Robert Eben "Robbie" Venter (born 7 May 1960) is a South African businessman and 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.

Biography

A left handed player from

Boksburg Boksburg is a city on the East Rand of Gauteng province of South Africa. Gold was discovered in Boksburg in 1887. Boksburg was named after the State Secretary of the South African Republic, W. Eduard Bok. The Main Reef Road linked Boksburg ...

, Venter is the son of South African businessman Bill Venter. Venter was a semi-finalist at the Wimbledon Juniors in 1978 and moved to the United States that year to take up a tennis scholarship at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. He was a three-time All-American and captained the UCLA side which won the team title in the 1982 NCAA Division I Tennis Championships. After that triumph he became a tour professional and with former UCLA teammate Blaine Willenborg he was runner-up in the doubles at the 1982 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, a tournament 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 ...

held in Indianapolis. His only singles appearance in the main draw of a grand slam tournament came at the

1983 Wimbledon Championships The 1983 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 97th edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held from ...

, where he lost in the first round to

Rodney Harmon Rodney Harmon (born August 16, 1961) is a former professional tennis player the ATP. Perhaps Rodney's greatest result came at the 1982 U.S. Open, during his Grand Slam debut, when he got through to the quarterfinals overcoming Rolf Gehring, H ...

, in four sets. During his tennis career he won six

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 ...

titles, three in singles and three in doubles. Venter retired from tennis in 1985 and completed an MBA at UCLA before working at

Bear Stearns The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. was a New York-based global investment bank, securities trading and brokerage firm that failed in 2008 as part of the global financial crisis and recession, and was subsequently sold to JPMorgan Chase. The compa ...

for three years. He returned to South Africa in 1990. In 2011 he replaced his father Bill as CEO of Altron.

Grand Prix career finals

Doubles: 1 (0–1)

Challenger titles

Singles: (3)

Doubles: (3)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Venter, Robbie 1960 births Living people South African male tennis players UCLA Bruins men's tennis players University of California, Los Angeles alumni South African chief executives