Jeff Simpson
New Zealand tennis player and coach
Jeff Simpson (born 29 October 1950) is a former professional tennis player from New Zealand.
01Playing career
Over the course of his career, Simpson competed in five Davis Cup ties for the New Zealand team. He won a total of four rubbers, two in singles and two in doubles.
In 1973, Simpson reached the third round of both Wimbledon and the US Open. Those performances saw him reach his career best ranking of 66.
Simpson was a singles semi-finalist at Newport in 1973 and Auckland in 1975. As a doubles player he was runner-up at three Grand Prix events, in Tokyo, Christchurch and Roanoke.
02Coaching
Simpson was New Zealand's Davis Cup captain for 16 years, from 1984 to 1999, as well as Fed Cup captain for five years. He also coached New Zealand in the 1988 Summer Olympics and 1996 Summer Olympics.
03Personal life
Simpson is the elder brother of Russell Simpson, who was also a professional tennis player.
His son, Matt, competed for a while on the Futures circuit, retiring in 2013.
04Grand Prix career finals
Doubles: 4 (1 title, 3 runner-ups)
| Result | W-L | Year | Tournament | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 0-1 | 1972 | Tokyo Outdoor, Japan | Marcello Lara | Dick Dell Sherwood Stewart |
3-6, 2-6 |
| Loss | 0-2 | 1973 | Christchurch, New Zealand | Jürgen Fassbender | Anand Amritraj Fred McNair |
W/O |
| Loss | 0-3 | 1974 | Roanoke, United States | Ian Crookenden | Vitas Gerulaitis Sandy Mayer |
6-7, 1-6 |
| Win | 1-3 | 1975 | Washington Indoor WCT, U.S. | Mike Estep | Anand Amritraj Vijay Amritraj |
7-6, 6-3 |
05Challenger titles
Singles: (1)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 1982 | Le Touquet, France | Clay | Roland Stadler | 6-7, 6-2, 6-1 |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Jeff Simpson”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Israeli women's champion Tova Epstein with her doubles partner, Jeff Simpson of New Zeland (FL61457201).jpg by IPPA photographer, CC BY 4.0
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