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David Wheaton

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David Wheaton
Country (sports) United States
ResidenceLake Minnetonka, Minnesota, US
Born (1969-06-02) June 2, 1969 (age 55)
Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Height1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Turned pro1988
Retired2001
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money$5,238,401
Singles
Career record232–191
Career titles3
Highest rankingNo. 12 (22 July 1991)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenQF (1990)
French Open3R (1995)
WimbledonSF (1991)
US OpenQF (1990)
Other tournaments
Grand Slam CupW (1991)
Doubles
Career record157–122
Career titles3
Highest rankingNo. 24 (24 June 1991)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian OpenF (1991)
French OpenSF (1995)
Wimbledon2R (1990, 1993)
US OpenF (1990)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian Open2R (1990)
WimbledonQF (1989)
US OpenQF (1989)
Team competitions
Davis Cup1–1
Hopman CupF (1991)
Last updated on: 29 November 2021.

David Wheaton (born June 2, 1969) is an American author, radio host, columnist, and former professional tennis player.

Personal

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Born in Minneapolis as the youngest of four children. During his tennis career, he dated tennis star Mary Joe Fernández around 1990-1992. Wheaton married in 2009 and has one son.

Tennis career

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Wheaton started tennis at age four, played in his first tournament at eight, won the Minnesota State High School tennis title in 1984 as a freshman, trained at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy for his last two-and-a-half years of high school, played one year at Stanford, and then competed for 13 years on the professional tour.

Juniors

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In 1987, Wheaton won the US Open junior title and was the No. 1 ranked junior player in the US. In 1988, he helped Stanford University's tennis team win the NCAA team title and received the Block S Award as the most outstanding freshman athlete at Stanford.

Pro tour

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Wheaton turned professional on July 4, 1988 and won his first top-level singles title in 1990 at the U.S. Clay Court Championships in Kiawah Island, South Carolina. He was also runner-up in the 1990 US Open men's doubles (with Paul Annacone).

The most significant highlights of his career came in 1991. He won the Grand Slam Cup in Munich, beating Michael Chang in straight sets in the final 7–5, 6–2, 6–4. He also reached the semifinals of singles at Wimbledon (beating Petr Korda, Cédric Pioline, Ivan Lendl, Jan Gunnarsson and Andre Agassi in the quarterfinals before being knocked-out by Boris Becker), and was a men's doubles runner-up at the Australian Open (partnering with his former Stanford teammate Patrick McEnroe). Wheaton reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 12 in July 1991.

During his career, Wheaton won three top-level singles and three doubles titles, representing the US in Davis Cup (v. Australia, 1993) reached the semifinals or better in either singles or doubles of every Grand Slam tournament, and defeated highly ranked players such as Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg, Jim Courier, and Michael Chang.

He retired from the professional tour in 2001, following a series of injuries. Since then he has played in some senior tour events, winning the "Wimbledon Over 35 Doubles" championship in 2004 (with T.J. Middleton).

Junior Grand Slam finals

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Singles: 1 (1 title)

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Result Year Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Win 1987 US Open Hard Soviet Union Andrey Cherkasov 7–5, 6–0

Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

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Result Year Tournament Surface Partnet Opponents Score
Loss 1986 US Open Hard United States Jeff Tarango Spain Tomas Carbonell
Spain Javier Sanchez
4–6, 6–1, 1–6

ATP career finals

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Singles: 7 (3 titles, 4 runner-ups)

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Legend
Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (1–0)
ATP Masters Series(0–1)
ATP Championship Series (0–0)
ATP World Series (2–3)
Finals by surface
Hard (0–1)
Clay (1–1)
Grass (1–2)
Carpet (1–0)
Finals by setting
Outdoors (2–4)
Indoors (1–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 May 1990 Kiawah Island, United States World Series Clay South Africa Mark Kaplan 6–4, 6–4
Loss 1–1 Mar 1991 Miami, United States Masters Series Hard United States Jim Courier 6–4, 3–6, 4–6
Loss 1–2 Jun 1991 Queen's, United Kingdom World Series Grass Sweden Stefan Edberg 2–6, 3–6
Win 2–2 Dec 1991 Munich, Germany Grand Slam Cup Carpet United States Michael Chang 7–5, 6–2, 6–4
Loss 2–3 May 1993 Coral Springs, United States World Series Clay United States Todd Martin 3–6, 4–6
Win 3–3 Jul 1994 Newport, United States World Series Grass Australia Todd Woodbridge 6–4, 3–6, 7–6(7–5)
Loss 3–4 Jul 1995 Newport, United States World Series Grass Germany David Prinosil 6–7(3–7), 7–5, 2–6

