Chris Woodruff (born January 3, 1973) is an American former professional male tennis player. He hails from Knoxville, Tennessee and was trained at the Knoxville Racquet Club.
Contents |
Woodruff attended the hometown University of Tennessee where in 1993 he won the NCAA single's title by defeating Wade McGuire of Georgia. He remains the only individual champion the school has ever had. He was also an All-American in 1992.
After winning the collegiate crown,[1] Woodruff began his professional career.
Woodruff won two singles titles during his career, and his first was also his biggest: The Canadian Open in 1997, an ATP Masters Series event.[1] After winning that title he posted the highest ranking of his career: World No. 29 on August 25, 1997. He also won the 1999 Newport, Rhode Island event at the Tennis Hall of Fame.[2]
He was named to the United States Davis Cup team in 2000, joining Andre Agassi after Pete Sampras and Todd Martin both were forced to drop out, and won his match against Wayne Black to help erase a 2–1 deficit and advance to the second round. He reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open in the year 2000 before losing to Pete Sampras in straight sets.[3]
In the summer of 2002, Woodruff returned to the University of Tennessee as a volunteer assistant coach [4] He served first as an assistant tennis coach before being promoted to associate head coach in 2006 when Sam Winterbotham was hired as head coach. Since Woodruff has been back at Tennessee, the Vols have had 12 All-America and 20 All-Southeastern Conference selections.
Tennessee has steadily improved their record and ranking since Woodruff and Winterbotham began coaching together. The Vols have won 94 dual matches in the four seasons. In 2010, the Vols won both the Southeastern Conference reached the NCAA Tennis Championship final for the third time in program history. The team finished with 31 victories, the second-most in a season in Tennessee history.[5]
| Year | Championship | Opponent in Final | Score in Final |
| 1997 | Montreal | Gustavo Kuerten | 7–5, 4–6, 6–3 |