David Nainkin (born 20 September 1970) is a 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 c ...

player from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

Career

Nainkin never reached a final on the

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 organisa ...

but made it into the semi finals of the 1995 Nokia Open in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, before losing to

Michael Chang Michael Te-pei Chang (born February 22, 1972) is an American former professional tennis player and coach. He is the youngest man in history to win a singles major, winning the 1989 French Open at 17 years and 109 days old. Chang won a total o ...

. He had the best win of his

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

career at the 1996 US Open when he upset countryman and number nine seed

Wayne Ferreira Wayne Richard Ferreira (born 15 September 1971) is a South African former professional tennis player and current tennis coach. Career As a junior player, Ferreira was ranked world no. 1 junior doubles player and no. 6 junior singles player. He ...

6–4, 6–4, 2–6, 7–5 in the opening round. This was despite Nainkin being ranked 215 in the world and having never previously won a Gram Slam match in five attempts. He lost in straight sets to

Jonas Björkman Jonas Lars Björkman (; born 23 March 1972) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He is a former world No. 1 in doubles, and also a former world No. 4 in singles. Björkman retired from professional tennis after competing at the 2008 T ...

in the second round. In the 1998 US Open he made it into the third round, his best ever showing, with wins over fellow qualifier

Mark Merklein Mark Merklein (born June 28, 1972) is a Bahamas-born former college and professional tennis player. He played for the Bahamas Davis Cup team from 1999–2004. Merklein was born in Freeport, Bahamas. He grew up in Coral Springs, Florida, and att ...

(6–7, 6–0, 6–4, 6–4 ) and

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and v ...

winner

Gustavo Kuerten Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten (; born 10 September 1976) is a Brazilian former world No. 1 tennis player. He won the French Open singles title three times (1997, 2000, and 2001), and was the Tennis Masters Cup champion in 2000. During his career he wo ...

(2–6, 6–4, 6–3, 6–4). He was then eliminated by eventual champion

Patrick Rafter Patrick Michael Rafter (born 28 December 1972) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He reached the top Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking on 26 July 1999. His career highlights include consecutive US Open ...

6–1, 6–1, 6–1. The South African represented his country at the

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

and

1999 Davis Cup The 1999 Davis Cup (also known as the 1999 Davis Cup by NEC for sponsorship purposes) was the 88th edition of the Davis Cup, the most important tournament between national teams in men's tennis. 129 teams entered the competition, 16 in the Worl ...

s. He now works for the

United States Tennis Association The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, ...

and coaches top American players such as

Mardy Fish Mardy Simpson Fish (born December 9, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. He was a hardcourt specialist. He is one of several American tennis players who rose to prominence in the early 2000s.Fish won six tournaments on the m ...

Sam Querrey Samuel Austin Querrey (; born October 7, 1987) is an American former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 achieved on February 26, 2018, and won ten ATP singles titles. Known for his powerful serve ...

and

Sloane Stephens Sloane Stephens (born March 20, 1993) is an American professional tennis player. She achieved a career-best ranking of world No. 3 after Wimbledon in 2018. Stephens was the 2017 US Open champion, and has won seven WTA Tour singles titles in t ...

. Previously, he had been the personal coach of Wayne Ferreira.USTA Profile
/ref> In 2020 he was the head coach for the US Olympic Tennis Team.

Challenger titles

Singles: (1)

Doubles: (4)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nainkin, David 1970 births Living people South African male tennis players South African tennis coaches South African expatriates in the United States