Freddy de Jesús (born October 30, 1954) is a Puerto Rican 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. Born in

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...

, de Jesús was a

Junior Orange Bowl The Junior Orange Bowl is a non-profit organization based in Coral Gables, Florida, that holds the Junior Orange Bowl International Youth Festival, a series of events held for the youth of South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shor ...

winner in 1966, then in 1968 won the 14s Easter Bowl title for the tournament's inaugural year. While competing in the 16s age group he won U.S. national championships on both clay and hardcourt. De Jesús played collegiate tennis for the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

, earning

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 ...

honors in 1974 and 1975. At the

1975 Pan American Games The 1975 Pan American Games, officially known as the VII Pan American Games () and commonly known as Mexico 1975 (), were held in Mexico City, Mexico, from October 12 to October 26, 1975, exactly twenty years after the second Pan American Games ...

in Mexico City, de Jesús won two medals for Puerto Rico. He beat Chile's

Álvaro Fillol Álvaro Fillol (born 4 December 1952), is a former professional tennis player from Chile. He enjoyed most of his tennis success while playing doubles. During his career he won 5 doubles titles. He is the younger brother of tennis player Jaime Fil ...

in the bronze medal play-off and partnering Maria Annexy was runner-up in the mixed doubles, to

Lele Forood Lele Forood (born 10 September 1956) is the Peter and Helen Bing director of women's tennis at Stanford University. She has been the head coach since 2001, and has won 10 NCAA Championships. Previously, she was a top amateur and college tennis p ...

and

Hank Pfister Hank Pfister (born October 9, 1953) is a former tennis player from the United States, who won two singles titles (1981, Maui and 1982, Newport) during his professional career. The right-hander reached his highest individual ranking on the ATP T ...

. His best performance on the

Grand Prix tennis circuit The ITF Grand Prix Circuit was a professional tennis tour for male players founded in 1970 as the ILTF Grand Prix Tennis Circuit it was administered by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and ran annually until 1989 when it and the rival ...

was a quarter-final appearance at the San Juan Open in 1981. De Jesús was a 1991 inductee into the Puerto Rico Sports Hall of Fame.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:de Jesús, Freddy 1954 births Living people Puerto Rican male tennis players Sportspeople from San Juan, Puerto Rico Competitors at the 1974 Central American and Caribbean Games Central American and Caribbean Games silver medalists for Puerto Rico Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in tennis Tennis players at the 1975 Pan American Games Pan American Games silver medalists in tennis Pan American Games bronze medalists in tennis Pan American Games silver medalists for Puerto Rico Pan American Games bronze medalists for Puerto Rico Michigan Wolverines men's tennis players Medalists at the 1975 Pan American Games 20th-century American sportsmen