Keith Richardson (born 1953) 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 the United States. He is a member of both the North Carolina and South Carolina Tennis Hall of Fame.

Biography

Richardson grew up in

Rock Hill, South Carolina Rock Hill is the largest city in York County, South Carolina and the fifth-largest city in the state. It is also the fourth-largest city of the Charlotte metropolitan area, behind Charlotte, Concord, and Gastonia (all located in North Carolina, ...

and attended Rock Hill High School, where he was the state's 4A High School Tennis Champion in 1971. He got an athletic scholarship to North Carolina's

Appalachian State University Appalachian State University (; Appalachian, App State, App, or ASU) is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Dough ...

where he played varsity tennis from 1971 to 1975, while he studied for a BSBA degree. During this time he was a three time

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly ...

Singles Champion (1973, 1974, 1975) and two time Doubles Champion (1974, 1975). In 1976, Richardson turned professional and began touring internationally. By the end of the 1977 he had reached his highest ranking of 74 in the world. He twice featured in the US Open, in 1977 and 1979. In his first appearance in 1977 he lost in the opening round to

Phil Dent Philip Clive Dent (born 14 February 1950) is a former professional tennis player. Dent's high water mark as a pro singles player was reaching the Australian Open final in 1974, which he lost to Jimmy Connors in four sets. Dent was also the me ...

, but in 1979 he was able to make the third round. He began the 1979 US Open with a five-set win over

Dave Siegler David Jonathan Siegler (born May 31, 1961) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. Biography Siegler, who grew up in California, made the boys' juniors final at the 1979 Wimbledon Championships, which he lost to India's R ...

, then defeated a young

Kevin Curren Kevin Melvyn Curren (born 2 March 1958) is a South African former professional tennis player. He played in two Grand Slam singles finals and won four Grand Slam doubles titles, reaching a career-high singles ranking of world No. 5 in July 198 ...

in straight sets, before exiting in the third round with a loss to

Dick Stockton Richard Edward Stokvis (born November 22, 1942), known professionally as Dick Stockton, is an American retired sportscaster. Stockton began his career in Philadelphia, then moved to Pittsburgh, where he worked as the sports director for KDKA-TV ...

. In 1979 he also played in the first round of the men's doubles, with John Yuill. On the

Grand Prix circuit The Grand Prix tennis circuit was a professional tennis tour for male players that existed from 1970 to 1989. The Grand Prix and World Championship Tennis (WCT) were the two predecessors to the current tour for male players, the ATP Tour, with ...

his best performance came in 1979, a doubles final in Sarasota, which he and John James lost to Steve Krulevitz and

Ilie Năstase Ilie Theodoriu Năstase (, born 19 July 1946) is a former World No. 1 Romanian tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 in singles from 23 August 1973 to 2 June 1974, and was the first man to hold the top position on the computerized ATP ranking ...

. He also made his only singles quarter-final that year, at

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. Richardson retired from the tour at the end of the 1979 season and then spent three years as the Head Tennis Professional at

Benvenue Benvenue is a historic plantation house located near Rocky Mount, Nash County, North Carolina. Originally built in 1844, the house was expanded and extensively remodeled to its present Second Empire form in 1889. It is a large -story, three ba ...

Country Club. Since 1983 he has worked in the insurance industry and is currently at Peoples First Insurance in Rock Hill, South Carolina. He is married with two children.

Grand Prix career finals

Doubles: 1 (0–1)

Challenger titles

Doubles: (2)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Keith 1953 births Living people American male tennis players Tennis people from South Carolina Sportspeople from Rock Hill, South Carolina Appalachian State University alumni Rock Hill High School (South Carolina) alumni