Chris Woodruff (born January 3, 1973) is an American former professional tennis player and current head coach at the University of Tennessee. He won the 1997 Canada Masters, reached the quarterfinals of the 2000 Australian Open and attained a career-high ranking of world No. 29 in August 1997.

Chris Woodruff
ChrisWoodruff – headshot
Country (sports) United States
ResidenceKnoxville, Tennessee
Born (1973-01-02) January 2, 1973 (age 51)
Knoxville, Tennessee
Height1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Turned pro1993
Retired2001
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money$1,900,659
Singles
Career record109–104 (Grand Slam, ATP Tour-level, and Davis Cup)
Career titles2
Highest rankingNo. 29 (25 August 1997)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenQF (2000)
French Open3R (1996, 1997, 1999)
Wimbledon2R (1999, 2001)
US Open3R (1999)
Doubles
Career record38–61 (Grand Slam, ATP Tour-level, and Davis Cup)
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 73 (11 November 1996)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open3R (1997)
French Open2R (1996)
Wimbledon1R (1997)
US Open2R (1996, 1997, 2000)
Last updated on: 6 September 2021.

He hails from Knoxville, Tennessee and was trained at the Knoxville Racquet Club. Since 2002, he has served as an assistant coach with the University of Tennessee men's tennis program, before being named the head coach on May 19, 2017.

College career edit

Woodruff attended the hometown University of Tennessee where in 1993 he won the NCAA single's title by defeating Wade McGuire of Georgia. He remains the only individual champion the school has ever had. He was also an All-American in 1992.

After winning the collegiate crown,[1] Woodruff began his professional career.

Professional career edit

Woodruff won two singles titles during his career, and his first was also his biggest: The Canadian Open in 1997, an ATP Masters Series event.[1] After winning that title he posted the highest ranking of his career: World No. 29 on August 25, 1997. He also won the 1999 Newport, Rhode Island event at the Tennis Hall of Fame.[2]

He was named to the United States Davis Cup team in 2000, joining Andre Agassi after Pete Sampras and Todd Martin both were forced to drop out, and won his match against Wayne Black to help erase a 2–1 deficit and advance to the second round. He reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open in the year 2000 before losing to Pete Sampras in straight sets.[3]

Coaching career edit

In the summer of 2002, Woodruff returned to the University of Tennessee as a volunteer assistant coach.[4] He served first as an assistant tennis coach before being promoted to associate head coach in 2006 when Sam Winterbotham was hired as head coach. Since Woodruff has been back at Tennessee, the Vols have had 18 All-America and 29 All-Southeastern Conference selections.

Tennessee has steadily improved their record and ranking since Woodruff and Winterbotham began coaching together. The Vols have won 178 dual matches in their first eight seasons and have ended the year ranked in the top 10 nationally five of those years.[5] In 2010, the Vols won the Southeastern Conference regular season and tournament titles and also reached the NCAA Tennis Championship final for the third time in program history. The team finished with 31 victories, the second-most in a season in Tennessee history.[6]

Woodruff was named the 2013 National Assistant Coach of the Year by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association for his track record of player development and keeping the Vols ranked in the top 10 for five of the last six seasons. Since 2008, he has been responsible for coaching three players to the No. 1 national singles ranking: John-Patrick Smith (2010), Rhyne Williams (2011) and Miķelis Lībietis (2013).[7]

In 2014, Woodruff served as the on-court coach for the Vols' first NCAA doubles title in 34 years. Libietis and Hunter Reese defeated Ohio State's Peter Kobelt and Kevin Metka in the final.[8]

Career finals edit

Singles: 4 (2 titles, 2 runner-ups) edit

Legend
Grand Slam (0-0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0-0)
ATP Masters Series (1-0)
ATP Tour (1-2)
Result W/L Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Mar 1996 Philadelphia Carpet (i)   Jim Courier 4–6, 3–6
Loss 0–2 May 1996 Coral Springs Clay   Jason Stoltenberg 6–7(4–7), 6–2, 5–7
Win 1–2 Jul 1997 Montreal Hard   Gustavo Kuerten 7–5, 4–6, 6–3
Win 2–2 Jul 1999 Newport Grass   Kenneth Carlsen 6–7(5–7), 6–4, 6–4

Doubles: 3 (3 runner-ups) edit

Legend
Grand Slam (0-0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0-0)
ATP Masters Series (0-0)
ATP Tour (0-3)
Result W/L Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Jul 1996 Washington Hard   Doug Flach   Grant Connell
  Scott Davis
6–7, 6–3, 3–6
Loss 0–2 Nov 1996 Stockholm Hard (i)   Todd Martin   Patrick Galbraith
  Jonathan Stark
6–7, 4–6
Loss 0–3 Jul 1999 Newport Grass   Sargis Sargsian   Wayne Arthurs
  Leander Paes
7–6(8–6), 6–7(7–9), 3–6

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals edit

Singles: 4 (2–2) edit

Legend
ATP Challenger (2–2)
ITF Futures (0–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (1–2)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (1–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Aug 1994 Bronx, United States Challenger Hard   Alejo Mancisidor 2–6, 4–6
Loss 0–2 Jul 1995 Aptos, United States Challenger Hard   Daniel Nestor 3–6, 7–5, 2–6
Win 1–2 Sep 1995 Aruba, Aruba Challenger Hard   Jim Pugh 6–4, 6–2
Win 2–2 Jan 1996 Heilbronn, Germany Challenger Carpet   Gianluca Pozzi 6–3, 6–3

