Larry Stefanki (born July 23, 1957), is an 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 ...

coach and former professional tennis player.

Tennis career

He played for nine years starting in 1979, reaching a career-high ranking of World No. 35 in singles after winning the Indian Wells Masters at La Quinta in 1985 as well as three in doubles. He is one of three Stefanki brothers to have played on the varsity tennis team at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, from 1977 until 1979 under coach Bill Wright. As a freshman in 1976 at

Foothill College Foothill College is a public community college in Los Altos Hills, California. It is part of the Foothill–De Anza Community College District. It was founded on January 15, 1957, and offers 79 Associate degree programs, 1 Bachelor's degree pr ...

, he won the California Junior College Championship in Singles and Doubles.

Coaching

He is more renowned as a tennis coach, having trained such players as

John McEnroe John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was known for his shot-making and volleying skills, his rivalries with Björn Borg and Jimmy Connors, and his confrontational on-court beha ...

Marcelo Ríos Marcelo Andrés Ríos Mayorga (; born 26 December 1975) is a Chilean former world No. 1 tennis player. Nicknamed ''"El Chino"'' ("The Chinese") and ''"El zurdo de Vitacura"'' ("The Lefty from Vitacura"), he became the first Latin American play ...

Yevgeny Kafelnikov Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Kafelnikov ( rus, Евгений Александрович Кафельников, , jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ˈkafʲɪlʲnʲɪkəf, a=Ru-Yevgeny-Kafelnikov.ogg; born 18 February 1974) is a Russian former world No. 1 tennis p ...

, 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 ...

amongst others. Ríos and Kafelnikov both achieved their number 1 tennis rankings while under his guidance, and Henman reached a career-high of 4 under his tutelage. Stefanki was also the coach of

Fernando González Fernando Francisco González Ciuffardi (; born 29 July 1980) is a Chilean former professional tennis player. During his career he made it to at least the quarterfinals of all four Grand Slam tournaments. He played his only major final at the ...

, after taking over this role from

Horacio de la Peña Horacio Armando de la Peña (born 1 August 1966), nicknamed "el Pulga" ("the Flea"), is a tennis coach and a former tennis player from Argentina, who reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 31. De la Peña was born in Buenos Aires. ...

in May 2006. Under Stefanki the Chilean reached back-to-back finals in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, the Madrid Masters and

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

in 2006 and the 2007 Australian Open final —a tournament in which he eased past the likes of

Lleyton Hewitt Lleyton Glynn Hewitt (born 24 February 1981) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He is the most recent Australian man to win a major singles title, with two at the 2001 US Open and 2002 Wimbledon Championships. In November 200 ...

, James Blake,

Rafael Nadal Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis ...

, and

Tommy Haas Thomas Mario Haas (; born 3 April 1978) is a German former professional tennis player. He competed on the ATP Tour from 1996 to 2017. After breaking into the world top 100 in 1997, and reaching a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2 in May ...

— which saw González, 26, reach a career-high of #5 in the ATP rankings. Stefanki was the coach of

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 ...

tennis player

Andy Roddick Andrew Stephen Roddick (born 30 August 1982) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is a major champion, having won the 2003 US Open. Roddick reached four other major finals (Wimbledon in 2004, 2005, and 2009, and the US Open ...

until his retirement in 2012. He is credited with improving Roddick's tactics and all-court game and helping him reach the semifinals of the 2009 Australian Open, the fourth round of the

2009 French Open The 2009 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 113th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from May 24 through ...

for the first time, the 2009 Wimbledon final for the third time, winning the 2010 Sony Ericsson Masters in Miami and the 2010 Brisbane International in Brisbane, Australia. Stefanki has recently been working with Olympic developmental hopefuls in Los Angeles, CA. He and his wife and three sons now live in Encinitas, CA.

ATP career finals

Singles: 1 (1 title)

Doubles: 7 (3 titles, 4 runner-ups)

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 1 (1–0)

Doubles: 1 (1–0)

Performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stefanki, Larry 1957 births Living people American male tennis players American tennis coaches California Golden Bears men's tennis players People from Elmhurst, Illinois Tennis people from Illinois