Jeff Simpson (born 29 October 1950) 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

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

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 run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the orga ...

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 Wimbledon 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 (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

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

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

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 chan ...

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

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

and 1996 Summer Olympics.

Personal life

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