Derek John Tarr (born September 15, 1959) is a former

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

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, originally from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Career

While at

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest uni ...

, Tarr played tennis in the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

and was the singles champion in 1981.ATP World Tour Profile
/ref> In the same year he became Auburn's first ever All-American and would be selected a further two times. Tarr twice made the second round of the singles draw in a

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

tournament. He defeated

Mike De Palmer Mike De Palmer (October 17, 1961 – August 7, 2021) was a professional tennis player from the United States. De Palmer enjoyed most of his tennis success while playing doubles. During his career, he won six tour doubles titles and finishe ...

at the 1983 US Open and beat

Christophe Roger-Vasselin Christophe Roger-Vasselin (; born 8 July 1957) is a French former professional tennis player. Roger-Vasselin won two doubles titles during his professional career. Notably in his singles career, he reached the French Open semifinals in 1983, be ...

at the

1984 Wimbledon Championships The 1984 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 98th edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held from ...

. His best performance on tour came in the 1984 Cincinnati Open, part of the Grand Prix Tennis Championship Series, where he reached the round of 16. He registered upset wins over

Tim Mayotte Timothy Mayotte (born August 3, 1960) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. Professional career A tall serve-and-volleyer, Mayotte learned to play the game on the public courts of Forest Park in his hometown of Springfi ...

at Queen's in 1982 and

Henri Leconte Henri Leconte (born 4 July 1963) is a French former professional tennis player. He reached the men's singles final at the French Open in 1988, won the French Open men's doubles title in 1984, and helped France win the Davis Cup in 1991. Leconte's ...

in the 1985

Madrid Tennis Grand Prix The Madrid Tennis Grand Prix is a defunct professional men's tennis tournament that was played on outdoor clay courts in Madrid, Spain with the exception of the 1984 edition which was played on indoor carpet courts. It was part of the Grand Prix ...

event. He had more success on the doubles circuit, making the quarter-finals of the

1982 French Open The 1982 French Open was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. The tournament ran from 24 May until 6 June. It was the 86th staging of the French Open, and the first Grand Slam ...

, with

Brad Guan Brad Guan (born 10 July 1958) is a former professional tennis player from Australia. Grand Slam career Guan made his first appearance in the main singles draw of a Grand Slam at the 1981 Australian Open, where he lost in the opening round to ...

. Tarr was also a Grand Prix semi-finalist twice, at

South Orange Open The South Orange Open, formerly known as the Eastern Grass Court Championships, is a defunct Grand Prix affiliated tennis tournament founded in 1970 as the Marlborough Open ChampionshipsBarrett, John. Tingay, Lance. West, Peter. (1971) World of Te ...

in 1982 (partnering John James) and in Madrid three years later (partnering

Marcos Hocevar Marcos Hocevar (born 26 September 1955) is a former professional tennis player from Brazil. During his career he finished runner-up at 2 singles events and won 1 doubles title. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 30 in 1983 a ...

). The best win of his doubles career came in 1983 at the Sovran Bank Classic, where he and

Jonathan Canter Jonathan Canter (born June 4, 1965) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. Early years Canter was born in Los Angeles, where his father, Stanley S. Canter, worked as a film producer. His father, who was also manager of ...

upset top seeds

Mark Edmondson Mark Edmondson (born 28 June 1954 in Gosford, New South Wales) is a retired Australian professional tennis player. Edmondson won the 1976 Australian Open while ranked 212th in the world, and remains the lowest-ranked winner of a Grand Slam t ...

and

Sherwood Stewart Sherwood Stewart (born June 6, 1946) is a former professional tennis player who was active in the 1970s and 1980s. Stewart was ranked as high as No. 60 in the world in singles on the ATP Rankings on December 31, 1978, and No. 4 in doubles on J ...

, who had just won the

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

. Tarr was based in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

during his career and became an American citizen on February 28, 1986. He has been the head coach of the

UAB Blazers The UAB Blazers are the varsity intercollegiate athletic programs that represent the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). The school is one of the fourteen member institutions of Conference USA (C-USA) and participates in Division I of th ...

tennis team since 1989.UAB Sports: Derek Tarr
/ref>

Challenger titles

Doubles: (3)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tarr, Derek 1959 births Living people South African male tennis players American male tennis players Auburn Tigers men's tennis players American tennis coaches UAB Blazers men's tennis coaches