Scoville Jenkins (born September 23, 1986, in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

) 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 on the

ATP Tour The ATP Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The second-tier tour is the ATP Challenger Tour and the third-tier is the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour. The equivalent women's organ ...

. He is sometimes referred to by his nickname "Sco". He reached a career-high ATP singles ranking of World No. 187 in April 2009.

Junior career

On August 16, 2004, at the age of 17, Jenkins became the first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

to capture the Boys' 18

USTA The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, ...

National Hard Court title in singles in the tournament's 89-year history. In 2004, Jenkins reached the semi-finals of Junior Wimbledon, quarter-finals of Junior US Open, junior Australian Open, and ranked 6 in the ITF junior rankings.

Professional career

At the 2005 U.S. Open, Jenkins won a dramatic first round match in five sets against Swiss veteran

George Bastl George Edward Bastl (born 1 April 1975) is a former professional tennis player from Switzerland. Tennis career Bastl was an All-American at the University of Southern California. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 71 in ...

. In his second round match, Jenkins played then world no. 2

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 world No. 1 for 209 weeks, and has finish ...

, who won in three close sets. In June 2006, Jenkins nearly qualified for his first appearance at Wimbledon, but was narrowly defeated in the 3rd qualifying round by

Joshua Goodall Joshua Jake Goodall (born 17 October 1985) is a retired English tennis player, former British no 2 and Davis Cup player. He is currently Director of Tennis. Personal life Goodall attended Cranbourne School, now called Cranbourne Business and ...

in a four-set match that featured three tie breakers. In the 2007 US Open, Jenkins drew

Roger Federer Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...

in the first round, losing in straight sets. In 2008, Jenkins qualified for the French Open for the first time, but lost to

Luis Horna Luis Horna Biscari (; born 14 September 1980, in Lima) is a former tour professional tennis player from Peru, who turned professional in 1998. Known by his nickname "Lucho", he won 2 career singles titles, reached the quarterfinals of the 2004 ...

, a lucky loser from the same qualifying draw in the first round in four sets.

2009

Jenkins lost to

Kevin Kim Kevin Kim (born July 26, 1978) is an American retired tennis player. Career He entered the top 100 in 2004, reaching a career-high singles ranking of World No. 63 in March 2005. In 1993, Kim won the USTA National Boys' 16 Indoor Doubles Champi ...

in the 2009 BNP Paribas Open. Scoville came through qualifying at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship, where he beat Donald Young in the final round. He then routed Alexander Peya to reach the second round. He then fell to semifinalist

Björn Phau Björn Phau (born 4 October 1979) is a retired German tennis player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 59 in June 2006. Career highlights include reaching five ATP tour semifinals ( Tokyo in 2005, Casablanca in 2006, Beiji ...

in straight sets. At the French Open, Scoville was defeated in the first round of qualifying by Sergei Bubka 7–6⁽⁵⁾, 4–6, 6–4. In August 2010, Jenkins retired from professional tennis and joined the staff at

Kennesaw State University Kennesaw State University (KSU) is a public research university located in the state of Georgia with two different campuses in the Atlanta metropolitan area, one in Kennesaw and the other in Marietta on a combined of land. The school was fou ...

as a men's assistant coach. In June 2014, Jenkins graduated from the University of Washington Jenkins is currently assistant coach at Oklahoma State University.

References

External links

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Jenkins Recent Match Results

Jenkins World Ranking History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, Scoville 1986 births Living people African-American male tennis players American male tennis players Tennis players from Atlanta Tennis people from Georgia (U.S. state) 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people