David Witt (born June 2, 1973) is an American

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 ...

coach and former professional player. He is currently coaching

Frances Tiafoe Frances Tiafoe Jr. ( ; born January 20, 1998) is an American professional tennis player. He reached his career high at world No. 10 in singles on June 19, 2023, becoming the first Sierra Leonean American man to be ranked in the top 10 by the ...

and is best known as the former long-time coach of

Venus Williams Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American inactive tennis player. She has been ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA for 11 wee ...

and

Jessica Pegula Jessica Pegula (born February 24, 1994) is an American professional tennis player. She has career-high rankings in singles of world No. 3, achieved October 2022, and in doubles of world No. 1, set on 11 September 2023. Pegula reached the single ...

. He enjoyed a successful junior career, during which time he won the

USTA The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national Sport governing body, 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 devel ...

Boys' 16s Clay, Hard and National Championships and was the top-ranked under-16 in the USTA in 1989. He was also a semifinalist at the US Open Junior Boys Singles event in 1991.

Career

His closest career win on the main tour was in the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Birmingham, Alabama, where he and

Brian MacPhie Brian MacPhie (born May 11, 1972) is an American former professional tennis player. Primarily a doubles specialist, he and Cary Lothringer won the 1989 Boys' Junior National Tennis Championship Boys' 18 doubles title against Steve Campbell and ...

were runners-up in the doubles in 1994. He did win two challenger-level events in his career: Guadalajara, Mexico in 1992 and the Levene Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger at Binghamton, New York in 1997. He retired from professional tennis in 2005.

Coaching

In 2002, while working as the resident pro at the

Deerwood Country Club Deerwood was the first gated community in Florida, US. After it was established in the mid-1960s, it was the most exclusive residential area on Jacksonville's Southside (Jacksonville), Southside.Patton, Charlie"Picture this: Deerwood, deserted" ...

in Jacksonville, Florida, Witt was approached by the

Williams sisters The Williams sisters are two American professional tennis players: Venus Williams (b. 1980), a seven-time major singles champion, and Serena Williams (b. 1981), a 23-time major singles champion, both of whom were coached from an early age by th ...

to act as a hitting partner during their participation at the Bausch & Lomb Championships at nearby Amelia Island. In 2007, they asked him to accompany them to Charleston, South Carolina for the

Family Circle Cup The Charleston Open, currently sponsored by Credit One, is a WTA Tour-affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. It is the oldest professional all-women's tournament in America with a $1,064,510 purse. The t ...

. Since then he has acted as a travelling hitting partner for both women, most notably for elder sister

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

. In December 2018, Venus ended the 11-year partnership. David Witt coached

from July 2019 to January 2024. In March 2024, Witt began coaching

Maria Sakkari Maria Sakkari (, ; born 25 July 1995) is a Greek professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 3 by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA, which she first achieved on 21 March 2022, making her the highest-ranked Greek player ...

, and five months later, in July he started collaboration with

ATP career finals

Doubles: 1 (runner-up)

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 4 (2–2)

Doubles: 4 (2–2)

Performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Witt, David 1973 births Living people American male tennis players Sportspeople from High Point, North Carolina Sportspeople from Jacksonville, Florida Sportspeople from Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida Tennis players from Florida Tennis players from North Carolina 20th-century American sportsmen