Doubles: 9 (4–5) edit

Legend
ATP Challenger (4–5)
ITF Futures (0–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (3–3)
Clay (0–1)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (1–1)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 Aug 1994 Binghamton, United States Challenger Hard   David Di Lucia   Neville Godwin
  Scott Sigerseth
4–6, 6–4, 6–3
Loss 1–1 Jun 1995 Eisenach, Germany Challenger Clay   Sébastien Leblanc   Dirk Dier
  Lars Koslowski
6–3, 3–6, 6–7
Win 2–1 Aug 1995 Lexington, United States Challenger Hard   Fernon Wibier   Jamie Morgan
  Andrew Painter
7–5, 6–2
Loss 2–2 Nov 1995 Nantes, France Challenger Hard   Nicola Bruno   Sébastien Lareau
  Kent Kinnear
2–6, 6–3, 6–7
Loss 2–3 Nov 1995 Andorra la Vella, Andorra Challenger Hard   Fernon Wibier   Ken Flach
  Kelly Jones
4–6, 3–6
Win 3–3 Feb 1996 Lippstadt, Germany Challenger Carpet   T. J. Middleton   Jeff Belloli
  Aleksandar Kitinov
7–5, 7–5
Loss 3–4 Nov 1996 Aachen, Germany Challenger Hard   Dave Randall   Robbie Koenig
  Oleg Ogorodov
4–6, 6–3, 3–6
Loss 3–5 Jan 1999 Heilbronn, Germany Challenger Carpet   Justin Gimelstob   Michael Kohlmann
  Filippo Veglio
4–6, 7–6, 5–7
Win 4–5 Nov 2001 Burbank, United States Challenger Hard   Scott Humphries   Jeff Coetzee
  Tuomas Ketola
7–5, 1–6, 6–4

Performance timelines edit

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.
To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

Singles edit

Tournament 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 SR W–L Win%
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A A A 3R A A QF 3R Q1 0 / 3 8–3 73%
French Open A A A 3R 3R A 3R 1R 1R A 0 / 5 6–5 55%
Wimbledon A A A 1R 1R A 2R 1R 2R A 0 / 5 2–5 29%
US Open 1R Q1 1R 1R 2R A 3R 2R 2R A 0 / 7 5–7 42%
Win–loss 0–1 0–0 0–1 2–3 5–3 0–0 5–3 5–4 4–4 0–0 0 / 20 21–19 53%
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells A Q1 A A 3R 1R SF 1R 1R A 0 / 5 6–5 55%
Miami A Q2 A 1R 3R A 1R 1R 2R A 0 / 5 3–5 38%
Monte Carlo A A A A A A A 1R A A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Hamburg A A A A A A A 1R A A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Rome A A A A 2R A 1R 1R A A 0 / 3 1–3 25%
Canada A A A 2R W A 1R 1R 1R A 1 / 5 7–4 64%
Cincinnati A A A 3R 2R A 3R 2R 1R A 0 / 5 6–5 55%
Madrid/Stuttgart1 A A A A 2R A 2R A A A 0 / 2 2–2 50%
Paris A A A A 1R A A 2R A A 0 / 2 1–2 33%
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 3–2 13–6 0–1 7–6 2–8 1–4 0–0 1 / 29 26–28 48%
Year-end ranking 337 300 135 43 30 1324 51 67 118 496

Doubles edit

Tournament 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 SR W–L Win%
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A A A 3R A A A 1R 0 / 2 2–2 50%
French Open A A A 2R 1R A A A A 0 / 2 1–2 33%
Wimbledon A A A A 1R A A A A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
US Open 1R Q2 1R 2R 2R A 1R 2R 1R 0 / 7 3–7 30%
Win–loss 0–1 0–0 0–1 2–2 3–4 0–0 0–1 1–1 0–2 0 / 12 6–12 33%
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells A A A A 1R A 1R QF A 0 / 3 2–3 40%
Miami A A A Q1 1R A A 2R 2R 0 / 3 2–3 40%
Rome A A A A Q1 A A A A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Canada A A A 2R Q2 A A QF A 0 / 2 3–2 60%
Cincinnati A A A 2R 1R A 1R 2R 1R 0 / 5 0–5 29%
Paris A A A A A A A Q1 A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Win–loss 0–0 0–0 0–0 2–2 0–3 0–0 0–2 6–4 1–2 0 / 13 9–13 41%

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Woodruff benefits from his hard work". The Independent. August 4, 1997. Retrieved January 24, 2010.
  2. ^ "Woodruff bags singles crown". Rediff On The NeT. July 12, 1999. Retrieved January 24, 2010.
  3. ^ "Agassi, Sampras To Renew Rivalry in Australian semis". Sun Journal (Lewiston). January 24, 2000. p. 50.
  4. ^ Associate head coach Chris Woodruff Biography Archived July 8, 2016, at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ^ "Sam Winterbotham Bio". University of Tennessee. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
  6. ^ It All Adds Up Archived May 26, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Tennessee Tennis Athletics Site.
  7. ^ "ITA Announces 2013 NCAA Division I National Award Winners". Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Archived from the original on September 18, 2013. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
  8. ^ Frierson, John. "UT's Hunter Reese and Mikelis Libietis have 'something special' in NCAA doubles championship". GoVolsXtra. Knoxville News Sentinel. Retrieved June 17, 2014.

External links edit