Steve "Lightning" Krulevitz (born May 30, 1951) is an American- Israeli former professional

tennis player 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 co ...

, and current coach. Playing for

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

, he was an All-American. He won gold medals for the United States in singles and doubles at the

1977 Maccabiah Games At the 10th Maccabiah Games in Israel, more than 2,800 athletes from 34 countries participated in 26 different sports, including chess and bridge. The opening ceremonies were held on July 12, 1977, in Ramat Gan Stadium before a crowd of 50,000 ...

in Israel. He played # 1 for the

Israel Davis Cup team The Israel men's national tennis team (Hebrew: נבחרת גביע דייוויס של ישראל) represents Israel in Davis Cup tennis competition and is governed by the Israel Tennis Association. As of June 2020, Jonathan Erlich became Capta ...

from 1978–80. His highest world singles ranking was No. 42. He was in the top 100 on the men’s tour from 1974 to 1983.

Early life

Krulevitz was born in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, Maryland, raised in Park Heights a few blocks from the

Pimlico Race Course Pimlico Race Course is a thoroughbred horse racetrack in Baltimore, Maryland, most famous for hosting the Preakness Stakes. Its name is derived from the 1660s when English settlers named the area where the facility currently stands in honor of O ...

, and lives in Brooklandville, Maryland. He has dual American-Israeli citizenship, and is Jewish. He became a bar mitzvah at Baltimore Hebrew Congregation. During

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

, when the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

s implemented their

Final Solution The Final Solution (german: die Endlösung, ) or the Final Solution to the Jewish Question (german: Endlösung der Judenfrage, ) was a Nazi plan for the genocide of individuals they defined as Jews during World War II. The "Final Solution t ...

to the ‘Jewish Question’, his Polish grandfather’s mother, father, sisters, brother, aunts, uncles, and cousins, 22 people in all, were shipped to the Auschwitz concentration camp where they were killed.

Early career

From the age of eight of nine years old, he was friends with

Harold Solomon Harold Solomon (born September 17, 1952) is an American former professional tennis player who played during the 1970s and 1980s. He achieved a career-high world ranking of No. 5 in singles in 1980, and of No. 4 in doubles in 1976. Over the cours ...

(who was one year younger), with whom he later played on the pro tour. In 1967 he became the youngest Maryland State Men’s champion, at 15 years of age. Krulevitz attended the

Park School of Baltimore The Park School of Baltimore, known as Park, is a private, coeducational, non-sectarian, progressive day school for children in Pre-Kindergarten (age 4) through grade twelve. Park is located in Brooklandville, Maryland, near the city of Baltimo ...

('69) and won the

Maryland Scholastic Association The Maryland Scholastic Association (MSA) was a high school sports league governing high school sports in the Baltimore metropolitan area. The MSA was established in 1919 and was initially led by Dr. Phillip H. Edwards, a former coach at and the ...

Singles Championship four times (1966–69). He was also the point guard on the school's undefeated 1969 basketball team, and played soccer and lacrosse (leading the conference in scoring in 1968). He won First Team honors in soccer and basketball in 1969. He was a member of the United States Junior Davis Cup Team. He earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree in

Kinesiology Kinesiology () is the scientific study of human body movement. Kinesiology addresses physiological, anatomical, biomechanical, pathological, neuropsychological principles and mechanisms of movement. Applications of kinesiology to human health ...

from

in 1973. There, he played for the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) ...

tennis team and was named

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n in 1973, along with teammates

Brian Teacher Brian David Teacher (born December 23, 1954) is a former American professional male tennis player. He reached a career-high ranking World No. 7 in 1981. Teacher is best remembered for his singles championship at the Australian Open in 1980. Hi ...

Jeff Austin Jeff Austin (April 25, 1974 – June 24, 2019) was an American mandolinist and singer best known for being a founding member of the Yonder Mountain String Band. Biography Although Austin was born in Arlington Heights, Illinois, United ...

, and Bob Kreiss.

Professional career

Krulevitz was among the top 100 players in the world for from 1974 to 1983. He turned pro in 1973, at 22 years of age. He competed in 9 Wimbledons, 13

US Opens The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, 8

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and v ...

s, and 2

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. ...

s. His career singles titles include Travemünde, Germany (1980) and Chichester, England (1981). Krulevitz's career doubles titles include the Stowe Open (with Mike Cahill) in 1979, Sarasota (with

Ilie Nastase Ilie is a Romanian name. It is both a masculine given name, cognate of Elijah, and a surname. The given name may refer to: * Ilie Antonescu, Romanian general * Ilie Baicu, Romanian football player * Ilie Balaci, Romanian football player * Ilie Bă ...

