Jeff Tarango

Jeff Tarango
Full name	Jeffrey Gail Tarango
Country (sports)	United States
Residence	Manhattan Beach, California, United States
Born	November 20, 1968 (age 53); Manhattan Beach, California, United States
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Turned pro	1989
Retired	2010
Plays	Left-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	$3,730,289
Singles
Career record	239–294
Career titles	2 ; 3 Challenger, 0 Futures
Highest ranking	No. 42 (2 November 1992)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	3R (1997, 1999)
French Open	3R (1993, 1996)
Wimbledon	3R (1995)
US Open	3R (1989, 1996, 1997)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games	2R (2000)
Doubles
Career record	253–247
Career titles	14 ; 3 Challenger, 1 Futures
Highest ranking	No. 10 (18 October 1999)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	3R (1996, 2001, 2002)
French Open	F (1999)
Wimbledon	3R (1997, 2001)
US Open	3R (1996, 1997, 2000)
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open	QF (2000, 2002)
French Open	QF (2000)
Wimbledon	QF (1998)
US Open	QF (1997)
	Last updated on: 12 October 2021.

Jeffrey Gail Tarango (born November 20, 1968) is a retired American tennis player. He was a top-ten doubles player and a runner-up at the 1999 French Open men's doubles tournament. He is now the Director of Tennis at the Jack Kramer Club, which is just south of Los Angeles. In 2018, he was the tournament director of a $30,000 men's California championships. Andras Cruz-Aedo was his and UTR Powered by Oracle's digital marketing consultant and assistant for this event. At that championships, ATP world-ranked No. 11, Sam Querrey, beat Davis Cup captain Mardy Fish to win this event.

Tarango now resides in Manhattan Beach, California with his wife and children. He is married to Jessica Balgrosky and they have five children (Nina Rose, Katherine, Jackson, Ace, and Jesse).

Career[]

Pro tour[]

Tarango turned professional in 1989, after completing his junior year at Stanford University, where he won two NCAA team titles. During his career, he won two top-level singles titles and 14 doubles titles. Tarango reached two Super 9 quarterfinals, Rome in 1995 and Miami in 1998. His career-high world rankings are No. 42 in singles and No. 10 in doubles.^[1] He was runner-up in the men's doubles at the 1999 French Open, partnering with Goran Ivanišević.

Wimbledon 1995 default[]

In the third round trailing 6–7, 1–3 to Alexander Mronz, Tarango became infuriated with French umpire Bruno Rebeuh, who had ruled against Tarango several times. During the match, when preparing to serve, the crowd heckled Tarango and he responded "Oh, shut up!" Rebeuh immediately issued a code violation to Tarango on the grounds of audible obscenity. Tarango protested this and called for the tournament referee calling for Rebeuh to be removed. No relief was given to Tarango and he was instructed to continue to play. He then accused Rebeuh of being "one of the most corrupt officials in the game" – to this Rebeuh gave Tarango another code violation, this time for unsportsmanlike conduct. Tarango took umbrage, packed up his rackets and stormed off the court.^[2] To add to the controversy, Tarango's wife at the time then slapped Rebeuh twice in the face.^[3]

Tarango was eventually banned by the ITF from the 1996 Wimbledon tournament.

Tarango was also the beneficiary of a default in the men's doubles tournament earlier at the same championship. He and partner Henrik Holm were at two sets to one down against the team of Jeremy Bates and Tim Henman when Henman angrily smashed a ball which inadvertently hit ball girl Caroline Hall, resulting in their disqualification.^[4] Coincidentally, Hall was also a ball girl in Tarango's match against Mronz.^[5]

After retirement[]

Tarango retired from the main tour in 2003 and now devotes his time to coaching, broadcasting for BBC, ESPN, Tennis Channel, Fox Sports and DirecTV. He also hosts a charity event in La Jolla for the Rady Children's Hospital in San Diego. Tarango is currently the vice chair for the AAC on the USOC (Governance Committee). He has been a member of the Davis Cup Committee for six years within the USTA. He still makes occasional appearances at professional events, including the 2008 USA F21 Futures event in Milwaukee.^[6] He also commentates for BBC Radio and in particular for their extended coverage on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra. During his broadcasting career, Tarango has earned a reputation for having a good eye for potential Hawk-Eye overrules.