Doubles: 15 (3 titles, 12 runner-ups)

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Legend
Grand Slam Tournaments (0–2)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP Masters Series (1–0)
ATP Championship Series (0–0)
ATP World Series (2–10)
Finals by surface
Hard (2–6)
Clay (1–3)
Grass (0–3)
Carpet (0–0)
Finals by setting
Outdoors (3–12)
Indoors (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 Jul 1990 Toronto, Canada Masters Series Hard United States Paul Annacone Australia Broderick Dyke
Sweden Peter Lundgren
6–1, 7–6
Loss 1–1 Aug 1990 New York, United States Grand Slam Hard United States Paul Annacone South Africa Pieter Aldrich
South Africa Danie Visser
2–6, 6–7, 2–6
Loss 1–2 Jan 1991 Melbourne, Australia Grand Slam Hard United States Patrick McEnroe United States Scott Davis
United States David Pate
7–6, 6–7, 3–6, 5–7
Loss 1–3 May 1991 Umag, Croatia World Series Clay United States Richey Reneberg Israel Gilad Bloom
Spain Javier Sanchez
6–7, 6–2, 1–6
Loss 1–4 Jul 1992 Newport, United States World Series Grass United States Paul Annacone South Africa Royce Deppe
Czech Republic David Rikl
4–6, 4–6
Loss 1–5 Aug 1992 Los Angeles, United States World Series Hard United States Francisco Montana United States Patrick Galbraith
United States Jim Pugh
6–7, 6–7
Win 2–5 Apr 1993 Hong Kong, Hong Kong World Series Hard Australia Todd Woodbridge Australia Sandon Stolle
Australia Jason Stoltenberg
6–1, 6–3
Loss 2–6 Jul 1994 Newport, United States World Series Grass United States Kent Kinnear Austria Alex Antonitsch
Canada Greg Rusedski
4–6, 6–3, 4–6
Loss 2–7 Apr 1995 Nice, France World Series Clay United States Luke Jensen Czech Republic Cyril Suk
Czech Republic Daniel Vacek
6–3, 6–7, 6–7
Loss 2–8 Oct 1995 Tel Aviv, Israel World Series Hard United States Kent Kinnear United States Jim Grabb
United States Jared Palmer
4–6, 5–7
Win 3–8 May 1996 Atlanta, United States World Series Clay South Africa Christo Van Rensburg United States Bill Behrens
United States Matt Lucena
7–6, 6–2
Loss 3–9 May 1996 Pinehurst, United States World Series Clay United States Ken Flach Australia Pat Cash
Australia Patrick Rafter
2–6, 3–6
Loss 3–10 Mar 1998 Scottsdale, United States International Series Hard United States Kent Kinnear Czech Republic Cyril Suk
Australia Michael Tebbutt
6–4, 1–6, 6–7
Loss 3–11 Apr 1999 Hong Kong, Hong Kong international Series Hard United States Andre Agassi New Zealand James Greenhalgh
Australia Grant Silcock
walkover
Loss 3–12 Jun 2001 Queen's, United Kingdom international Series Grass United States Eric Taino United States Mike Bryan
United States Bob Bryan
3–6, 6–3, 1–6

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

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Singles: 2 (1–1)

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Legend
ATP Challenger (1–1)
ITF Futures (0–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (1–0)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–1)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Apr 1989 Brasilia, Brazil Challenger Hard United States Dan Cassidy 6–1, 6–2
Loss 1–1 Jun 1996 Annenheim, Austria Challenger Grass Germany Alex Radulescu 4–6, 2–6

Doubles: 1 (1–0)

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Legend
ATP Challenger (1–0)
ITF Futures (0–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (1–0)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 Apr 1989 Itu, Brazil Challenger Hard United States Kent Kinnear Brazil Nelson Aerts
Brazil Marcos Hocevar
6–3, 6–4

Performance timelines

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Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles

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Tournament 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 SR W–L Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A A 1R QF 1R 4R 3R A 4R 2R A 2R A A A 0 / 8 14–8 64%
French Open A A A 2R 1R 1R 2R 1R 2R 3R 2R A A A A A 0 / 8 6–8 43%
Wimbledon A Q1 A 1R 4R SF 3R 4R 1R 3R 3R A 1R Q2 A A 0 / 9 17–9 65%
US Open A 1R A 2R QF 4R 3R 1R 1R 2R 4R 1R 1R A Q2 A 0 / 11 14–11 56%
Win–loss 0–0 0–1 0–0 2–4 11–4 8–4 8–4 5–4 1–3 8–4 7–4 0–1 1–3 0–0 0–0 0–0 0 / 36 51–36 59%
Year-end Championships
Grand Slam Cup Did not qualify SF W Did not qualify Not Held 1 / 2 6–1 86%
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells A A A A A 1R 2R 2R A 3R A A A A A A 0 / 4 4–4 50%
Miami 1R A A A A F 2R 1R 3R 3R A A 1R A A A 0 / 7 9–7 56%
Monte Carlo A A A A A A A A A QF A A A A A A 0 / 1 3–1 75%
Rome A A A A 1R A A A A A A A A A A A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Canada A A A A 3R A 1R 2R 3R 1R A A A Q1 1R A 0 / 6 5–6 45%
Cincinnati A A A A 2R 3R QF 1R SF 2R A 2R Q1 A A Q2 0 / 7 11–7 61%
Stuttgart Not Held A A A A A A A A A Q1 A A A A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Paris A A A A 1R 2R QF 2R 2R 2R Q2 A A A A A 0 / 6 6–6 50%
Win–loss 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 3–4 7–4 7–5 3–5 9–4 8–6 0–0 1–1 0–1 0–0 0–1 0–0 0 / 32 38–32 54%

Doubles

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Tournament 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 SR W–L Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A 1R 2R F A 1R A 1R 1R A SF A A A 0 / 7 10–7 59%
French Open A A A 1R 2R 2R 1R A SF 1R A A A A A 0 / 6 6–6 50%
Wimbledon A A A 2R A A 2R A A 1R A A A A A 0 / 3 2–3 40%
US Open 1R A QF F A 1R 2R 1R 2R 3R A 2R A A A 0 / 9 13–9 59%
Win–loss 0–1 0–0 3–2 7–4 6–2 1–2 2–4 0–1 5–3 2–4 0–0 5–2 0–0 0–0 0–0 0 / 25 31–25 55%
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells A A A A 2R SF A A 2R A A A A A A 0 / 3 5–3 63%
Miami A A A A SF 1R SF 3R 1R A A 1R A A Q1 0 / 6 9–6 60%
Canada A A A W A 2R 2R A QF A A A A A A 1 / 4 9–3 75%
Cincinnati A A A A 2R A 2R Q1 1R A A 1R A A A 0 / 4 2–4 33%
Stuttgart NH A A A A A A A A A Q1 A A A A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Paris A A A 1R QF A A 1R A A A A A A A 0 / 3 2–3 40%
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 5–1 7–4 4–3 6–3 2–2 3–4 0–0 0–0 0–2 0–0 0–0 0–0 1 / 20 27–19 59%

Mixed doubles

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Tournament 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 SR W–L Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A 2R A A A A A A A A 0 / 1 1–1 50%
French Open A A A A A A A A A A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Wimbledon QF A A A A A A A A 1R 0 / 2 3–2 60%
US Open QF A A A A A A A A A 0 / 1 2–1 67%
Win–loss 5–2 1–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 0 / 4 6–4 60%

Radio and writing career

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In 2002, Wheaton embarked a new career in radio, writing, and speaking. He is the producer and host of The Christian Worldview, a live talk radio program that airs on 250 stations in the US. He is a tennis columnist for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and the author of two books, University of Destruction: Your Game Plan for Spiritual Victory on Campus (Bethany House, 2005) and My Boy, Ben—A Story of Love, Loss and Grace (Tristan Publishing, 2014).

Service and awards

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Wheaton serves on the board of The Overcomer Foundation, a non-profit organization that directs his radio ministry. He also served on the board of directors of the United States Tennis Association (USTA) from 2003-2006. He is a member of the Intercollegiate Tennis Hall of Fame (class of 2012) and the USTA Northern Section Hall of Fame (class of 2005). Wheaton received the Eugene L. Scott Renaissance Award in 2011—an award presented to a national/international tennis champion who demonstrates excellence in promoting and developing the sport of tennis in public parks.

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