) in 1979, and Brussels (with Thierry Stevaux) in 1980. He made it to the 3rd round of Wimbledon and the

in 1976, and to the 3rd round of the

in 1979. In May 1982 he lost in the finals of the

Tampere Open The Tampere Open is a professional tennis tournament played on clay court A clay court is one of the types of tennis court on which the sport of tennis, originally known as "lawn tennis", is played. Clay courts are made of crushed stone, br ...

, in Finland. In May 1974 Krulevitz defeated world No. 25 Raul Ramirez in Rome, Italy. In March 1976 he beat world No. 21

Vijay Amritraj Vijay Amritraj (born 14 December 1953) is an Indian sports commentator, actor and retired professional tennis player from Madras. He was awarded the Padma Shri, India's 4th highest civilian honour, in 1983.In 2022, he was honored for his cont ...

in Palm Springs, California. In July 1980 he defeated world No. 12

Jose Higueras Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods. *Jose ben Abin *Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galilean ...

in Gstaad, Switzerland. In June 1981 he beat World # 20

Adriano Panatta Adriano Panatta (born 9 July 1950) is a former professional tennis player from Italy. He won the French Open in 1976, and was the only player ever to defeat Björn Borg at Roland Garros, doing so on two occasions. He is also the only Italian man ...

in Brussels, Belgium. Krulevitz won gold medals in singles and doubles (with Larry Nagler) for the United States at the

in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Davis Cup

Krulevitz played # 1 for the

from 1978–1980, and coached that Davis Cup team as well. He was 4–5 in Davis Cup competition for Israel. He said in 1978: "I would never live anyplace but the States, but there is definitely a part of me that has strong feelings for Israel. It is a fantastic, courageous country."

Honors

Krulevitz was inducted into the

USTA The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, ...

Mid-Atlantic Tennis Hall of Fame in 1993. He was inducted into the Maryland State Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019.

Coaching

Krulevitz's students include

Gilad Bloom Gilad Bloom ( he, גלעד בלום, born 1 March 1967) is a former professional tennis player from Israel. Bloom trained at the Israel Tennis Centers. His career-high rankings were World No. 61 in singles (in 1990) and World No. 62 in doubles ( ...

(Israel),

Jaime Yzaga Jaime Yzaga Tori (born 23 October 1967) is a former professional tennis player from Peru. Tennis career As a junior, Yzaga won the French Open in 1985 and reached the semifinals of Wimbledon (also in 1985) and of the US Open (1984). Yzaga pl ...

(Peru),

Reed Cordish Reed S. Cordish (born June 18, 1974) is a fourth-generation American real estate developer, former professional tennis player, and former senior aide to President Donald Trump. Cordish is a principal and partner at his family-owned Baltimore-bas ...

, and

Vince Spadea Vincent Spadea (born July 19, 1974) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. He reached a career high tenth position in the ATP Champions Race in April 2003, as well as a career-high 18th ATP ranking in February 2005. He ...

. He is the varsity tennis head coach at

Gilman School Gilman School is an all-boys independent school An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by l ...

. He led the Greyhounds to a 12th-place finish at the high school national championships in Kentucky, and a 16th-place finish at the 2016 National Invitational Boys High School Team Tennis Tournament, located in

Newport Beach Newport Beach is a coastal city in South Orange County, California. Newport Beach is known for swimming and sandy beaches. Newport Harbor once supported maritime industries however today, it is used mostly for recreation. Balboa Island draws v ...

, California. He also led the team to eight consecutive A Conference titles in the

Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association The Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association (M.I.A.A.) is a boys' sports conference for private high schools generally located in the Baltimore metropolitan area but extending to various other regions, including the state's mostly rural Easte ...

. The team set an MIAA record for most consecutive titles, set a record for most championships in the year history of the league, and set a new school record for most consecutive championships in its 60-year history. Krulevitz founded the Krulevitz Tennis Program in 1984, with two 16-week indoor sessions for players of all ages from September through April and a 10-week outdoor camp June through August, with 90 students per week.

Writing

Krulevitz authored ''Lightning Strikes: The Life and Times of a Professional Tour Tennis Player'', 2017. It describes his life growing up in Baltimore, and as a professional tennis player.

References

External links

The Steve Krulevitz Tennis Program
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Krulevitz, Steve American male tennis players American tennis coaches Israeli male tennis players Israeli tennis coaches Israeli people of American-Jewish descent Jewish American sportspeople Jewish tennis players Sportspeople from Baltimore Tennis people from Maryland UCLA Bruins men's tennis players 1951 births Living people Competitors at the 1977 Maccabiah Games Maccabiah Games medalists in tennis Maccabiah Games gold medalists for the United States Park School of Baltimore alumni American people of Polish-Jewish descent 21st-century American Jews