Thomas Spessard Cain (born October 11, 1958) 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.

Biography

Born in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

on October 11, 1958, he is the son of Ronald and Susan Cain. Cain was a member of the US

Junior Davis Cup Junior Davis Cup and Junior Billie Jean King Cup are the international team events in junior tennis (16-and-under age category). History Competitions were launched by the ITF in 1985 as the 16-and-under World Youth Cup, and rebranded in 2002 under ...

team in 1976. He played varsity tennis while at

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , prov ...

and was an

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n in the 1980 season. From 1980 he competed professionally and in his first year on tour was a semi-finalist at the

Columbus Open The Columbus Open, also known as the Buckeye Tennis Championships or Buckeye Open, is a defunct affiliated men's tennis tournament played from 1970 to 1984 in Columbus, Ohio, in the United States. The inaugural edition in 1970 was an invitationa ...

, 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 t ...

. He had wins over both

Johan Kriek Johan Christiaan Kriek (born April 5, 1958) is a South African-American retired tennis player and founder of the Global Water Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to delivering clean water to the world's neediest communities. He won t ...

and

Guy Forget Guy Forget (; born 4 January 1965) is a French tennis administrator and retired professional player. During his career, he helped France win the Davis Cup in both 1991 and 1996. Since retiring as a player, he has served as France's Davis Cup te ...

when he made the quarter-finals at

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

in 1982. Another upset win came against then world number 23

Mark Edmondson Mark Edmondson (born 28 June 1954 in Gosford, New South Wales) is a retired Australian professional tennis player. Edmondson won the 1976 Australian Open while ranked 212th in the world, and remains the lowest-ranked winner of a Grand Slam t ...

at the 1983 Stella Artois Championships in Queen's, London. He won a Grand Prix doubles title at the 1983

South Orange Open The South Orange Open, formerly known as the Eastern Grass Court Championships, is a defunct Grand Prix affiliated tennis tournament founded in 1970 as the Marlborough Open ChampionshipsBarrett, John. Tingay, Lance. West, Peter. (1971) World of Te ...

, with

Fritz Buehning Fritz Buehning (born March 5, 1960) is an American former tennis player. Born in Summit, New Jersey, Buehning grew up in Millburn, New Jersey and attended Millburn High School, where he won the New Jersey state individual tennis championship in ...

. In

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 ...

competition he appeared in the main draw of all four major tournaments. He took

Guillermo Vilas Guillermo Vilas (; born 17 August 1952) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. Vilas was the No. 1 of the Grand Prix seasons in 1974, 1975 and 1977, and won four Grand Slam tournaments, one year-end Masters, nine Grand Prix Super Se ...

to five sets when he faced the Argentine in the second round of the 1983 US Open. With the score at 1–1 in the fifth set, Cain was injured when he twisted his ankle and slid head first into the scoreboard. Although he was able to continue the match he won only one more game. In both of his appearances at

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

he had to retire hurt during his first round matches, against

Tim Gullikson Timothy Ernest Gullikson (September 8, 1951 – May 3, 1996) was a tennis player and coach who was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin and grew up in Onalaska, Wisconsin in the United States. Gullikson was Pete Sampras' coach from 1992 to 1995. Tenn ...

in 1983 and

Miloslav Mečíř Miloslav Mečíř (; born 19 May 1964) is a Slovak former professional tennis player. He won the men's singles gold medal at the 1988 Olympic Games, representing Czechoslovakia, and contested two major singles finals. In 1987 he won the WCT Fi ...

in 1984. Retiring from tennis in 1986, Cain then worked with Wheat First Securities for many years. He is now Senior Vice-President with

UBS Financial Services UBS Group AG is a multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company founded and based in Switzerland. Co-headquartered in the cities of Zürich and Basel, it maintains a presence in all major financial centres ...

and is married with two daughters and a son.

Grand Prix career finals

Doubles: 1 (1–0)

Challenger titles

Singles: (1)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cain, Tom 1958 births Living people American male tennis players SMU Mustangs men's tennis players Tennis players from Virginia Sportspeople from Richmond, Virginia