Brian David Teacher (born December 23, 1954) is an American 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. He reached career-high

ranking A ranking is a relationship between a set of items, often recorded in a list, such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than", or "ranked equal to" the second. In mathematics, this is known as a weak ...

s of world No. 7 in singles and world No. 5 in doubles, both in 1981. Teacher is best remembered for being a

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

singles champion, triumphing at the 1980 Australian Open. He won eight career singles titles and 16 doubles titles. Following his playing career, he became a touring coach on both the

ATP Tour The ATP Tour (known as ATP World Tour between January 2009 and December 2018) is the sole worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) founded in 1990 that replaced the earlier dual Grand Prix ...

and

WTA Tour The WTA Tour (also known as the Hologic WTA Tour for sponsorship reasons) is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women and organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125 series, and third-tier is the ITF Wome ...

. He currently runs the Brian Teacher Tennis Academy in South Pasadena, California.

Early and personal life

Teacher was born in San Diego, California.Robert Slater (2000)
''Great Jews in Sports''
/ref> He attended Crawford High School in San Diego, graduating in 1972. He later lived in

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hil ...

, California. In 1979, he married fellow Californian player Kathy May, also a top 10 tennis player. They subsequently divorced. He later studied for his MBA at the USC Marshall School of Business.

Tennis career

Junior, high school, and college

Teacher won a CIF singles title in 1972 while at Crawford High School. In 1972, he won the boys' 18 singles and doubles titles. At the University of California-Los Angeles, where he studied economics, he won the Pacific-8 singles and doubles championship in 1974, was an

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

from 1973 to 1976, and was a member of the UCLA teams that won the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

championship in 1975 and 1976.

Professional career

He reached the finals in the

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

n and

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Opens in 1977. In 1978, at the

Seiko , commonly known as Seiko ( , ), is a Japanese maker of watches, clocks, electronic devices, and semiconductors. Founded in 1881 by Kintarō Hattori in Tokyo, Seiko introduced the world's first commercial quartz wristwatch in 1969. Seiko is ...

World Super Tennis Tournament in Tokyo, Teacher upset UCLA graduates

Jimmy Connors James Scott Connors (born September 2, 1952) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 2 ...

and

Arthur Ashe Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. (July 10, 1943 – February 6, 1993) was an American professional tennis player. He won three Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, Grand Slam titles in singles and two in doubles. Ashe was the first Black player selected ...

before losing in the final to

Björn Borg Björn Rune Borg (; born 6 June 1956) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 109 weeks. Borg won 66 singles titles during his caree ...

6–3, 6–4. In 1980, he won the

Australian Open The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Sl ...

, becoming the second Jewish player to win a men's Grand Slam Singles event (after Dick Savitt). He won the final over

Kim Warwick Kim Warwick (born 8 April 1952) is an Australian former professional male tennis player who competed on the ATP Tour from 1970 to 1987, reaching the singles final of the Australian Open in 1980. He defeated over 35 players ranked in the top t ...

of Australia in straight sets. With his Grand Slam victory, Teacher is one of only five American male players in the Open era to have won a single Grand Slam event (along with

Michael Chang Michael Te-pei Chang (born February 22, 1972) is an American former professional tennis player and coach. He was ranked world No. 2 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in 1996. Chang is the youngest man in history to win a singl ...

Vitas Gerulaitis Vytautas "Vitas" Kevin Gerulaitis (July 26, 1954 – September 17, 1994) was an American professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in 1978. Gerulaitis won the men's si ...

Andy Roddick Andrew Stephen Roddick (born August 30, 1982) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 13 weeks, including as the year-end No. 1 in ...

, and

Roscoe Tanner Leonard Roscoe Tanner (born October 15, 1951) is an American former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4 on July 30, 1979. Tanner won 16 titles throughout his career. Tanner was famous for his big ...

). Seven more Americans have more than one Slam ( Stan Smith,

Jim Courier James Spencer Courier (born August 17, 1970) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 58 ...

Andre Agassi Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 101 ...

John McEnroe John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...

, and

Pete Sampras Pete Sampras (born August 12, 1971) is an American former professional tennis player. One of the most successful tennis players of all time, he was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the A ...

). His career-high world singles ranking was No. 7 and his world doubles ranking was No. 5, both in 1981. He won 8 career singles titles, and 16 doubles titles.

Halls of fame

Teacher was inducted in 2001 into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Hall of Fame, in 2008 into the San Diego Tennis Hall of Fame, and he is also a member of the

Tennis Hall of Fame and the

Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, in Beverly Hills, California, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring American Jews, American Jewish athletes, other sports personalities, and teams from Southern California who have distingui ...

. In 2014 he was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. In 2015, Teacher was inducted into the Southern California Tennis Association Hall of Fame.

Coach

Following his playing career, he became an ATP and WTA touring coach working with

and Greg Rusedski. Under his tutelage, Rusedski made a run from #85 in the world to the top ten and the U.S. Open finals. Teacher also coached world #1 doubles players Jim Grabb, Richey Reneberg,

Daniel Nestor Daniel Mark Nestor ( ; ; born Danijel Nestorović, September 4, 1972) is a Canadian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's doubles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 108 weeks ( fifth-most ...

, and

Max Mirnyi Maksim Mikalaevich "Max" Mirnyi (born 6 July 1977) is a Belarusian former professional tennis player. Mirnyi became a doubles specialist following his singles career, in which he reached a career-high of World No. 18 (August 2003) and finished ...

. On the women's side, he coached WTA tour player Marissa Irvin. He currently runs the Brian Teacher Tennis Academy in South Pasadena, California

Grand Slam finals

Singles (1 win)

Career finals

Singles (8 titles, 15 runners-up)

Doubles (16 titles, 7 runners-up)

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline

* The 1972 US Open had a preliminary round before the 128 player draw began.

Miscellaneous

*After he retired he completed his undergraduate economics degree and studied business at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

. *As a coach, he worked with Jim Grabb,

Mark Knowles Mark Knowles (born 4 September 1971) is a Bahamians, Bahamian former professional tennis player and coach. He is a former List of ATP number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles tennis, doubles. He won three of the four Gran ...

, Richey Reneberg, and Greg Rusedski. *He is married and has two children.

Notes

References

External links

* *
Brian Teacher Tennis Academy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Teacher, Brian 1954 births Living people American male tennis players Australian Open (tennis) champions Jewish American tennis players Tennis players from San Diego UCLA Bruins men's tennis players Marshall School of Business alumni Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's singles 21st-century American Jews Jews from California 20th-century American sportsmen

Early and personal life

Tennis career

Junior, high school, and college

Professional career

Halls of fame

Coach

Grand Slam finals

Singles (1 win)

Career finals

Singles (8 titles, 15 runners-up)

Doubles (16 titles, 7 runners-up)

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline

Miscellaneous

See also

Notes

References

External links