In his 2009 autobiography, Open, Andre Agassi claims that Tarango cheated in a juniors tournament to hand the eight-year-old Agassi his first-ever competitive loss.^[7] To which, Tarango says they had a chair umpire and Agassi is lying throughout the book "just to make money". Tarango has coached many players such as Younes El Aynaoui, Andriy Medvedev, Maria Sharapova, Vince Spadea, Mirjana Lucic, Irakli Labadze, JC Aragone.

After professional tennis, Tarango worked for the AON Corporation with Theodore Forstmann, Andy Roddick, and many other society notables.

ATP career finals[]

Singles: 6 (2 titles, 4 runner-ups)[]

Legend
Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0)
ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–0)
ATP World Tour 250 Series (2–4)

Finals by surface
Hard (2–3)
Clay (0–1)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)

Finals by setting
Outdoors (2–3)
Indoors (0–1)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Aug 1988	Livingston, United States	Grand Prix	Hard	Andre Agassi	2–6, 4–6
Loss	0–2	Apr 1991	Seoul, South Korea	World Series	Hard	Patrick Baur	4–6, 6–1, 6–7
Win	1–2	Jan 1992	Wellington, New Zealand	World Series	Hard	Alexander Volkov	6–1, 6–0, 6–3
Win	2–2	Oct 1992	Tel Aviv, Israel	World Series	Hard	Stephane Simian	4–6, 6–3, 6–4
Loss	2–3	Sep 1994	Bordeaux, France	World Series	Hard	Wayne Ferreira	0–6, 5–7
Loss	2–4	Aug 1999	Umag, Croatia	World Series	Clay	Magnus Norman	2–6, 4–6

Doubles: 25 (14 titles, 11 runners-up)[]

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–1)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP Masters Series (0–1)
ATP Championship Series (2–2)
ATP World Series (12–7)

Finals by surface
Hard (6–6)
Clay (6–4)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (2–1)

