David Witt (born June 2, 1973) is an American former professional

tennis player 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 cove ...

best known as the former long-time coach of

Venus Williams Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American professional tennis player. A former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles, Williams has won seven Grand Slam singles titles, five at Wimbledon and two at the US Open. She is ...

. He is currently coaching

Jessica Pegula Jessica Pegula (born February 24, 1994) is an American professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA rankings in singles and doubles of world No. 3, both achieved on October 24, 2022. She has won two singles titles and five doubles title ...

. He enjoyed a successful junior career, during which time he won the

USTA The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, ...

Boys' 16s Clay, Hard and National Championships and was the top-ranked under-16 in the USTA in 1989. He was also a semi-finalist at the US Open Junior Boys Singles event in 1991. His closest career win on the main tour was in the

U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships The U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships is an annual ATP Tour tennis tournament that started in 1910. It is the last remaining ATP World Tour-level tournament in the United States to be played on clay courts. The tournament began in 1910 when the ...

in Birmingham, Alabama, where he and

Brian MacPhie Brian MacPhie (born May 11, 1972 in San Jose) 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 pla ...

were runners-up in the doubles in 1994. He did win two challenger-level events in his career: Guadalajara, Mexico in 1992 and the

Levene Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger The Levene Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger is a tennis tournament held in Binghamton, New York, United States since 1994. A Binghamton and Vestal area law firmLevene Gouldin & Thompson has been the title sponsor of the tournament since 2007 ...

at Binghamton, New York in 1997. He retired from professional tennis in 2005. In 2002, while working as the resident pro at the

Deerwood Country Club Deerwood was the first gated community in Florida, US. After it was established in the mid-1960s, it was the most exclusive residential area on Jacksonville's Southside.Patton, Charlie"Picture this: Deerwood, deserted"Florida Times-Union, February ...

in Jacksonville, Florida, Witt was approached by the

Williams sisters The Williams sisters are two professional American tennis players: Venus Williams (b. 1980), a seven-time Grand Slam title winner (singles), and Serena Williams (b. 1981), twenty-three-time Grand Slam title winner (singles), both of whom were co ...

to act as a hitting partner during their participation at the

Bausch & Lomb Championships The Amelia Island Championships was a women's tennis tournament held in Amelia Island Plantation and later Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, United States. The Women's Tennis Association event was an International series tournament played on outdoor gr ...

at nearby Amelia Island. In 2007, they asked him to accompany them to Charleston, South Carolina for the

Family Circle Cup The Credit One Charleston Open, formerly known as the Volvo Car Open and the Family Circle Cup, is a WTA Tour-affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. It is the oldest professional all-women's tournament in ...

. Since then he has acted as a travelling hitting partner for both women, most notably for elder sister

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...

. In December 2018, Venus ended the 11-year partnership. Since July 2019, David Witt is coaching

ATP career finals

Doubles: 1 (runner-up)

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 4 (2–2)

Doubles: 4 (2–2)

Performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Witt, David 1973 births Living people American male tennis players Sportspeople from High Point, North Carolina Sportspeople from Jacksonville, Florida People from Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida Tennis players from Florida Tennis players from North Carolina