Matthew Doyle (born 13 January 1955) is a former American and later Irish professional tour tennis player. His best result was reaching the fourth round of the US Open in 1982. He was also a long-time Irish Davis Cup player.

Tour overview

Doyle defeated Ricardo Acuña, Mark Edmondson and

Hans Simonsson Hans Simonsson (born 1 May 1962) is a retired professional tennis player from Sweden. Primarily a doubles specialist, he won 11 ATP Tour titles in his career. He won the French Open doubles title in 1983 with his countryman Anders Järryd. He al ...

, all in four sets, to reach the Round of 16 at the 1982 US Open, where he went down to another American of Irish descent,

John McEnroe John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was known for his shot-making and volleying skills, his rivalries with Björn Borg and Jimmy Connors, and his confrontational on-court beha ...

, in straight sets. He won one singles tour title, the 1983

Cologne Grand Prix The Cologne Grand Prix was a men's tennis tournament held in Cologne, West Germany, between 1976 and 1986. The tournament was a part of the Grand Prix tennis circuit for male tennis players and was played on indoor carpet court A carpet court i ...

, and reached a career high singles ranking of world No. 65, in March, 1982. Doyle also reached the 3rd round of the

1984 Australian Open The 1984 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club in Melbourne in Victoria (Australia), Victoria in Australia. Held from 26 November through 9 December 1984, it was the 73rd edition of the Aus ...

, and the second round of Wimbledon in both 1983 and 1984. In addition to reaching the Round of 16 in 1982, Doyle also reached the second round of the US Open in 1981 and 1984. In doubles, he only got past the opening round in a Grand Slam main draw once, also at the 1982 US Open, partnering with his fellow Yale alumnus, (the late) Cary Leeds. His career doubles win–loss record for (top-tier) tour events was just 23 and 48, and his career high ranking was World No. 117. Despite this, he did manage a semi-finals showing at the 1982 Italian Open, where he partnered with Leo Palin, and one finals appearance in a tour event — a runner's-up showing in the 1982 Metz Grand Prix, partnering with David Siegler.

Davis Cup

Of Irish ancestry, Doyle played in 17 Davis Cup ties for the Ireland Davis Cup team over 8 years. In the Irish's sole appearance in the World Group, in 1983, Doyle kept Irish hopes alive versus

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in the first round by winning the fourth rubber over Claudio Panatta, in an away tie (played on clay). Unfortunately, however,

Corrado Barazzutti Corrado Barazzutti (born 19 February 1953, in Udine) is a former tennis player from Italy. His career-high singles ranking was World No. 7, achieved in August 1978. After his player career Barazzutti was non-playing captain of the Italy Davis C ...

was in top form and easily dispatched Sean Sorensen in the deciding fifth match, 6–0, 6–3, 6–3. (Doyle had also lost to Barazzutti in straight sets in the opening rubber.) This loss, however, set up a memorable tie versus the

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 ...

, with the winner to remain in the World Group for the following year. Played at

RDS Arena RDS Arena is a multi-purpose sports stadium, owned by the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) and located in the Dublin suburb of Ballsbridge, Ireland. The arena was developed to host equestrian events, primarily the annual Dublin Horse Show, which was ...

to accommodate the 6000 spectators who attended, the match-up featured World No. 1

playing competitively for his only time in Ireland. As expected, McEnroe dominated, winning his two singles matches — as well as the doubles rubber with his partner Peter Fleming — in straight sets. Doyle stayed close in the first set versus McEnroe, succumbing in the end 7–9, before going down in the second and third sets 3–6, 3–6. Doyle did get the only consolation win, leveling the tie at one apiece by defeating Eliot Teltscher in the second rubber, 6–3, 6–4, 6–4. Doyle had a career singles Davis Cup match win–loss record of 19 and 10, and a doubles record of 8 and 7.

Grand Prix career finals

Singles: 1 (1–0)

Post-playing career

Doyle was work-out partner of

Mats Wilander Mats Arne Olof Wilander (; born 22 August 1964) is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. From 1982 to 1988, he won seven major singles titles (three at the French Open, three at the Australian Open, and one at the US Open), and one major ...

when the Swede reached his peak in 1988.

Personal

Despite playing for the Irish Davis Cup team as early as 1981, Doyle did not become a naturalized Irish citizen until 1985. He is judged officially to have represented the U.S. on the tour, aside from Davis Cup, until 1985. Doyle played at different times

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

and

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

while attending

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

, and graduated with a degree in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

. According to ATP.com, Doyle at some time resided in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Doyle, Matt 1958 births Living people American male tennis players American people of Irish descent Basketball players from California Citizens of Ireland through descent Irish male tennis players Irish people of American descent Tennis players from Dublin (city) Sportspeople from Redwood City, California Tennis people from California Yale Bulldogs men's golfers Yale Bulldogs men's basketball players Yale Bulldogs men's tennis players American men's basketball players