–4)

Doubles: 21 (10–11)

Performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taino, Eric 1975 births Living people American male tennis players American sportspeople of Filipino descent Filipino male tennis players Filipino people of American descent Sportspeople from Jersey City, New Jersey Tennis people from California Tennis people from New Jersey UCLA Bruins men's tennis players Asian Games medalists in tennis US Open (tennis) junior champions Tennis players at the 2006 Asian Games Asian Games bronze medalists for the Philippines Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games Southeast Asian Games gold medalists for the Philippines Southeast Asian Games silver medalists for the Philippines Southeast Asian Games bronze medalists for the Philippines Southeast Asian Games medalists in tennis Competitors at the 2005 Southeast Asian Games Competitors at the 2007 Southeast Asian Games Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' doubles