Kirk Haygarth (born 20 January 1971) 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 South Africa.

Biography

Personal life

Haygarth was born in 1971, the son of Peter and

Renée Renée (without the accent in non-French speaking countries) is a French/Latin feminine given name. Renée is the female form of René, with the extra –e making it feminine according to French grammar. The name Renée is the French form of t ...

from Durban. His mother, known during her career as Renée Schuurman, was a tennis player who won six grand slam doubles titles. He has an older brother Brent, who also became a tennis player.

Tennis career

Following two years at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

, Haygarth played on the professional circuit as a doubles specialist. He never featured in the main draw of any of the grand slams but took part in the qualifying draw for the men's doubles at the

1993 Wimbledon Championships The 1993 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 107th edition of the Wimbledon Championships and was held from ...

. At the 1994 ATP St. Pölten tournament, his first ATP Tour main draw appearance, Haygarth partnered with Jon Ireland to make the semi-finals, which they lost narrowly in a third set tiebreak. His best career ranking in doubles was 131 in the world, reached in mid 1994 after winning the Oberstaufen Challenger, one of three Challenger titles he won. He made two further ATP Tour quarter-finals, with

Marcos Ondruska Marcos Ondruska (born 18 December 1972) is a former tennis player from South Africa, who turned professional in 1989. He represented his native country at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, where he defeated Goran Ivanišević in th ...

at Tel Aviv in 1994 and Johannesburg in 1995 partnering

Grant Stafford Grant Stafford (born 27 May 1971) is a former tennis player from South Africa. Turning professional in 1990, Stafford won five doubles titles during his career. The right-hander reached his career-high singles ranking on the ATP Tour The ...

Challenger titles

Doubles: (3)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Haygarth, Kirk 1971 births Living people South African male tennis players Texas A&M Aggies men's tennis players South African expatriate tennis players in the United States