Joshua "Josh" Goffi (born 24 January 1979) 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 Brazil.

Biography

Early years

Goffi is the son of tennis coach Carlos Goffi, who coached the McEnroe brothers through his academy. He was born in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

on 24 January 1979. When he was very young the family moved to

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

. His mother is an American. In his younger days he favoured soccer as his sport and it was only at the age of 14 that he began to play tennis, at his own insistence rather than his father's, who was adamant not to pressure his son into the sport.

Tennis career

From 1998 to 2001 he attended

Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enro ...

and was on three occasions named in the All-ACC first team. He made it into the top-10 of the collegiate rankings for both singles and doubles. After graduating with a finance degree in 2001, he competed professionally for four years, most successfully as a doubles player. His biggest tournament win on the professional tour came when he partnered with

Travis Parrott Travis Parrott (born August 16, 1980)Travis Parrott
is an American former professional ...

to win a

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 ...

event at

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 ...

in 2003. He also notably had a singles win over one-time doubles partner

Stan Wawrinka Stanislas "Stan" Wawrinka (; born 28 March 1985) is a Swiss professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking of world No. 3 for the first time on 27 January 2014. His career highlight ...

in the qualifying rounds of the 2004 Turin Challenger. At ATP Tour level he was a quarter-finalist with

Ricardo Mello Ricardo Mello (born 21 December 1980) is a Brazilian retired tennis player. His preference is for clay courts. He has had the occasional win in hard court tournaments. His best singles rank was No. 50 in 2005. He won one singles tournament (Delra ...

at the 2003 Brasil Open in São Paulo and appeared in the main draw of the

Kitzbühel Kitzbühel (, also: ; ) is a medieval town situated in the Kitzbühel Alps along the river Kitzbüheler Ache in Tyrol, Austria, about east of the state capital Innsbruck and is the administrative centre of the Kitzbühel district (). Kitzbühel ...

doubles in 2004. Goffi represented his birth country during his career and in 2004 was called up to Brazil's Davis Cup team, which had been hit by a boycott from its top players. The tie, an Americas Zone match against

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

, took place in

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...

. Speaking only a little Portuguese, Goffi played in the doubles beside

Alexandre Simoni Alexandre Torres Simoni (born 2 July 1979) is a retired professional Brazilian tennis player. After being ranked as high as No. 23 in the ITF World Junior Ranking, he turned professional in 1997. On the ATP tour, his best results were in 2001 ...

, a match they won in four sets, versus Paulo Carvallo and

Ramón Delgado Ramón Delgado (; born 14 November 1976) is a Paraguayan retired tennis player and current tennis coach. He turned professional in 1995 and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 52 in April 1999. He reached the final at Bogotá in ...

Coaching

His coaching career started in 2006, at

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

, where he worked as an assistant coach for two seasons. This was followed by two years at

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

, also as an assistant coach. Since 2011 he has been the head coach of the South Carolina Gamecocks men's tennis team.

Personal life

Goffi is married to the former professional soccer player

Nancy Augustyniak Goffi Nancy Jean Augustyniak Goffi (; born February 1, 1979) is an American former professional soccer player who featured primarily as a defender. Early life Augustyniak Goffi went to Clemson University. While enrolled, she played for the Clemso ...

, who he met while they were both at Clemson University. His sister in-law,

Julie Augustyniak Julie Ann Augustyniak (born February 1, 1979) is an American former professional soccer player who featured primarily as a defender. Early life Augustyniak was born in Norfolk, Virginia and raised in Peachtree City, Georgia. She went to Mc ...

, also played soccer professionally.

Challenger titles

Doubles

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Goffi, Josh 1979 births Living people Brazilian male tennis players Brazilian tennis coaches Brazilian emigrants to the United States Tennis players from São Paulo Clemson Tigers men's tennis players Arizona State Sun Devils men's tennis coaches Duke Blue Devils men's tennis coaches South Carolina Gamecocks men's tennis coaches Tennis players from South Carolina American tennis coaches