Stephen Furlong (born 10 January 1967) 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 Australia.

Biography

Early life

Furlong, who was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, grew up in Sydney and attended

Narrabeen Sports High School }, which translated as "Strive to the end". The Girls' High School motto was the la, Facta non verba, translated as "Deeds not words". There was a fire in the girls' assembly hall in the early 1970s as well as fires in the boys' school. Followin ...

. At the age of 16 he joined the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

in Canberra as one of the top juniors in the country.

Tennis career

A right-handed player, Furlong was runner-up to

Shane Barr Shane Barr (born 21 October 1969) is a former professional tennis player from Australia. Career Barr was the boys' singles champion at the 1985 Australian Open, beating Steve Furlong in the final. Also that year, Barr was a member of the Aust ...

at the

1985 Australian Open The 1985 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club in Melbourne in Victoria (state), Victoria in Australia. It was the 74th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 25 November through 8 ...

boys' singles. His only win 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 t ...

came against Barr, at the 1986 Sydney Indoor, where he saved a match point in a second set tiebreak. He also competed on the Challenger tour and was a losing finalist to

Laurie Warder Laurie Warder (born 23 October 1962) is a former professional male tennis player from Australia who specialized in the doubles event. In 1987 he lost the doubles title at the Australian Open partnering compatriot Peter Doohan, but won the event ...

at the 1988 Brisbane Challenger event. All of his main draw appearances at

grand slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

level were in doubles. He featured twice in the men's doubles at the

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

and also appeared in the mixed doubles at the

1989 Wimbledon Championships The 1989 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 103rd edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held from ...

, where he made the second round with

Kristine Radford Kristine Kunce (née Radford; born 3 March 1970), is a former professional tennis player from Australia who competed during the mid-1980s through the 1990s. Kunce reached a career-high ranking of world No. 45 on 15 August 1994, and a career hi ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Furlong, Steve 1967 births Living people Australian male tennis players Tennis people from New South Wales Tennis people from Greater London English emigrants to Australia Australian Institute of Sport tennis players 20th-century Australian people 21st-century Australian people