Wally Masur (; born 13 May 1963) is a

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, television commentator, and former professional tennis player from

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

. He reached the semifinals of the

1987 Australian Open The 1987 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the Kooyong Stadium in Melbourne in Victoria in Australia. It was the 75th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 12 through 25 January 1987; the first tournament ...

and the 1993 US Open, achieving a career-high singles ranking of world No. 15 in October 1993.

Tennis career

Juniors

Masur began playing tennis at the age of eight. In

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

, he reached the final of the Australian Open boys' singles tournament and won the boys' doubles title.

Pro tour

Masur turned professional in 1982. He was an

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 ...

scholarship holder. In 1983, Masur won his first top-level singles title at Hong Kong, and his first tour doubles title at

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

. He also reached quarterfinals of that year's Australian Open, before being knocked out by

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 ...

. In 1987, Masur won his second career singles title at

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

and reached the Australian Open semifinals, where he lost to eventual champion

Stefan Edberg Stefan Bengt Edberg (; born 19 January 1966) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. A major proponent of the serve-and-volley style of tennis, he won six Grand Slam singles titles and three Grand Slam men's doubles titles between 1985 ...

. Masur won his third singles title in 1988 at Newport, Rhode Island. In 1990, Masur helped Australia reach the final of the

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...

, compiling a 6–0 record in singles rubbers in the first round, quarterfinals and semifinals. However he was left out of the team that played the United States in the final by captain

Neale Fraser Neale Andrew Fraser (born 3 October 1933) is a former number one amateur male tennis-player from Australia, born in Melbourne, Victoria, the son of a Victorian judge. Fraser is the last man to have completed the triple crown, i.e. having won t ...

. The decision to leave Masur out of the final was fairly controversial at the time given the very significant role that he had played in getting Australia there, but was principally because the final was to be played on clay courts, which was not Masur's best surface. The US team beat Australia 3–2 in the final. 1993 was the best year of Masur's career. He reached the semifinals of that year's US Open, where he lost to

Cédric Pioline Cédric Pioline (born 15 June 1969) is a French former professional tennis player who played on the professional tour from 1989 to 2002. He reached the men's singles final at the 1993 US Open and at Wimbledon in 1997. On both occasions, he was ...

. He also reached his career-high rankings in both singles (world No. 15) and doubles (No. 8) that year. He captured doubles titles in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

and

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

that year, which proved to be the final top-level titles of his career. Masur retired from the professional tour in 1995, having won three singles titles and 16 doubles titles.

Post playing

In January 2015, Masur was appointed captain of Australia's Davis Cup team, succeeding

Pat Rafter Patrick Michael Rafter (born 28 December 1972) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He reached the top Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking on 26 July 1999. His career highlights include consecutive US Open ...

. He was succeeded by

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 ...

in 2016.

ATP career finals

Singles: 11 (3 titles, 8 runner-ups)

Doubles: 24 (16 titles, 8 runner-ups)

Performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

Junior Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Doubles: 1 (1 title)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Masur, Wally 1963 births Living people Sportspeople from Southampton Australian male tennis players Australian Open (tennis) junior champions Australian tennis coaches English emigrants to Australia Olympic tennis players of Australia Australian tennis commentators Tennis players from Sydney Tennis players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Hopman Cup competitors Australian Institute of Sport tennis players Sportspeople from Canberra Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' doubles