Matt Mitchell

Matt Mitchell (born 1957) is a former American professional tennis player who played from 1979-1987.

Mitchell, who hails from Northern California, was the number one player in the last year of his age group from the 10s through the 16s. Mitchell holds four National Junior Titles: National Hardcourt Championships in Burlingame, California in the 12-and-under Doubles with Jeff Robinson at the Peninsula Tennis Club; National Hardcourt Championships in Burlingame, California in the 14-and-under Singles where he defeated Southern California's Perry Wright in the finals after upsetting Howard Schoenfeld in the semi-finals; National Hardcourt Championships in Burlingame, California at the Peninsula Tennis Club in the 16-and-under Singles where he defeated Southern California's Walter Redondo; and, the National Hardcourt Championships in Kalamazoo, Michigan in the 16-and-under Doubles with Nial Brash.^[1]

In 1974, Mitchell was recruited by Coach Dick Gould of Stanford University where Mitchell signed his letter of intent in 1975. At Stanford University, MItchell became at 3-time All-American where he achieved his first All-American honors when he beat the two-sport All-American John Lucas from the University of Maryland in the round of 32 at the NCAA Championships in Corpus Christi, Texas.^[1]

In 1977, Mitchell helped win the "NCAA National Team Championships" where each team sent their best six singles players and best 3 doubles teams to compete in a single-elimination tournament.^[2] After Stanford University won the National Team Championships, Mitchell, who was seeded first in the singles event, beat John Bennett of Brigham Young University, John Austin of UCLA, Ben McKown of Trinity College, Bruce Nichols of UCLA, Chris Lewis of USC, and in the final, Tony Graham of UCLA in the best of five set final to win the NCAA Singles Title.^[1]

In 1979 Mitchell, in his first year as a professional player was nominated as Rookie of the Year after he was ranked the second highest rookie, behind Vince Van Patten. Mitchell's greatest success in singles came at the Black and Decker Championships, in Melbourne, Australia in 1984, where he beat Eliot Teltscher who was eighth in the world, and Pat Cash who was tenth in the world to win the tournament.^[3] That single event catapulted Mitchell's ranking from 164 in the world to 63.^[4]

Mitchell's greatest success as a professional came as a doubles player, winning seven tournaments in doubles between 1980 and 1985.^[5] These included the ATP Player's Championships in Cincinnati, Ohio with Francisco Gonzalez, and, while partnering with Kevin Curren former All-American from University of Texas at Austin in 1986, they lost in the semi-finals of the US Open Championships to Mats Wilander and Joakim Nyström of Sweden in a five-set match, 7-6 in the fifth.^[6] Mitchell's highest doubles ranking as a professional was 30 in the world.

In 1981, Mitchell was inducted into Stanford University Athletic Hall of Fame.^[7]

In 2004, Mitchell created a Top-10 Tennis Video Podcast called 'Classic Tennis,' free to anyone who wanted to learn the game of tennis from the basics to technical to competitive and strategic.^[8]

In 2006, Mitchell was inducted into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Men's Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame.^[9]

References

External links

• Matt Mitchell at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Matt Mitchell at the International Tennis Federation