Finals by setting
Outdoor (10–9)
Indoor (4–2)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Jun 1994	St. Polten, Austria	World Series	Clay	Adam Malik	Vojtech Flegl Andrew Florent	6–3, 1–6, 4–6
Win	1–1	Apr 1995	Seoul, South Korea	World Series	Hard	Sebastien Lareau	Andrew Florent Joshua Eagle	6–3, 6–2
Win	2–1	Jul 1995	Washington, United States	Championship Series	Hard	Olivier Delaitre	Petr Korda Cyril Suk	4–6, 6–3, 6–2
Win	3–1	Sep 1995	Bucharest, Romania	World Series	Clay	Mark Keil	Daniel Vacek Cyril Suk	6–4, 7–6
Win	4–1	Jul 1996	Bastad, Sweden	World Series	Clay	David Ekerot	Joshua Eagle Peter Nyborg	6–4, 3–6, 6–4
Win	5–1	Sep 1996	Bucharest, Romania	World Series	Clay	David Ekerot	David Adams Menno Oosting	7–6, 7–6
Loss	5–2	Jan 1998	Auckland, New Zealand	World Series	Hard	Tom Nijssen	Patrick Galbraith Brett Steven	4–6, 2–6
Loss	5–3	Aug 1998	Los Angeles, United States	World Series	Hard	Daniel Vacek	Patrick Rafter Sandon Stolle	4–6, 4–6
Win	6–3	Nov 1998	Moscow, Russia	World Series	Carpet	Jared Palmer	Daniel Vacek Yevgeny Kafelnikov	6–4, 6–7, 6–3
Win	7–3	Jan 1999	Auckland, New Zealand	World Series	Hard	Daniel Vacek	Jiri Novak David Rikl	7–5, 7–5
Win	8–3	Feb 1999	St. Petersburg, Russia	World Series	Carpet	Daniel Vacek	Andrei Pavel Menno Oosting	3–6, 6–3, 7–5
Win	9–3	Apr 1999	Tokyo, Japan	Championship Series	Hard	Daniel Vacek	Brian Macphie Wayne Black	4–3 ret.
Loss	9–4	Jun 1999	French Open, France	Grand Slam	Clay	Goran Ivanisevic	Mahesh Bhupathi Leander Paes	2–6, 5–7
Win	10–4	Jul 1999	Bastad, Sweden	World Series	Clay	David Adams	Mikael Tillstrom Nicklas Kulti	7–6, 6–4
Win	11–4	Sep 1999	Bournemouth, United Kingdom	World Series	Clay	David Adams	Michael Kohlmann Nicklas Kulti	6–3, 6–7, 7–6
Win	12–4	Oct 1999	Toulouse, France	World Series	Hard	Olivier Delaitre	David Adams John-Laffnie De Jager	3–6, 7–6, 6–4
Loss	12–5	Jan 2000	Auckland, New Zealand	World Series	Hard	Olivier Delaitre	Ellis Ferreira Rick Leach	5–7, 4–6
Loss	12–6	Oct 2000	Tokyo, Japan	Championship Series	Hard	Michael Hill	Mahesh Bhupathi Leander Paes	4–6, 7–6^(7–1), 3–6
Win	13–6	Nov 2000	Brighton, United Kingdom	World Series	Hard	Michael Hill	Paul Goldstein Jim Thomas	6–3, 7–5
Loss	13–7	Feb 2001	Marseilles, France	World Series	Hard	Michael Hill	Julien Boutter Fabrice Santoro	6–7^(7–9), 5–7
Win	14–7	Apr 2001	Casablanca, Morocco	World Series	Clay	Michael Hill	Pablo Albano David Macpherson	7–6^(7–2), 6–3
Loss	14–8	Jul 2001	Gstaad, Switzerland	World Series	Clay	Michael Hill	Roger Federer Marat Safin	1–0 ret.
Loss	14–9	Jul 2001	Stuttgart, Germany	Championship Series	Clay	Michael Hill	Guillermo Canas Rainer Schuettler	6–4, 6–7^(1–7), 4–6
Loss	14–10	Oct 2001	Moscow, Russia	International Series	Carpet	Mahesh Bhupathi	Max Mirnyi Sandon Stolle	3–6, 0–6
Loss	14–11	Oct 2001	Stuttgart, Germany	Masters Series	Hard	Ellis Ferreira	Max Mirnyi Sandon Stolle	6–7^(1–7), 6–7^(4–7)

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals[]

Singles: 6 (3–3)[]

Legend
ATP Challenger (3–3)
ITF Futures (0–0)

Finals by surface
Hard (0–3)
Clay (3–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Jun 1990	Furth, Germany	Challenger	Clay	Felipe Rivera	6–0, 6–0
Loss	1–1	Sep 1993	Azores, Portugal	Challenger	Hard	Rodolphe Gilbert	1–6, 7–5, 4–6
Loss	1–2	Oct 1993	Reunion, Reunion Island	Challenger	Hard	Ronald Agenor	3–6, 4–6
Loss	1–3	Nov 1995	Nantes, France	Challenger	Hard	Guillaume Raoux	2–6, 5–7
Win	2–3	Aug 1997	Poznań, Poland	Challenger	Clay	David Rikl	7–5, 6–3
Win	3–3	Jul 1999	Newcastle, United Kingdom	Challenger	Clay	Ronald Agenor	3–6, 6–0, 7–6

Doubles: 7 (4–3)[]

Legend
ATP Challenger (3–3)
ITF Futures (1–0)

