Brett Steven Custer (born 1 April 1968) is a former professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player from Australia.

Biography

Custer, the son of Noel and Dawn, grew up in the Sydney suburb of

Normanhurst Normanhurst is a suburb in the Northern Sydney region, or Upper North Shore of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia, 22 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Hornsby Sh ...

. His family are distant relatives of the famed

General Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, b ...

. As a junior he held national titles in the Under 12, 14, 16 and 18 categories. Custer, who left school to focus on his burgeoning tennis career, was nurtured by

John Newcombe John David Newcombe AO OBE (born 23 May 1944) is an Australian former professional tennis player. He is one of the few men to have attained a world No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles. At the majors, he won seven singles titles, a fo ...

and

Tony Roche Anthony Dalton Roche Order of Australia, AO Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 17 May 1945) is an Australian former professional tennis player. A native of Tarcutta, Roche played junior tennis in the New South Wales regional city of Wagg ...

as part of the Custom Credit Operation scheme. While still only 15 he featured in the men's doubles draw at the

1983 Australian Open The 1983 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club in Melbourne in Victoria in Australia. It was the 72nd edition of the Australian Open and was held from 29 November through 11 December 1983. ...

with fellow junior David Macpherson. The same pair would team up to win the boys' doubles event at the

1985 Australian Open The 1985 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club in Melbourne in Victoria (state), Victoria in Australia. It was the 74th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 25 November through 8 ...

, having been losing finalists the previous year. They defeated Czechoslovakians

Petr Korda Petr Korda (born 23 January 1968) is a Czech former professional tennis player. He won the 1998 Australian Open and was runner-up at the 1992 French Open, reaching a career-high ranking of No. 2 in February 1998. Korda tested positive for dopin ...

and

Cyril Suk Cyril Suk III (born 29 January 1967) is a former professional tennis player. A doubles specialist, Suk won five Grand Slam titles, one men's doubles and four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles and 32 ATP Tour doubles titles during his career. Ear ...

in the final. At the same tournament the teenagers also made it to the round of 16 in the men's doubles. Their run included a win over the 10th seeded pair,

Shlomo Glickstein Shlomo Glickstein ( he, שלמה גליקשטיין; born 6 January 1958) is an Israeli former professional tennis player. He reached his career-high singles ranking of World No. 22 in November 1982, and his career-high doubles ranking of World ...

and

Shahar Perkiss Shahar Perkiss (born 14 October 1962) is an Israeli right-handed former professional tennis player. He reached his best singles ranking of world # 53 in March 1985. He peaked at world # 54 in the doubles rankings in November 1985. Perkiss won th ...

from Israel, before it was ended by the top seeds in the draw,

Joakim Nyström Joakim "Jocke" Nyström (born 20 February 1963) is a former top ten ranked tennis player from Sweden who won 13 singles titles during his professional career. The right-hander reached his highest singles ranking on the ATP Tour on 31 March 1986, ...

and

Mats Wilander Mats Arne Olof Wilander (; born 22 August 1964) is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. From 1982 to 1988, he won seven major singles titles (three at the French Open, three at the Australian Open, and one at the US Open), and one major ...

. He played professionally on the

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

(now ATP Tour) and

Challenger Challenger, Challengers, or The Challengers may refer to: Entertainment Comics and manga * Challenger (character), comic book character * ''Challengers'' (manga), manga by Hinako Takanaga Film and TV * ''The Challengers'' (TV series), a 1979 ...

circuits with limited success. At the

1986 Wimbledon Championships The 1986 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 100th edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held from ...

he won his way through qualifying, then was beaten by

Johan Kriek Johan Christiaan Kriek (born April 5, 1958) is a South African-American retired tennis player and founder of the Global Water Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to delivering clean water to the world's neediest communities. He won t ...

in the first round. His best result on tour in singles was a second round appearance at the 1988 Australian Indoor Tennis Championships in Sydney. As a doubles player he made it into the world's top 200, won three Challenger titles and was a semi-finalist with

Des Tyson Desmond Tyson (born 26 September 1965) is a former professional tennis player from Australia. Biography A right-handed player, Tyson comes from the New South Wales town of Griffith. He partnered with Jamie Harty to win the boys' doubles title ...

at the

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Grand Prix tournament in 1989. He played in the men's doubles draw at the Australian Open a total of five times. His only appearance in singles came as a wildcard at the

1989 Australian Open The 1989 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at Flinders Park in Melbourne in Victoria in Australia. It was the 77th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 16 through 29 January 1989. Seniors Men's s ...

, where he lost to

Pat Cash Patrick Hart Cash (born 27 May 1965) is an Australian former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 4 in May 1988 and a career-high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 6 in August 1988. Upon winning ...

in the opening round. Now based in the United States, Custer is the Tennis Director at Stone Creek, a club and spa in

Covington, Louisiana Covington is a city in, and the parish seat of, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 11,564 at the 2020 United States census. It is located at a fork of the Bogue Falaya and the Tchefuncte River. Covington is part of ...

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Doubles: 4 (3–1)

Junior Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Custer, Brett 1968 births Living people Australian male tennis players Australian Open (tennis) junior champions Tennis players from Sydney Australian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' doubles 20th-century Australian people 21st-century Australian people Sportsmen from New South Wales