Kevin Curren
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Kevin Melvyn Curren (born 2 March 1958) is a South African 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. He played in two Grand Slam singles finals and won four Grand Slam doubles titles, reaching a career-high singles ranking of world No. 5 in July 1985. During his career he won 5 singles and 16 doubles titles.


Personal life

Curren was born in South Africa, and he became a naturalized American citizen in April 1985.


Tennis career

Curren played both tennis and cricket at Glenwood High School in Durban. He also quickly rose among the ranks as a junior at Montclair Lawn Tennis Club in Montclair, Durban. At college he played tennis for the
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in the United States and won the
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singles title in 1979. He turned professional later that year, and won his first top-level singles title in 1981 in Johannesburg. In 1983, Curren reached his first Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon, beating defending champion,
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 ...
in the fourth round, snapping Connors' streak of 27 consecutive major quarterfinals appearances. It went on to be his only 4th round loss in 35 Grand Slam tournaments appearances. Curren lost to unseeded New Zealander Chris Lewis in a five-set semifinal match which allowed Lewis to become only the seventh unseeded player to reach the Wimbledon final. In 1984, Curren played Mats Wilander in the final of the Australian Open, after making a comeback from two sets down to defeat Ben Testerman in the semifinals. Wilander won the match, played on the grass courts at Kooyong, in four sets. In 1985, after becoming an American citizen, Curren reached the final at Wimbledon with the help of coaching from Tony Roche. After defeating
Larry Stefanki Larry Stefanki (born July 23, 1957), is an American tennis coach and former professional tennis player. Tennis career He played for nine years starting in 1979, reaching a career-high ranking of World No. 35 in singles after winning the Indian ...
, Mike De Palmer, David Mustard and then future champion Stefan Edberg in the fourth round in straight sets, he eliminated the then-world No. 1,
John McEnroe John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...
, in the quarterfinals, and world No. 3
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 ...
, in the semifinals. Curren was the first player to beat both American players in the same Grand Slam event. McEnroe commented that he felt overpowered and later that he had difficulty in dealing with Curren's highly individualistic and very fast serving, which, in its low toss, was hard to read and tended to produce low balls that skipped on the grass courts of the time. In the final, he lost in four sets to Boris Becker, in a match best remembered for making the 17-year-old Becker the youngest male Grand Slam champion (a record which was later eclipsed by Michael Chang in 1989 at the French Open). The final was intense, and Becker sent several hostile glares to Curren before and after points. On one of the final change-overs, Becker bumped Curren's shoulder as they passed one another. After his defeat, Curren was noted as saying that he thought the game would see an increase in the number of successful young players and predicted that they would have more intense, but shorter careers. Curren was the last American man to reach the final at Wimbledon until
Andre Agassi Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) 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 101 ...
did so seven years later in 1992. He followed his second Grand Slam singles finals appearance by being upset in straight sets by Guy Forget 7–6, 6–1, 6–2 on Grandstand court in the first round of the US Open on August 28, 1985. Frustration got the best of the fifth-seeded Curren at the post-match
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when he commented, "I hate the city, the environment and Flushing Meadows. There is noise, the people in the grandstand are never seated and it takes an hour and a half in traffic to get here. It's sickening that with all the money they get from TV, the USTA doesn't build a better facility. The USTA should be shot. And they should drop an A-bomb on the place."Alfano, Peter. "Sports of The Times: Unhappy Time for Kevin Curren," ''The New York Times'', Thursday, August 29, 1985.
Retrieved February 1, 2025. Though he never won a Grand Slam singles title, Curren did win four Grand Slam doubles titles. In 1981, he won the US Open mixed doubles, and in 1982 he won the Wimbledon mixed doubles and both men's doubles and mixed doubles at the US Open. During his career, Curren won five top-level singles titles and 26 doubles titles. His career-high rankings were world No. 5 in singles and world No. 3 in doubles. His final career singles title came in 1989 at
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, and his last doubles title was won in 1992 in
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. Curren retired from the professional tour in 1993. Since retiring from the tour, Curren has served as captain of the South Africa Davis Cup team.


Grand Slam finals


Singles: 2 (2 runner-ups)


Doubles: 1 (1 title)


Mixed doubles: 3 (3 titles)


ATP career finals


Singles: 13 (5 titles, 8 runner-ups)


Doubles: 53 (26 titles, 27 runner-ups)


Grand Slam singles performance timeline


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Curren, Kevin 1958 births Living people American male tennis players South African people of British descent Tennis players from Durban South African emigrants to the United States South African male tennis players Tennis players from Austin, Texas Texas Longhorns men's tennis players South African expatriate tennis players in the United States US Open (tennis) champions Wimbledon champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles Alumni of Glenwood High School (Durban) 20th-century American sportsmen 20th-century South African sportsmen