Jeff Simpson (born 29 October 1950) is a 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 from

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Playing career

Over the course of his career, Simpson competed in five

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 ...

ties for the New Zealand team. He won a total of four rubbers, two in singles and two in doubles. In 1973, Simpson reached the third round of both

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and the US Open.ATP World Tour Profile
/ref> Those performances saw him reach his career best ranking of 66. Simpson was a singles semi-finalist at Newport in 1973 and

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

in 1975. As a doubles player he was runner-up at three Grand Prix events, in Tokyo,

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and Roanoke.

Coaching

Simpson was New Zealand's Davis Cup captain for 16 years, from 1984 to 1999, as well as

Fed Cup The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was cha ...

captain for five years. He also coached New Zealand in the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

and

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Personal life

Simpson is the elder brother of Russell Simpson, who was also a professional tennis player. His son,

Matt Matt may refer to: *Matt (name), people with the given name ''Matt'' or Matthew, meaning "gift from God", or the surname Matt *In British English, of a surface: having a non-glossy finish, see gloss (material appearance) *Matt, Switzerland, a mu ...

, competed for a while on the Futures circuit, retiring in 2013.ITF Pro Circuit: Matt Simpson
/ref>

Grand Prix career finals

Doubles: 4 (1 title, 3 runner-ups)

Challenger titles

Singles: (1)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, Jeff 1950 births Living people New Zealand male tennis players New Zealand tennis coaches Sportspeople from Hamilton, New Zealand 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen