Brian Teacher

Brian Teacher

Country (sports)	United States
Born	December 23, 1954 San Diego, California
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Turned pro	1973
Retired	1986
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money	$1,426,514
Singles
Career record	335–235
Career titles	8
Highest ranking	No. 7 (October 19, 1981)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	W (1980)
French Open	3R (1978)
Wimbledon	QF (1982)
US Open	4R (1978, 1980)
Doubles
Career record	220–172
Career titles	16
Highest ranking	No. 24 (August 9, 1983)

Brian David Teacher (born December 23, 1954) is a right-handed American former professional male tennis player. He reached a career-high ranking World No. 7 in 1981.

Teacher is best remembered for his singles championship at the Australian Open in 1980. He won the final over Kim Warwick of Australia in straight sets.^[1][2]

With his Grand Slam victory, Teacher is one of only five American male players in the Open era to have won a single Grand Slam event (along with Michael Chang, Vitas Gerulaitis, Andy Roddick and Roscoe Tanner). Seven more Americans have more than one Slam (Stan Smith, Arthur Ashe, Jim Courier, Jimmy Connors, Andre Agassi, John McEnroe and Pete Sampras).

Following his playing career, he became an ATP & WTA touring coach working with, among others, Andre Agassi and Greg Rusedski. Under his tutelage, Rusedski made a run from #85 in the world to the top ten and the U.S. Open finals. Teacher also coached world #1 doubles players Jim Grabb, Richey Renenberg, Daniel Nestor and Max Mirnyi. On the women's side, he coached WTA tour player Marissa Irvin.

He currently runs the Brian Teacher Tennis Academy in South Pasadena, California.

Tennis career

Teacher won a CIF singles title in 1972 while at Crawford High School.^[3]

In 1972, he won the boys' 18 singles and doubles titles.^[4] At the University of California-Los Angeles, he won the Pacific-8 singles and doubles championship in 1974, was an All-American from 1973–76, and was a member of the UCLA teams that won the NCAA championship in 1975 and 1976. Teacher turned professional before acquiring his degree.^[5]

He reached the finals in the South Australian and New South Wales Opens in 1977. In 1978, at the Seiko World Super Tennis Tournament in Tokyo, Teacher upset UCLA graduates Jimmy Connors and Arthur Ashe before losing in the final to Björn Borg 6–3, 6–4.^[5]

He won 8 career singles titles, and 16 doubles titles.

Halls of fame

Teacher was inducted in 2001 into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Hall of Fame,^[6] in 2008 into the San Diego Tennis Hall of Fame,^[7] and he is also a member of the NCAA Tennis Hall of Fame and the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.^[8] On September 20, 2015 Brian was inducted into the Southern California Tennis Association Hall of Fame.

Grand Slam singles final

Win (1)

Year	Championship	Opponent in final	Score in final
1980	Australian Open	Kim Warwick	7–5, 7–6^(7–4), 6–2

Career finals

Singles (8 titles, 15 runners-up)

Legend Grand Slam tournaments (1) Tennis Masters Cup (0) Grand Prix (7)

Titles by Surface Hard (2) Grass (2) Clay (0) Carpet (4)

Outcome	No.	Date	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1.	1976	Newport, U.S.	Grass	Vijay Amritraj	3–6, 6–4, 3–6, 1–6
Runner-up	2.	1977	Adelaide, Australia	Grass	Victor Amaya	1–6, 4–6
Winner	1.	1977	Jackson, Mississippi, U.S.	Carpet	Bill Scanlon	6–3, 6–3
Runner-up	3.	1977	Sydney Outdoor, Australia	Grass	Roscoe Tanner	3–6, 6–3, 3–6, 7–6, 4–6
Runner-up	4.	1978	Tokyo Indoor, Japan	Carpet	Björn Borg	3–6, 4–6
Winner	2.	1978	Taipei, Taiwan	Carpet	Tom Gorman	6–3, 6–3, 6–3
Winner	3.	1979	Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.	Grass	Stan Smith	1–6, 6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	5.	1980	Los Angeles, U.S.	Hard	Gene Mayer	3–6, 2–6
Runner-up	6.	1980	Hong Kong	Hard	Ivan Lendl	7–5, 6–7, 3–6
Runner-up	7.	1980	Taipei, Taiwan	Carpet	Ivan Lendl	7–6, 3–6, 3–6, 6–7
Runner-up	8.	1980	Bangkok, Thailand	Carpet	Vijay Amritraj	3–6, 5–7
Runner-up	9.	1980	Sydney Outdoor, Australia	Grass	Fritz Buehning	3–6, 7–6, 6–7
Winner	4.	1980	Australian Open, Melbourne	Grass	Kim Warwick	7–5, 7–6, 6–2
Winner	5.	1981	Columbus, Ohio, U.S.	Hard	John Austin	6–3, 6–2
Runner-up	10.	1981	San Francisco, U.S.	Carpet	Eliot Teltscher	3–6, 6–7
Runner-up	11.	1982	Maui, Hawaii, U.S.	Hard	John Fitzgerald	2–6, 3–6
Winner	6.	1982	Dortmund WCT, Germany	Carpet	Wojtek Fibak	6–7, 6–4, 6–4, 2–6, 6–4
Winner	7.	1983	Munich WCT, Germany	Carpet	Mark Dickson	1–6, 6–4, 6–2, 6–3
Winner	8.	1983	Columbus, Ohio, U.S.	Hard	Bill Scanlon	7–6, 6–4
Runner-up	12.	1983	Dallas, Texas, U.S.	Hard	Andrés Gómez	7–6, 1–6, 1–6
Runner-up	13.	1984	Bristol, U.K.	Grass	Johan Kriek	7–6, 6–7, 4–6
Runner-up	14.	1984	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Joakim Nyström	4–6, 2–6
Runner-up	15.	1985	Livingston, U.S.	Hard	Brad Gilbert	6–7, 4–6

