Eliot Teltscher (born March 15, 1959) is a retired professional American

tennis player 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 ...

. He won the 1983 French Open Mixed Doubles. His highest ranking in singles was No. 6 in the world and in doubles was No. 38 in the world.

Tennis career

Early years

Teltscher was born in Palos Verdes, California and lives in Irvine, California. His mother was born in

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

, and his father Eric, of Austrian descent, was a

Holocaust survivor Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, its collaborators before and during World War II ...

who immigrated to Mandatory Palestine and joined the British military, ultimately becoming an industrial engineer. He began playing tennis when he was nine, and by the time he was 17, he was ranked in the top ten in the United States junior rankings. He attended UCLA in 1978 on a tennis scholarship, but dropped out to begin his professional tennis career.

Pro career

In 1979, Teltscher turned pro. A worldwide top 10 player from 1980 to 1982. He reached his highest singles ATP-ranking on May 7, 1982 when he became ranked No. 6 in the world. He and his partner Terry Moor made it to the finals of the

French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...

in 1981, and he and Barbara Jordan won the mixed doubles title in 1983. He made it to the quarterfinals at the US Open in 1980, 1981, and 1983, where each time he was defeated by

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 ...

. He won 10 singles titles during his professional career, which ended in 1988.

Davis Cup

Teltscher was on the U.S.

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...

team in 1982,

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

, and

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

. His team defeated France in the 1982 tournament.

Coaching

He served as a coach for

Justin Gimelstob Justin Jeremy Gimelstob (born January 26, 1977) is a retired American tennis player. Gimelstob has been a resident of Morristown, New Jersey, and as of 2009 lived in Santa Monica, California. He was the top-ranked boy in his age group at the ag ...

, Richey Reneberg (1997), Jeff Tarango (1995),

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 ...

, Jim Grabb (1992), Phillip King and others. Teltscher served as a head men's tennis coach at Pepperdine University for the 1991–92 school season, and as a tennis coach at the Manhattan Beach Country Club from 1992 to 1997. He was a coach of the US national team from 1998 to 2001, then he became the coach to Taylor Dent. He was named USTA Director of Tennis Operations in December 2002. Teltscher was named the 2003

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

Men's Coach.

Jewish Sports Hall of Fame

Teltscher, who is Jewish, was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1991, into 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 1998, and into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.

Grand Slam finals

Doubles

Mixed doubles

ATP Tour finals

Singles 24 (10–14)

Doubles 14 (4–10)

References

External links

* * *
USTA

Teltscher v Onny Parun 1978 New Zealand Open final
{{DEFAULTSORT:Teltscher, Eliot 1959 births Living people American male tennis players French Open champions Jewish American tennis players People from Rancho Palos Verdes, California Sportspeople from Irvine, California Tennis players from Orange County, California Sportspeople from Sebring, Florida UCLA Bruins men's tennis players Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles American people of Austrian-Jewish descent American people of Palestinian-Jewish descent 21st-century American Jews Jews from California 20th-century American sportsmen