Raymond Owen "Ray" Ruffels (born 23 March 1946) is an Australian former professional

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 cov ...

player and coach.

Playing career

Ruffels was an

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Ope ...

semi-finalist in

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * J ...

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

and

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

, and a quarter-finalist in 1970 and

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

. In 1978, partnering with

Billie Jean King Billie Jean King (née Moffitt; born November 22, 1943) is an American former World number 1 ranked female tennis players, world No. 1 tennis player. King won 39 Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major titles: 12 in singles, 16 in women's double ...

mixed doubles Mixed doubles or mixed pairs is a form of mixed-sex sports that consists of teams of one man and one woman. This variation of competition is prominent in curling and racket sports, such as tennis, table tennis and badminton (where it is known ...

competition, Ruffels reached the final at Wimbledon and the US Open. He was a member of the Australian

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organi ...

team in

, 1970, and

Doubles titles (16)

Coaching career

Ruffels was appointed the inaugural Head Coach of the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of th ...

(AIS) tennis program in 1981. He held this position until his retirement in January 1990. Whilst at the AIS, Ruffels coached many young players that would have successful professional careers including: Pat Cash,

Wally Masur Wally Masur (; born 13 May 1963) is a tennis coach, television commentator, and former professional tennis player from Sydney, Australia. He reached the semifinals of the 1987 Australian Open and the 1993 US Open, achieving a career-high singl ...

, Darren Cahill,

Todd Woodbridge Todd Andrew Woodbridge, OAM (born 2 April 1971) is an Australian former professional tennis player and current sports broadcaster with the Nine Network. Woodbridge is best known for his successful Doubles partnerships with Mark Woodforde (n ...

Richard Fromberg Richard James Fromberg (born 28 April 1970) is a former professional tennis player from Australia. Tennis career Fromberg began playing tennis at the age of 10. He was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder.Simon Youl Simon John Arthur Youl (born 1 July 1965) is a former professional tennis player from Australia. Tennis career Youl was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder from 1981 to 1984. Juniors As a junior player, Youl formed a success ...

and Johan Anderson. After leaving the AIS, he coached Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, who as a doubles team won many major titles including the gold medal at the

1996 Atlanta Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. In 2009, he returned to Australia to work at the AIS after being a national coach for the United States Tennis Association player development program in California. In November 2016, he was awarded The President's Spirit of Tennis by Tennis Australia.

Personal

Ruffels married professional tennis player

Anna-Maria Fernandez Anna-Maria Fernandez (born October 22, 1960) is an American former professional tennis player active during the 1980s. She won five WTA titles during her career, all in doubles. Her career high ranking in singles was number 19, in approximately ...

and they have two children,

Ryan Ryan may refer to: People and fictional characters *Ryan (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Ryan (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) Places Australia * Division of Ryan, an elect ...

and Gabriela; both have taken up

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 wi ...

as a career.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruffels, Ray Australian male tennis players Australian Open (tennis) champions Tennis players from Sydney 1946 births Living people Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles Australian Institute of Sport coaches Australian tennis coaches