Wayne Richard Ferreira (born 15 September 1971) is a South African 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 cov ...
player and current tennis coach.
Career
As a junior player, Ferreira was ranked world no. 1 junior doubles player and no. 6 junior singles player. He won the junior doubles title at the
US Open in 1989.
Ferreira turned professional in 1989. He won his first ATP doubles title in
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 ...
in 1991.
1992 was Ferreira's breakthrough year on the tour. He started out by reaching the semifinals of the
Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Ope ...
. In June he won his first ATP singles title at
Queen's Club
The Queen's Club is a private sporting club in West Kensington, London, England. The club hosts the annual Queen's Club Championships men's grass court lawn tennis tournament (currently known as the "cinch Championships" for sponsorship r ...
, London. His second singles title came just a few weeks later at
Schenectady
Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...
, New York. He also teamed-up with compatriot
Piet Norval
Pieter ("Piet") Norval (born 7 April 1970) is a former tennis player from South Africa, who turned professional in 1988. His most notable achievement was winning the mixed doubles at the French Open in 1999. The right-hander represented his nat ...
to win the men's doubles silver medal for South Africa at the
1992 Summer Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...
in Barcelona. Ferreira was defeated in the second round in the Olympic singles that year.
After a quieter year in 1993 in which he didn't win any singles titles, Ferreira came back strongly in 1994 to win a career-best five singles titles. He then won another four events in 1995.
He competed at the Olympics again in 1996, reaching the quarterfinals in both men's singles and men's doubles, with
Ellis Ferreira as his partner.
[ (The two Ferreiras are not related.]Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
in 1996 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 Sw ...
in 2000 (both Tennis Masters Series
The ATP Masters 1000 tournaments (previously known as ATP Masters Series) is an annual series of nine tennis tournaments featuring the top-ranked players on the ATP Tour. The series' events have been held in Europe and North America since the ...
events).
Ferreira teamed-up with Amanda Coetzer in 2000 to win the Hopman Cup for South Africa. He played in his third and final Olympic tournament that year; this time, competing only in singles and being defeated in the first round.[
Ferreira is the former record-holder for the most consecutive Grand Slam tournament appearances in men's tennis, having participated in 56 consecutive slams between the ]1991 Australian Open
The 1991 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at Flinders Park in Melbourne in Victoria in Australia. It was the 79th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 14 through 27 January 1991.
Seniors
Men's s ...
and the 2004 US Open.
''EcoloBlue, Life and Energy''
an environmental and renewable resources corporation based in Miami, Florida, and Lafayette, California.
Ferreira is known for regularly causing upsets against top players. He is one of the few players with a positive record against 20 time Grand Slam champion, Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-e ...
. Ferreira teamed up with Federer in the men's doubles at Wimbledon in 2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...
. They got to the third round and were due to face Donald Johnson and Jared Palmer (the eventual champions) before Federer withdrew to focus on his singles campaign. In addition, Ferreira has a 5-6 head-to-head record against 14 time Grand Slam champion Pete Sampras
Petros "Pete" Sampras ( el, Πέτρος Σάμπρας; born August 12, 1971) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. His professional career began in 1988 and ended at the 2002 US Open, which he won, defeating longtime rival Andre ...
, with Sampras breaking the tie by winning their final match at the 2002 Canadian Masters. He also holds a positive head-to-head record against multiple Grand Slam champions and former world no. 1 ranked players, including Patrick 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 ...
, Yevgeny Kafelnikov
Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Kafelnikov ( rus, Евгений Александрович Кафельников, , jɪvˈɡʲenʲɪj ˈkafʲɪlʲnʲɪkəf, a=Ru-Yevgeny-Kafelnikov.ogg; born 18 February 1974) is a Russian former world No. 1 tennis p ...
, 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 beh ...
, Ivan Lendl
Ivan Lendl (; born March 7, 1960) is a Czech–American former professional tennis player. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time. Lendl was ranked world No. 1 in singles for 270 weeks and won 94 singles titles. ...
and Björn Borg
Björn Rune Borg (; born 6 June 1956) is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. Between 1974 and 1981, he became the first man in the Open Era to win 11 Grand Slam singles titles with six at the French Open and five consecutively at ...
.
Coaching
Since 2020, Ferreira has been the coach of Frances Tiafoe
Frances Tiafoe Jr. ( ; born January 20, 1998) is an American professional tennis player. The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) has ranked Tiafoe as high as world No. 17 in singles, on October 10, 2022, and world No. 160 in doubles, on No ...
and became his primary coach after Tiafoe parted ways with former coach Zack Evenden.
Racket
Ferreira played with and endorsed rackets made by Slazenger early in his career. He switched to Dunlop Sport
Dunlop Sport is a British sports equipment manufacturing company established in 1910 that focuses on racquet sports, more specifically tennis, squash, padel and badminton. Products by Dunlop Sport include rackets, strings, balls, shuttlecock ...
very early in his career and stayed with them, using the 200G racket, until the end of his ATP career.
Career statistics
Olympic games
;Finals: 1 (1 silver medal)
Masters Series finals
Singles: 3 (2–1)
Doubles: 12 (6–6)
Career finals
Singles: 23 (15–8)
Singles performance timeline
1Held as Stockholm Masters until 1994, Essen Masters in 1995, Stuttgart Masters 1996–2001, Madrid Masters There are two sporting events named the Madrid Masters:
*Madrid Open (tennis)
The Madrid Open ( es, Masters de Madrid, link=no), currently sponsored by Mutua Madrileña and known as the Mutua Madrid Open, is a joint men's and women's professiona ...
from 2002–08.
Doubles: 24 (11–13)
Doubles performance timeline
Senior Tour championships
*2007– defeated Jim Courier 2–6, 6–3, 1–9in the Stanford Championships
*2007– defeated Aaron Krickstein 6–3, 6–3 in The Oliver Group Champions Cup
Top 10 wins
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferreira, Wayne
Hopman Cup competitors
Olympic medalists in tennis
Olympic silver medalists for South Africa
Olympic tennis players of South Africa
Tennis players from Johannesburg
People from Lafayette, California
South African expatriates in the United States
South African male tennis players
South African tennis coaches
South African people of Portuguese descent
Tennis players at the 1992 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics
US Open (tennis) junior champions
White South African people
1971 births
Living people
Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics
Alumni of Parktown Boys' High School
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' doubles