Doubles (16 titles, 7 runners-up)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1.	1976	Columbus, U.S.	Hard	William Brown	Fred McNair Sherwood Stewart	6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	1.	1978	Miami, U.S.	Clay	Bob Carmichael	Tom Gullikson Gene Mayer	6–7, 3–6
Winner	2.	1978	Manila, Philippines	Clay	Sherwood Stewart	Ross Case Chris Kachel	6–3, 7–6
Runner-up	2.	1979	Washington Indoor, U.S.	Carpet	Bob Carmichael	Robert Lutz Stan Smith	4–6, 5–7, 6–3, 6–7
Runner-up	3.	1979	Stuttgart Indoor, Germany	Hard (i)	Bob Carmichael	Wojtek Fibak Tom Okker	3–6, 7–5, 6–7
Winner	3.	1980	Washington-2, U.S.	Carpet	Ferdi Taygan	Kevin Curren Steve Denton	4–6, 6–3, 7–6
Runner-up	4.	1980	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Carpet	Bill Scanlon	Vijay Amritraj Stan Smith	4–6, 3–6
Winner	4.	1980	Los Angeles, U.S.	Hard	Butch Walts	Anand Amritraj John Austin	6–2, 6–4
Winner	5.	1980	Toronto, Canada	Hard	Bruce Manson	Heinz Günthardt Sandy Mayer	6–3, 3–6, 6–4
Winner	6.	1980	Cincinnati, U.S.	Hard	Bruce Manson	Wojtek Fibak Ivan Lendl	6–7, 7–5, 6–4
Runner-up	5.	1980	Hong Kong	Hard	Bruce Manson	Peter Fleming Ferdi Taygan	5–7, 2–6
Winner	7.	1980	Taipei, Taiwan	Carpet	Bruce Manson	John Austin Ferdi Taygan	6–4, 6–0
Winner	8.	1980	Bangkok, Thailand	Carpet	Ferdi Taygan	Tom Okker Dick Stockton	7–6, 7–6
Winner	9.	1981	La Quinta, U.S.	Hard	Bruce Manson	Terry Moor Eliot Teltscher	7–6, 6–2
Winner	10.	1981	Frankfurt, Germany	Carpet	Butch Walts	Vitas Gerulaitis John McEnroe	7–5, 6–7, 7–5
Winner	11.	1981	London/Queen's Club, U.K.	Grass	Pat Du Pré	Kevin Curren Steve Denton	3–6, 7–6, 11–9
Winner	12.	1981	Columbus, U.S.	Hard	Bruce Manson	Anand Amritraj Vijay Amritraj	6–1, 6–1
Runner-up	6.	1982	Los Angeles, U.S.	Hard	Bruce Manson	Sherwood Stewart Ferdi Taygan	1–6, 7–6, 3–6
Winner	13.	1982	Stuttgart Outdoor, Germany	Clay	Mark Edmondson	Andreas Maurer Wolfgang Popp	6–3, 6–1
Winner	14.	1982	San Francisco, U.S.	Carpet	Fritz Buehning	Marty Davis Chris Dunk	6–7, 6–2, 7–5
Runner-up	7.	1983	Richmond, Virginia, U.S.	Carpet	Fritz Buehning	Pavel Složil Tomáš Šmíd	2–6, 4–6
Winner	15.	1983	Columbus, U.S.	Hard	Scott Davis	Anand Amritraj John Fitzgerald	6–1, 4–6, 7–6
Winner	16.	1983	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Steve Meister	Andrés Gómez Sherwood Stewart	6–7, 7–6, 6–2

Miscellaneous

• After he retired he completed his undergraduate economics degree and studied business at the University of Southern California.^[9]
• As a coach, he worked with Jim Grabb, Mark Knowles, Max Mirnyi, Daniel Nestor, Richey Reneberg, and Greg Rusedski.^[9]
• He is married and has two children.^[10]

See also

• List of select Jewish tennis players

References

1. "Brian Teacher Wins Crown in Australia". The New York Times. AP. 5 January 1981.
2. Douglas Perry (January 18, 2015). "Australian Open 2015: Four words that forged an unexpected Grand Slam champion - 'I want a divorce'". The Oregonian.
3. San Diego District Tennis Association: Brian Teacher (1954- )
4. Dan Magill, Magill: Teacher joins Californian Hall contingent, Athens Banner-Herald, May 19, 2001.
5. "Brian David Teacher". Jews in Sports. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
6. ITA Men's Hall of Fame
7. Archived November 4, 2011 at the Wayback Machine
9. http://www.sandiegotennis.com/HOF/2008/Brian%20Teacher%20bio.htm
10. http://www.sandiegotennis.com/hof/2008/brian%20teacher%20bio.htm

External links

• Brian Teacher at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Brian Teacher at the International Tennis Federation
• Brian Teacher Tennis Academy