Wayne Arthurs (tennis)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Country | Australia | |
Residence | Melbourne, Australia | |
Date of birth | March 18, 1971 | |
Place of birth | Adelaide, Australia | |
Height | 6'3" (190 cm) | |
Weight | 177 lbs (80 kg) | |
Turned Pro | 1990 | |
Plays | Left, One-handed backhand | |
Career Prize Money | $3,565,838 | |
Singles | ||
Career record: | 129-157 | |
Career titles: | 1 | |
Highest ranking: | 44 (July 9, 2001) | |
Grand Slam results | ||
Australian Open | 3rd (2001,2007) | |
French Open | 4th (2001) | |
Wimbledon | 4th (1999, 2002) | |
U.S. Open | 4th (2000) | |
Doubles | ||
Career record: | 310-249 | |
Career titles: | 12 | |
Highest ranking: | 11 (November 3, 2003) |
Wayne Arthurs (b. March 18, 1971 in Adelaide, Australia) is an Australian professional tennis player. He is currently 151st in the ATP rankings.
Arthurs is left-handed and uses a one-handed backhand.
His serve is his strongest weapon by far, and has been referred to as the "best in the world" by several of his fellow players, including Jim Courier [1], Andre Agassi [2], and Thomas Johansson [3]. He consistently has one of the highest ace counts on the ATP Tour and favors a serve-and-volley style of play. Because of this, his game is best suited to fast surfaces.
A doubles specialist, Arthurs has won 12 ATP doubles titles in his career. In February of 2005 he achieved a belated breakthrough in singles by winning the ATP event in Scottsdale, USA, the Tennis Channel Open, in straight sets over Croat Mario Ancic. No other player in history has won his first ATP singles title at such an advanced age (Arthurs was almost 34 at the time). He also was a runnner up there for doubles with Paul Hanley, and lost to American team Bob and Mike Bryan. He is an Australian hero when it comes to Davis Cup, winning countless doubles rubbers for Australia.
In his last ever Australian Open match the Aussie retired just 3 games into his third round match against American Mardy Fish due to a rare reaction to a local anaesthetic. In practice that morning he tried out a short term local anasthetic that worked well against his sore hip. Just before the match began, he took another shot that was supposed to last for the duration of the match. Unfortunately, the stronger dose deadened his leg and he could not coordinate his movements. He refused to blame his doctors who said that this adverse reaction happens to about 1 in 1000 patients. Arthurs became emotional during the match once he realized he couldn't compete. After the in between game break down 3-0 he waved to the crowd who thanked him for an outstanding career. It is unclear, but likely, that the match was the last of his career. At the time, he was the oldest participant in the Australian Open.
He was referred to as the The Wayne Train by Adam & Wil on Triple J during sports reports.