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. 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, 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 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 ...

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

. 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. 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 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