Gareth Williams (tennis)

Gareth Williams (born 27 August 1975) is a former professional tennis player from South Africa.

Gareth Williams
Full nameGareth Williams
Country (sports) South Africa
Born (1975-08-27) 27 August 1975 (age 48)
Pretoria, South Africa
Height183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
PlaysRight-handed
Prize money$26,685
Singles
Career record0–0
Career titles0
0 Challenger, 0 Futures
Highest rankingNo. 667 (18 February 1985)
Doubles
Career record1–5
Career titles0
1 Challenger, 8 Futures
Highest rankingNo. 179 (2 October 2000)
Grand Slam doubles results
French Open1R (2001)
WimbledonQ2 (1993)
Last updated on: 14 May 2022.

Biography edit

Born in Pretoria, Williams was a doubles specialist, who had success as a junior in 1993 when he made three junior grand slam finals. After finishing runner-up at both the French Open and Wimbledon, he and Neville Godwin made a third successive final at the 1993 US Open, defeating the Australian pairing of Ben Ellwood and James Sekulov. He and Godwin also competed in several ATP Tour events, including Durban in 1993, where they made the quarter-finals.[1]

In the mid-1990s he left the professional circuit to play collegiate tennis in the United States at the University of Tulsa (UT).[2]

Graduating from UT with a psychology degree, he returned to the tour and in 2000 reached his best ranking of 179 in the world for doubles. He won a Challenger title in San Antonio in 2000 with Wesley Whitehouse, beating the Bryan brothers in the final. At the 2001 French Open he and Marcos Ondruska featured in the men's doubles main draw and lost in the first round to seventh seeds Ellis Ferreira and Rick Leach.[3]

Junior Grand Slam finals edit

Doubles: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-ups) edit

Result Year Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 1993 French Open Clay   Neville Godwin   Steven Downs
  James Greenhalgh
1–6, 1–6
Loss 1993 Wimbledon Grass   Neville Godwin   Steven Downs
  James Greenhalgh
7–6, 6–7, 6–7
Win 1993 US Open Hard   Neville Godwin   Ben Ellwood
  James Sekulov
6–3, 6–3


ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals edit

Doubles: 14 (9–5) edit

Legend
ATP Challenger (1–1)
ITF Futures (8–4)
Finals by surface
Hard (9–4)
Clay (0–1)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 Jun 1999 USA F7, Berkeley Futures Hard   Haydn Wakefield   Dustin Mauck
  Keith Pollak
5–7, 7–4, 6–4
Loss 1–1 Jun 1999 USA F8, Danville Futures Hard   Haydn Wakefield   Brandon Hawk
  Doug Root
4–6, 7–6, 3–6
Loss 1–2 Jul 1999 USA F9, Redding Futures Hard   Haydn Wakefield   Brandon Hawk
  Doug Root
2–6, 6–2, 2–6
Loss 1–3 Aug 1999 USA F12, St. Joseph Futures Hard   Jeff Williams   Cary Franklin
  Graydon Oliver
4–6, 2–6
Win 2–3 Aug 1999 USA F13, Decatur Futures Hard   Jeff Williams   Matthew Breen
  John James
6–4, 6–2
Win 3–3 Aug 1999 USA F14, Kansas City Futures Hard   Jeff Williams   Michael Passarella
  Jakub Teply
6–0, 6–2
Win 4–3 Nov 1999 USA F17, Hattiesburg Futures Hard   Jeff Williams   Zack Fleishman
  Kelly Gullett
6–3, 6–3
Win 5–3 Dec 1999 USA F21, Laguna Niguel Futures Hard   Jeff Williams   Oren Motevassel
  Alexander Waske
2–6, 7–5, 6–2
Win 6–3 Jan 2000 USA F1, Pembroke Pines Futures Hard   Jeff Williams   Rafael De Mesa
  Irak liLabadze
6–4, 6–1
Win 7–3 Jan 2000 USA F3, Boca Raton Futures Hard   Jeff Williams   Marcos Daniel
  Manuel Jorquera
7–6(7–5), 6–2
Loss 7–4 Aug 2000 Sylt, Germany Challenger Clay   Ashley Fisher   Ionut Moldovan
  Yuri Schukin
4–6, 2–6
Win 8–4 Oct 2000 San Antonio, United States Challenger Hard   Wesley Whitehouse   Mike Bryan
  Bob Bryan
6–3, 6–4
Loss 8–5 Apr 2001 USA F8, Little Rock Futures Hard   Matthew Breen   Jeff Coetzee
  Shaun Rudman
4–6, 6–7(3–7)
Win 9–5 Apr 2001 USA F10, Elkin Futures Hard   Matthew Breen   Gavin Sontag
  Jerry Turek
6–3, 6–4


References edit

  1. ^ "ITF Tennis - Pro Circuit - Durban - 29 March - 05 April 1993". ITF. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  2. ^ "Early Exit No Fun For TU's Williams". Tulsa World. 12 July 1997. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  3. ^ "Scoreboard". Star-Gazette. 31 May 2001. p. 7. Retrieved 18 June 2018.

External links edit