Alistair Hunt (born 11 November 1972) 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 New Zealand.
Biography
Hunt grew up in
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...
and was the top ranked junior in the country at under 18s level. As a junior he competed in the boys events at all four
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 ...
tournaments. He made the doubles quarter-finals at both the
1989 Australian Open
The 1989 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at Flinders Park in Melbourne in Victoria in Australia. It was the 77th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 16 through 29 January 1989.
Seniors
Men's s ...
and
1990 French Open, partnering
Leander Paes
Leander Adrian Paes ( ; born 17 June 1973) is an Indian former professional tennis player. He is regarded as one of the greatest doubles tennis players ever. He holds the record for the most doubles wins in the Davis Cup. Paes won eight men's ...
in the latter.
On the ATP Tour he made most of his appearances at the
Auckland Open, where he first competed in 1996 and featured in each of the next three tournaments. His best finish was the second round in 1998, with a win over world number 53
Daniel Vacek
Daniel Vacek (born 1 April 1971) is a former tennis player from Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic who turned professional in 1990. He reached the quarterfinals of the 1995 Paris Masters, the 1998 Canada Masters and the 1998 Cincinnati ...
. He played in the main draw of one international tournament, which was the 1997
Bournemouth International. Beaten in the first round of the singles, he made better success in the doubles event, making it to the semi-finals with partner
Brett Steven.
Hunt was a mainstay in the
New Zealand Davis Cup team
The New Zealand men's national tennis team represents New Zealand in Davis Cup tennis competition and are governed by Tennis New Zealand.
New Zealand currently compete in Group II of the Asia/Oceania Zone. They have played in the World Group ...
from 1995 to 2003, with a further tie in 2006. This included a World Group qualifier against
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
in
Florianópolis, where he played a singles rubber against
Gustavo Kuerten
Gustavo "Guga" Kuerten (; born 10 September 1976) is a Brazilian former world No. 1 tennis player. He won the French Open singles title three times (1997, 2000, and 2001), and was the Tennis Masters Cup champion in 2000. During his career he ...
. He played a total of 18 ties for New Zealand, for 19 overall wins, an 11/12 record in singles and 8/6 in doubles.
His best win in the
Davis Cup came against
Richard Krajicek at a 1996 tie in
Haarlem, just three-months after the Dutchman had won
Wimbledon.
Hunt, ranked 294 at the time, took the first set in a tiebreak, but Krajicek recovered to win the next two.
Krajicek, who was playing his first match at home since winning Wimbledon, was struggling with a knee injury by the time the fourth set started and retired hurt with Hunt ahead 4–1.
Since 2013, Hunt has captained New Zealand in the Davis Cup.
See also
*
List of New Zealand Davis Cup team representatives
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt, Alistair
1972 births
Living people
New Zealand male tennis players
New Zealand tennis coaches
Sportspeople from Christchurch