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.
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[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 | Sebastien Lareau | Joshua Eagle Andrew Florent |
6–3, 6–2 |
2. | 24 July 1995 | Washington D.C., U.S. | Hard | Olivier Delaitre | Petr Korda Cyril Suk |
4–6, 6–2, 6–2 |
3. | 18 September 1995 | Bucharest, Romania | Clay | Mark Keil | Cyril Suk Daniel Vacek |
6–4, 7–6 |
4. | 15 July 1996 | Bastad, Sweden | Clay | David Ekerot | Joshua Eagle Peter Nyborg |
6–4, 3–6, 6–4 |
5. | 16 September 1996 | Bucharest, Romania | Clay | David Ekerot | David Adams Menno Oosting |
7–6, 7–6 |
6. | 16 November 1998 | Moscow, Russia | Carpet | Jared Palmer | Yevgeny Kafelnikov Daniel Vacek |
6–4, 6–7, 6–2 |
7. | 18 January 1999 | Auckland, New Zealand | Hard | Daniel Vacek | Jiří Novák David Rikl |
7–5, 7–5 |
8. | 15 February 1999 | St. Petersburg, Russia | Carpet | Daniel Vacek | Menno Oosting Andrei Pavel |
3–6, 6–3, 7–5 |
9. | 19 April 1999 | Tokyo, Japan | Hard | Daniel Vacek | Wayne Black Brian MacPhie |
6–7, 6–3, 7–6 |
10. | 12 July 1999 | Bastad, Sweden | Clay | David Adams | Nicklas Kulti Mikael Tillström |
7–6(6), 6–4 |
11. | 20 September 1999 | Bournemouth, England | Clay | David Adams | Michael Kohlmann Nicklas Kulti |
6–3, 6–7(5), 7–6(5) |
12. | 4 October 1999 | Toulouse, France | Hard | Olivier Delaitre | David Adams John-Laffnie de Jager |
6–3, 7–6(2), 6–4 |
13. | 20 November 2000 | Brighton, England | Hard | Michael Hill | Paul Goldstein Jim Thomas |
6–3, 7–5 |
14. | 16 April 2001 | Casablanca, Morocco | Clay | Michael Hill | Pablo Albano David Macpherson |
7–6(2), 6–3 |
[edit] Doubles finalist (12)
- 1994 - St. Poelten
- 1997 - Hong Kong
- 1998 - Auckland, Los Angeles
- 1999 - French Open
- 2000 - Auckland, Tokyo
- 2001 - Moscow, Stuttgart, Gstaad, Marseille, Stuttgart