Jeff Tarango

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Jeffrey Gail ("Jeff") Tarango (born November 20, 1968, Manhattan Beach, California) is a former professional tennis player from the United States.

Contents

[edit] Career Summary

Tarango turned professional in 1989, after completing his junior year at Stanford University where he won two NCAA team titles. During his career, he won 2 top-level professional singles titles and 14 doubles titles. His career-high world rankings were World No. 42 in singles and No. 10 in doubles.[1] He was runner-up in the men's doubles at the 1999 French Open (partnering Goran Ivanišević).

But Tarango is probably best remembered not for his achievements as a tennis player, but for his temper. He had numerous on-court temper tantrums during his career, and more than once chose to default a match in protest at umpiring decisions he disagreed with.

The most famous incident Tarango was involved in came at Wimbledon in 1995. During a third round match in which he was trailing against Alexander Mronz, Tarango became infuriated and refused to continue when umpire Bruno Rebeuh, after having ruled against him several times before (and not always correctly), called one of his serves out. Tarango shouted: "That's it, I'm not playing", and turned to Rebeuh and yelled: "You are one of the most corrupt officials in the game and you cannot get away with this". He then, called for the officiating supervisor and asked for Rebeuh to be removed, and was denied, then he packed his bags and stormed off the court, defaulting the match. He shouted at the crowd to "Shut up", when they jeered at him as he was leaving. To add the controversy, Tarango's French wife Benedicte walked up to Rebeuh and slapped him twice in the face.[2]

Tarango was fined US$63,000 for the incident, and banned for two Grand Slam tournaments, including the following year's Wimbledon.

Tarango retired from the professional tour in 2002, and now devotes his time to coaching.

[edit] References

[edit] Record in detail

[edit] Doubles titles (14)

No. Date Tournament Surface Partnering Opponents in the final Score
1. 1 May 1995 Seoul, South Korea Hard Flag of Canada Sebastien Lareau Flag of Australia Joshua Eagle
Flag of Australia Andrew Florent
6–3, 6–2
2. 24 July 1995 Washington D.C., U.S. Hard Flag of France Olivier Delaitre Flag of the Czech Republic Petr Korda
Flag of the Czech Republic Cyril Suk
4–6, 6–2, 6–2
3. 18 September 1995 Bucharest, Romania Clay Flag of the United States Mark Keil Flag of the Czech Republic Cyril Suk
Flag of the Czech Republic Daniel Vacek
6–4, 7–6
4. 15 July 1996 Bastad, Sweden Clay Flag of Sweden David Ekerot Flag of Australia Joshua Eagle
Flag of Sweden Peter Nyborg
6–4, 3–6, 6–4
5. 16 September 1996 Bucharest, Romania Clay Flag of Sweden David Ekerot Flag of South Africa David Adams
Flag of the Netherlands Menno Oosting
7–6, 7–6
6. 16 November 1998 Moscow, Russia Carpet Flag of the United States Jared Palmer Flag of Russia Yevgeny Kafelnikov
Flag of the Czech Republic Daniel Vacek
6–4, 6–7, 6–2
7. 18 January 1999 Auckland, New Zealand Hard Flag of the Czech Republic Daniel Vacek Flag of the Czech Republic Jiří Novák
Flag of the Czech Republic David Rikl
7–5, 7–5
8. 15 February 1999 St. Petersburg, Russia Carpet Flag of the Czech Republic Daniel Vacek Flag of the Netherlands Menno Oosting
Flag of Romania Andrei Pavel
3–6, 6–3, 7–5
9. 19 April 1999 Tokyo, Japan Hard Flag of the Czech Republic Daniel Vacek Flag of Zimbabwe Wayne Black
Flag of the United States Brian MacPhie
6–7, 6–3, 7–6
10. 12 July 1999 Bastad, Sweden Clay Flag of South Africa David Adams Flag of Sweden Nicklas Kulti
Flag of Sweden Mikael Tillström
7–6(6), 6–4
11. 20 September 1999 Bournemouth, England Clay Flag of South Africa David Adams Flag of Germany Michael Kohlmann
Flag of Sweden Nicklas Kulti
6–3, 6–7(5), 7–6(5)
12. 4 October 1999 Toulouse, France Hard Flag of France Olivier Delaitre Flag of South Africa David Adams
Flag of South Africa John-Laffnie de Jager
6–3, 7–6(2), 6–4
13. 20 November 2000 Brighton, England Hard Flag of Australia Michael Hill Flag of the United States Paul Goldstein
Flag of the United States Jim Thomas
6–3, 7–5
14. 16 April 2001 Casablanca, Morocco Clay Flag of Australia Michael Hill Flag of Argentina Pablo Albano
Flag of Australia David Macpherson
7–6(2), 6–3

[edit] Doubles finalist (12)