David Wheaton

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David Wheaton

David Wheaton (born June 2, 1969) is a former professional tennis player from the United States.

Born in Minneapolis, Wheaton played in his first tournament at age eight, and won the Minnesota State High School tennis title in 1984, as a ninth grader. In 1987, he won the US Open junior title and was ranked the No. 1 junior player in the US. In 1988, he helped Stanford University's tennis team win the NCAA team title.

Wheaton turned professional in 1988 and won his first top-level singles title in 1990 at Kiawah Island, South Carolina. He was also runner-up in the 1990 US Open men's doubles.

The most significant highlights of his career came in 1991. He won the Grand Slam Cup in Munich, beating Michael Chang in straight sets in the final 7-5, 6-2, 6-4. He also reached the semi-finals of the men's singles at Wimbledon (beating Andre Agassi in the quarter-finals before being knocked-out by Boris Becker), and was a men's doubles runner-up at the Australian Open (partnering his former Stanford team-mate Patrick McEnroe). Wheaton reached his career-high singles ranking of World No. 12 in July 1991.

Following a series of injuries, Wheaton was never able to recapture his best form after 1991.

During his career, Wheaton won three top-level singles and three tour doubles titles. His career prize-money earnings total US$5,238,401. He retired from the professional tour in 2001.

Since retiring from the tour, Wheaton has taken on a new career as a Christian radio talk-show host (producer and host of The David Wheaton Show, a live call-in talk radio program on KKMS (AM 980) in Minneapolis/St. Paul and streaming on the web at www.kkms.com; it offers a biblical perspective on current events, culture and faith), author (University Of Destruction: Your Game Plan For Spiritual Victory On Campus) and motivational speaker.

He is also on the board of Directors of the United States Tennis Association (USTA). He plays occasionally in professional tennis tour senior tournaments, and won the Wimbledon men's 35 doubles championship title in 2004, and was runner-up in 2005 and 2006.