Finals by surface
Hard (2–2)
Clay (2–1)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	Sep 1993	Azores, Portugal	Challenger	Hard	Chris Bailey	Bryan Shelton Roger Smith	4–6, 4–6
Win	1–1	Oct 1993	Réunion, Réunion Island	Challenger	Hard	Jonathan Canter	Mark Kaplan Lan Bale	6–4, 3–6, 7–5
Loss	1–2	Jun 1995	Košice, Slovakia	Challenger	Clay	Adrian Voinea	Jiri Novak David Rikl	6–7, 2–6
Win	2–2	Jun 1996	Košice, Slovakia	Challenger	Clay	Olivier Delaitre	Jan Kodeš Jr. Petr Pala	7–6, 6–3
Win	3–2	Jun 2000	Braunschweig, Germany	Challenger	Clay	Jens Knippschild	Alex Lopez-Moron Albert Portas	6–2, 6–2
Loss	3–3	Feb 2003	Andrezieux, France	Challenger	Hard	Stephen Huss	David Skoch Lovro Zovko	6–7^(4–7), 6–0, 3–6
Win	4–3	Aug 2008	USA F21, Milwaukee	Futures	Hard	Edward Kelly	Raven Klaasen Ryan Young	6–3, 3–6. [11–9]

Performance timelines[]

**Key**
W	F	SF	QF	#R	RR	Q#	DNQ	A	NH

(W) Won; (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)

Singles[]

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	2R	Q3	1R	2R	1R	1R	1R	2R	3R	1R	3R	1R	1R	0 / 12	7–12	37%
French Open	A	A	A	A	1R	2R	3R	2R	1R	3R	2R	2R	1R	1R	Q1	0 / 10	8–10	44%
Wimbledon	A	A	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	3R	A	1R	2R	2R	2R	A	0 / 11	5–11	31%
US Open	1R	1R	3R	1R	2R	2R	1R	2R	1R	3R	3R	1R	1R	1R	A	0 / 14	9–14	39%
Win–Loss	0–1	0–1	3–3	0–2	1–4	3–4	2–4	2–4	2–4	5–3	5–4	2–4	3–4	1–4	0–1	0 / 47	29–47	38%
Olympic Games
Summer Olympics	NH	A	Not Held			A	Not Held			A	Not Held			2R	NH	0 / 1	1–1	50%
ATP Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells Masters	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	Q3	A	A	2R	A	A	A	1R	0 / 3	1–3	25%
Miami Open	A	A	A	3R	2R	1R	3R	2R	1R	A	2R	QF	1R	1R	Q2	0 / 10	11–10	52%
Stuttgart	NH	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	Q1	A	A	A	0 / 1	0–1	0%
Monte Carlo	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	A	A	0 / 1	0–1	0%
Rome	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	A	QF	A	1R	1R	Q1	1R	Q1	0 / 5	3–5	38%
Hamburg	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	2R	A	A	1R	A	0 / 2	1–2	33%
Canada Masters	A	A	2R	1R	2R	2R	2R	1R	2R	A	A	1R	A	1R	A	0 / 9	5–9	36%
Cincinnati Masters	A	A	A	A	A	1R	2R	A	A	A	A	2R	A	1R	Q2	0 / 4	2–4	33%
Paris Masters	A	A	A	A	A	1R	Q3	Q3	Q2	Q1	1R	Q1	Q1	A	A	0 / 2	0–2	0%
Win–Loss	0–0	0–0	1–1	2–2	2–2	1–5	4–4	1–2	4–3	0–0	3–6	5–5	0–1	0–5	0–1	0 / 37	23–37	38%

Doubles[]

