Jeffrey Gail Tarango (born November 20, 1968) is a retired American
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. He was a top-ten doubles player and a runner-up at the
1999 French Open men's doubles tournament. He is now the Director of Tennis at the Jack Kramer Club, which is just south of Los Angeles. In 2018, he was the tournament director of a $30,000 men's California championships. At that championships, ATP world-ranked No. 11, Sam Querrey, beat
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...
captain Mardy Fish to win this event.
Tarango now resides in Manhattan Beach, California with his wife and children. He is married to Jessica Balgrosky and they have five children (Nina Rose, Katherine, Jackson, Ace, and Jesse).
Career
Pro tour
Tarango turned professional in 1989, after completing his junior year at
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
, where he won two
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
team titles. During his career, he won two top-level singles titles and 14 doubles titles. Tarango reached two
Super 9 quarterfinals,
Rome in 1995 and
Miami in 1998. His career-high world rankings are No. 42 in singles and No. 10 in doubles. He was runner-up in the men's doubles at the
1999 French Open, partnering with
Goran Ivanišević
Goran Ivanišević (; born 13 September 1971) is a Croatian former professional tennis player and current coach. He is the only player to win a The Championships, Wimbledon, Wimbledon singles title as a Wild card (sports)#Professional tennis, w ...
.
Wimbledon 1995 default
In the third round trailing 6–7, 1–3 to
Alexander Mronz
Alexander Mronz (born 7 April 1965) is a former tennis player from Germany, who turned professional in 1987.
Mronz played right-handed, and won one doubles title (1988, Schenectady) in his career. Mronz reached his highest individual ranking on ...
, Tarango became infuriated with
French umpire Bruno Rebeuh, who had ruled against Tarango several times. During the match, when preparing to serve, the crowd heckled Tarango and he responded "Oh, shut up!" Rebeuh immediately issued a code violation to Tarango on the grounds of audible obscenity. Tarango protested this and called for the tournament referee calling for Rebeuh to be removed. No relief was given to Tarango and he was instructed to continue to play. He then accused Rebeuh of being "one of the most corrupt officials in the game" – to this Rebeuh gave Tarango another code violation, this time for unsportsmanlike conduct. Tarango took umbrage, packed up his rackets and stormed off the court.
To add to the controversy, Tarango's wife at the time then slapped Rebeuh twice in the face.
Tarango was eventually banned by the
ITF from the 1996 Wimbledon tournament.
Tarango was also the beneficiary of a default in the men's doubles tournament earlier at the same championship. He and partner
Henrik Holm
Henrik is a male given name of Germanic origin, primarily used in Scandinavia, Estonia, Hungary and Slovenia. In Poland, the name is spelt Henryk but pronounced similarly. Equivalents in other languages are Henry (English), Heiki (Estonian), Heik ...
were at two sets to one down against the team of
Jeremy Bates and
Tim Henman
Timothy Henry Henman (born 6 September 1974) is a British former professional tennis player. Henman played a serve-and-volley style of tennis. He was the first British man to reach the singles semifinals of Wimbledon since Roger Taylor in the ...
when Henman angrily smashed a ball which inadvertently hit ball girl Caroline Hall, resulting in their disqualification. Coincidentally, Hall was also a ball girl in Tarango's match against Mronz.
After retirement
Tarango retired from the main tour in 2003 and now devotes his time to coaching, broadcasting for
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
. He also hosts a charity event in
. Tarango is currently the vice chair for the AAC on the USOC (Governance Committee). He has been a member of the Davis Cup Committee for six years within the
. He still makes occasional appearances at professional events, including the 2008 USA F21 Futures event in
. He also commentates for BBC Radio and in particular for their extended coverage on
. During his broadcasting career, Tarango has earned a reputation for having a good eye for potential
claims that Tarango cheated in a juniors tournament to hand the eight-year-old Agassi his first-ever competitive loss.
To which, Tarango says they had a chair umpire and Agassi is lying throughout the book "just to make money".
Tarango has coached many players such as
, and many other society notables.