John Van Nostrand (July 17, 1961 – April 15, 1984) was a 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 the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. His sister
Molly Van Nostrand also played tennis professionally. Both were coached by their father,
Kingdon Van Nostrand.
Career
Van Nostrand was a dual
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
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 ...
for
Pepperdine University
Pepperdine University () is a private university, private Christianity, Christian research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ, with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Pepperdine's main campus consists ...
, in 1982 and 1983.
[ATP World Tour Profile]
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He appeared in the main draw of one Grand Slam during his career, the 1983 Australian Open
The 1983 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club in Melbourne in Victoria (state), Victoria in Australia. It was the 72nd edition of the Australian Open and was held from 29 November through 1 ...
, in the men's doubles, but never got to play a point, as he and partner Jim Gurfein defaulted the match.[
The American was a quarter-finalist at the 1983 Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, held in ]Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...
.[ He beat world number 46 Mike De Palmer in the opening round and Mike Leach in the second round.][
In the first tournament of the 1984 Grand Prix season, at ]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 ...
, Van Nostrand and partner Brian Levine were doubles champions.[ The pair upset top seeds ]Broderick Dyke
Broderick Dyke (born 31 December 1960) is a former professional tennis player from Australia.
Dyke enjoyed most of his tennis success while playing doubles. During his career he won 8 doubles titles and finished runner-up an additional 14 times ...
and Rod Frawley
Rod Frawley (born 8 September 1952) is a former tennis player from Australia, who won one singles title (1982, Adelaide) and five doubles titles during his professional career. The right-hander reached his highest ATP singles ranking of world N ...
in the quarter-finals.[
Three months later, Van Nostrand was killed in a car accident, along with fellow player Joe Heldman. They had been traveling from ]Mexico City
Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
to the San Luis Potosí Challenger tournament. On a mountainous road near San Juan del Río, their car went off a curve and fell 660 feet down the mountain.['']Sarasota Herald-Tribune
The ''Sarasota Herald-Tribune'' is a daily newspaper, located in Sarasota, Florida, United States, founded in 1925 as the ''Sarasota Herald''.
History
The newspaper was owned by The New York Times Company from 1982 to 2012. It was then owned by ...
''
"Crash Kills Van Nostrand"
April 17, 1984
Grand Prix career finals
Doubles: 1 (1–0)
Challenger titles
Doubles: (1)
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Nostrand, John
1961 births
1984 deaths
American male tennis players
Pepperdine Waves men's tennis players
Road incident deaths in Mexico
People from Long Island
Tennis players from New York City
20th-century American sportsmen