Paul Wekesa (born 2 July 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

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

. He won 3 doubles titles, achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 100 and reached two tour-level quarterfinals at Auckland in 1989 and Seoul in 1995.

Tennis career

Prior to turning professional, he won the doubles tournament at the 1987 Division II

NCAA Men's Tennis Championship The NCAA Men's Tennis Championships are annual tournaments held in the spring to crown team, singles, and doubles champions in American college tennis. The first intercollegiate championship was held in 1883, 23 years before the founding of the NCA ...

s while attending

Chapman University Chapman University is a private research university in Orange, California. It encompasses ten schools and colleges, including Fowler School of Engineering, Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, Fowler School of Law, and Schmid College of Scie ...

. During his career, Wekesa won 3

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 organis ...

doubles titles. He reached the quarterfinals in doubles at the

1992 Australian Open The 1992 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at Flinders Park in Melbourne, Australia and was held from 13 through 26 January 1992. It was the 80th edition of the Australian Open and the first Grand Slam tourna ...

. Wekesa won a bronze medal at the 1987 All-Africa Games held in Nairobi, Kenya. He is the only Kenyan tennis player to reach Top 100 of ATP rankings.Kenyapage.net
Kenya's greatest Sporting Figures
He also features for the

Kenya Davis Cup team The Kenya Davis Cup team represents Kenya in Davis Cup tennis competition and are governed by the Kenya Lawn Tennis Association. Kenya currently compete in Africa Zone Group III. History Kenya competed in its first Davis Cup in 1975. Their best ...

and was still active in 1998. He was the first player to be beaten by

Tim Henman Timothy Henry Henman (born 6 September 1974) is a British former professional tennis player. Henman played a serve-and-volley style of tennis. He was the first British man to reach the singles semifinals of Wimbledon since Roger Taylor in the ...

in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament, at Wimbledon in 1995. After retirement from playing, he has served as a Kenyan national teams coach. He won the "Hall of Fame" category at the 2007 Kenyan Sports Personality of the Year awards. His father

Noah Wekesa Noah Mahalang’ang’a Wekesa (born 21 August 1936) is a Kenyan politician. He is affilaited to the Party of National Unity and was elected 1988, 2000, 2002 and in the 2007 Kenyan general election to represent the Kwanza Constituency of the ...

is a Kenyan politician and minister.

Career finals

Doubles (3 wins, 3 losses)

References

External links

* * * 1967 births Living people Kenyan Luhya people Chapman University alumni Kenyan expatriate sportspeople in the United States Kenyan expatriates in the United States Kenyan male tennis players Sportspeople from Nairobi African Games bronze medalists for Kenya African Games medalists in tennis Competitors at the 1987 All-Africa Games College men's tennis players in the United States {{Kenya-tennis-bio-stub