- Jay Berger
Infobox Tennis player
playername= Jay Berger
country= USA
residence= Miami, USA
datebirth=1966-11-26
placebirth= Fort Dix, USA
height=height|m=1.80
weight= convert|75|kg|lb st|abbr=on|lk=on
turnedpro= 1986
retired= 1991
plays= Right
careerprizemoney=US$ 992,136
singlesrecord= 141–80
singlestitles= 3
highestsinglesranking= 7 (April 16, 1990)
AustralianOpenresult= 3r (1991)
FrenchOpenresult= QF (1989)
Wimbledonresult= 2r (1988)
USOpenresult= QF (1989)
doublesrecord= 19–28
doublestitles= 1
highestdoublesranking= 196 (November 14, 1988)Jay Berger (born
November 26 1966 , inFort Dix, New Jersey ) is a former professionaltennis player from theUnited States . He won three singles and one doubles title on theATP Tour and reached his career-high singles ranking of World #7 in April 1990.Tennis career
Berger was the USTA Boys’ 18s National Champion in 1985. [http://ustaboys.com/tournament/past_winners.php] [http://www.ustaclay.com/history.asp] . He also won the 1985 Florida State Junior Championship. He had the best finish of any reigning Boys’ 18s National Champion at the US Open during the Open Era when he reached the 4th round in 1985.
College career
Berger was an
All-American atClemson University in 1985 and 1986, where he recorded a 91–22 singles record in two seasons. His 80.5% career winning percentage in singles play places 3rd all-time at Clemson.Pro tennis career
Berger turned professional in 1985. He played on the tour from 1985–91. He won his first top-level singles title in 1986 at Buenos Aires. In 1988, he captured both the singles and doubles titles at
São Paulo . In March he upset world # 2Mats Wilander , 6–0, 7–5, in Orlando, Florida. In March 1989 Berger upset world # 3Boris Becker , 6–1, 6–1, in Indian Wells. In May he upset world # 3Mats Wilander , 6–3, 6–4, in Rome. In August Berger beat world # 3Stefan Edberg , 6–4, 6–2, at Indianapolis.In 1989, Berger reached the quarter-finals at both the French Open and the US Open. He also won the third tour singles title of his career that year at
Charleston, South Carolina . Berger was runner-up at the Canadian Open in 1990.He retired from the professional tour in 1991. Chronic knee injuries and a botched surgery forced his retirement.
Davis Cup
He represented the United States in
Davis Cup play in 1988 and 1990, and went undefeated in two singles matches. [ [http://www.daviscup.com/teams/player.asp?Player=10000126 Davis Cup - Players ] ]Halls of Fame and Awards
Berger was inducted into the Florida Hall of Fame in 1993. He was inducted into the Greater Miami-Dade Hall of Fame in 2001. He was also voted "Sportsman of the Year" by the Olympic Committee in 1985, and "Junior Player of the Year" by "
TENNIS Magazine " in 1985.Coaching career
Berger went on to become an assistant coach at
Florida International University , where he resumed his studies and graduatedmagna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in Sports Management in 1994. Berger was the Head Men’s and Women’s tennis coach at theUniversity of Miami , and aUSTA National Coach. He was theBig East Coach of the Year for two consecutive years, after leading the Hurricanes to the tennis conference championships in 2000 and 2001.Berger rejoined the USTA Player Development staff in January 2003 as a National Coach for men's tennis. [http://www.playerdevelopment.usta.com/content/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=122996&itype=7420] He is located in
Key Biscayne . He currently coachesAshley Harkleroad .Trivia
* Berger was famous for using the aluminum Prince Pro oversize racquet, despite the fact that virtually all professionals were using graphite (or graphite composite) racquets. He continued to play with the Prince Pro, despite not having any endorsements from Prince. He still plays with the Prince Pro to this day.
* Berger's racquets were strung at very high tensions, using inexpensive Prince Synthetic Gut string. It was not unusual to see his racquets getting warped out of shape with any moderate impact, since the tensions were at least 90 lb on many occasions (normal tension for that racquet was from 65–80 lb). During a match he would go through 5–6 rackets on average.
* The most unusual aspect of Berger's game was an awkward, no-wind-up service motion in which the racket was started behind his shoulder, with no backswing. This service motion was adopted after a shoulder injury during junior tennis which made a normal service motion painful.
ATP Tour finals (9)
ingles champion (3)
ingles finalist (4)
*1987: Buenos Aires (lost to
Guillermo Pérez Roldán )
*1989: Indianapolis (lost toJohn McEnroe )
*1989: Itaparica (lost toMartín Jaite )
*1990: Toronto (lost toMichael Chang )Doubles champion (1)
Doubles finalist (1)
*1987: Buenos Aires (with
Horacio de la Peña , lost toTomás Carbonell /Sergio Casal )References
External links
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* [http://www.playerdevelopment.usta.com/content/fullstory.sps?iNewsid=122996&itype=7420 USTA bio]
* [http://www.jewsinsports.org/profile.asp?sport=tennis&ID=81 Jews in Sports bio]
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