Brett Steven Custer (born 1 April 1968) is a former professional

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player from Australia.

Biography

Custer, the son of Noel and Dawn, grew up in the Sydney suburb of Normanhurst. His family are distant relatives of the famed General Custer. As a junior he held national titles in the Under 12, 14, 16 and 18 categories. Custer, who left school to focus on his burgeoning tennis career, was nurtured by

John Newcombe John David Newcombe AO OBE (born 23 May 1944) is an Australian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in both men's singles and men's doubles. Newcombe won a combined 26 major titles: seven in singles, a former ...

and

Tony Roche Anthony Dalton Roche Order of Australia, AO Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 17 May 1945) is an Australian former professional tennis player. A native of Tarcutta, Roche played junior tennis in the New South Wales regional city of Wagga ...

as part of the Custom Credit Operation scheme. While still only 15 he featured in the men's doubles draw at the

1983 Australian Open The 1983 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club in Melbourne in Victoria (state), Victoria in Australia. It was the 72nd edition of the Australian Open and was held from 29 November through 1 ...

with fellow junior David Macpherson. The same pair would team up to win the boys' doubles event at the 1985 Australian Open, having been losing finalists the previous year. They defeated Czechoslovakians

Petr Korda Petr Korda (born 23 January 1968) is a Czech former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 2 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in February 1998. Korda won ten singles titles, including the 1998 Austr ...

and

Cyril Suk Cyril Suk III (born 29 January 1967) is a Czech former professional tennis player. A doubles specialist, Suk won five Grand Slam titles, one men's doubles and four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles and 32 ATP Tour doubles titles during his caree ...

in the final. At the same tournament the teenagers also made it to the round of 16 in the men's doubles. Their run included a win over the 10th seeded pair,

Shlomo Glickstein Shlomo Glickstein (; born 6 January 1958) is an Israeli former professional tennis player. He reached his career-high singles ranking of World No. 22 in November 1982, and his career-high doubles ranking of World No. 28 in February 1986. Early ...

and

Shahar Perkiss Shahar Perkiss (; born 14 October 1962) is an Israeli right-handed former professional tennis player. He reached his best singles ranking of world # 53 in March 1985. He peaked at world # 54 in the doubles rankings in November 1985. Perkiss won ...

from Israel, before it was ended by the top seeds in the draw,

Joakim Nyström Joakim "Jocke" Nyström (; born 20 February 1963) is a former top ten ranked tennis player from Sweden who won 13 singles titles during his professional career. The right-hander reached his highest singles ranking on the ATP Tour on 31 March 198 ...

and

Mats Wilander Mats Arne Olof Wilander (; born 22 August 1964) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...

. He played professionally on the Grand Prix (now ATP Tour) and Challenger circuits with limited success. At the

1986 Wimbledon Championships The 1986 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 100th edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held from ...

he won his way through qualifying, then was beaten by

Johan Kriek Johan Christiaan Kriek (born April 5, 1958) is a South African–American former professional tennis player. As a tennis player, he won two Australian Open titles and reached the semifinals at the French Open and US Open, as well as the quarte ...

in the first round. His best result on tour in singles was a second round appearance at the 1988 Australian Indoor Tennis Championships in Sydney. As a doubles player he made it into the world's top 200, won three Challenger titles and was a semi-finalist with Des Tyson at the

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

Grand Prix tournament in 1989. He played in the men's doubles draw at the Australian Open a total of five times. His only appearance in singles came as a wildcard at the

1989 Australian Open The 1989 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on Hardcourt, outdoor hard courts at Melbourne Park, Flinders Park in Melbourne in Victoria (state), Victoria in Australia. It was the 77th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 16 ...

, where he lost to

Pat Cash Patrick Hart Cash (born 27 May 1965) is an Australian former professional tennis player and coach. He reached a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 4 in May 1988 and a career-high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 6 in August 1988. Upo ...

in the opening round. Now based in the United States, Custer is the Tennis Director at Stone Creek, a club and spa in Covington, Louisiana.

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Doubles: 4 (3–1)

Junior Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Custer, Brett 1968 births Living people Australian male tennis players Australian Open (tennis) junior champions Tennis players from Sydney Australian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' doubles 20th-century Australian sportsmen 21st-century Australian sportsmen Sportsmen from New South Wales