Tournament	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	SR	W–L	Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	3R	1R	1R	2R	1R	3R	3R	1R	0 / 9	7–9	44%
French Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	2R	2R	1R	2R	F	1R	SF	1R	1R	0 / 9	11–9	55%
Wimbledon	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	2R	A	3R	2R	2R	2R	3R	2R	2R	0 / 8	10–8	56%
US Open	1R	A	A	A	A	A	A	2R	1R	3R	3R	1R	1R	3R	1R	2R	1R	0 / 11	8–11	42%
Win–Loss	0–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–1	2–4	5–3	4–4	2–4	7–4	3–4	7–4	4–4	1–4	0 / 37	36–37	49%
ATP Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells Masters	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	1R	A	1R	QF	1R	A	0 / 5	2–5	29%
Miami Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	1R	3R	2R	3R	2R	A	0 / 6	3–6	33%
Stuttgart	NH	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	Q1	A	1R	A	F	A	A	0 / 2	4–2	67%
Monte Carlo	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	QF	1R	2R	1R	A	0 / 5	2–5	29%
Rome	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	QF	A	QF	1R	QF	1R	1R	1R	A	0 / 7	6–7	46%
Hamburg	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	A	1R	1R	1R	A	0 / 4	0–4	0%
Canada Masters	A	A	1R	A	A	A	A	QF	QF	A	A	1R	A	1R	QF	QF	A	0 / 7	8–7	53%
Cincinnati Masters	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	2R	SF	1R	A	0 / 4	4–4	50%
Paris Masters	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	2R	A	Q2	Q1	1R	QF	2R	A	A	0 / 4	4–4	50%
Win–Loss	0–0	0–0	0–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	2–1	5–3	0–0	2–4	0–6	5–5	3–8	14–9	2–7	0–0	0 / 44	33–44	43%

Mixed Doubles[]

Tournament	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	SR	W–L	Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	1R	A	A	2R	QF	1R	QF	A	0 / 5	5–5	50%
French Open	A	A	2R	A	A	QF	1R	2R	A	0 / 4	3–4	43%
Wimbledon	A	A	A	QF	A	A	3R	1R	2R	0 / 4	6–4	60%
US Open	2R	A	QF	A	A	A	2R	2R	1R	0 / 5	5–5	50%
Win–Loss	1–1	0–1	2–2	3–1	1–1	4–2	3–4	4–4	1–2	0 / 18	19–18	51%

Junior Grand Slam finals[]

Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)[]

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1986	US Open	Hard	David Wheaton	Tomas Carbonell Javier Sanchez	4–6, 6–1, 1–6

References[]

^ ATPWorldTour player profile
^ Cart, Julie (July 2, 1995). "Wimbledon Takes a Slap in the Face: Tennis: Tarango becomes first to walk off court, then accuses umpire of favoritism". Los Angeles Times.
^ The Advertiser: Sport's most embarrassing moments- no. 15. A wag and a slapper
^ "Fans were treated to the longest women's match in Grand Slam histor". AP NEWS.
^ Game, Set, DEFAULT? Ten Tennis DQs To Remember, thetennisisland.com
^ http://www.itftennis.com/mens/players/activity.asp?player=10001362
^ "First Scandal in Agassi Book — Jeff Tarango Cheated Him at Age 10, by Charles Pennington : Daily Speculations".

External links[]

Jeff Tarango at the Association of Tennis Professionals
Jeff Tarango at the International Tennis Federation

[1] ATPWorldTour player profile

[jcartlat-2] Cart, Julie (July 2, 1995). "Wimbledon Takes a Slap in the Face: Tennis: Tarango becomes first to walk off court, then accuses umpire of favoritism". Los Angeles Times.

[3] The Advertiser: Sport's most embarrassing moments- no. 15. A wag and a slapper

[4] "Fans were treated to the longest women's match in Grand Slam histor". AP NEWS.

[5] Game, Set, DEFAULT? Ten Tennis DQs To Remember, thetennisisland.com

[6] ttp://www.itftennis.com/mens/players/activity.asp?player=10001362

[7] "First Scandal in Agassi Book — Jeff Tarango Cheated Him at Age 10, by Charles Pennington : Daily Speculations".

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