Eliot Teltscher

Eliot Teltscher (born March 15, 1959) is a retired professional American tennis player. His highest ranking in singles was # 6 in the world, and in doubles was # 38 in the world.

Eliot Teltscher

Country (sports)	United States
Residence	Irvine, California
Born	(1959-03-15) March 15, 1959 Rancho Palos Verdes, California
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Turned pro	1977
Retired	1988
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money	$1,653,997
Singles
Career record	399–216
Career titles	10
Highest ranking	No. 6 (May 7, 1982)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	QF (1983)
French Open	4R (1979, 1982, 1983)
Wimbledon	3R (1977)
US Open	QF (1980, 1981, 1983)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals	QF (1984)
WCT Finals	QF (1984)
Doubles
Career record	161–164
Career titles	4
Highest ranking	No. 38 (August 26, 1985)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	3R (1983)
French Open	F (1981)
Wimbledon	3R (1985)
Mixed doubles
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
French Open	W (1983)
Wimbledon	QF (1985)
Last updated on: December 17, 2012.

Tennis career

Early years

Teltscher was born in Palos Verdes, California, lives in Irvine, California, and is Jewish.[1][2] His mother was born in pre-state Israel/British Mandate Palestine, and his father Eric, of Austrian descent, was a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to Israel and joined the British military, ultimately becoming an industrial engineer.[3][4] He began playing tennis when he was nine, and by the time he was 17, he was ranked in the top ten in the United States junior rankings.[5]

He attended UCLA in 1978 on a tennis scholarship, where he was an All American, but dropped out to begin his professional tennis career.[6][1] In the NCAA tournament that year, he was ranked number two and was expected to play John McEnroe from Stanford in the final. However, he lost in the quarter-finals to John Sadri of North Carolina State.[3] That same year he defeated Onny Parun to win the New Zealand Open. He lived in Sebring, Florida.[4]He lives in Irvine, California.

Pro career

In January 1978, after Teltscher was eliminated by Ilie Nastase at the $100,000 Baltimore International tennis tournament, Nastase said: "Forget about Jimmy Connors. Teltscher is the best player I’ve played in the United States in years. Put him in the Davis Cup, put him in the World Cup, put him in everything."[7]

In 1979, Teltscher turned pro. A worldwide top 10 player from 1980–82, he was ranked no lower than #15 from through 1984. He reached his highest singles ATP-ranking on May 7, 1982, when he became ranked #6 in the world.[3]

He and his partner Terry Moor made it to the finals of the French Open in 1981, and he and Barbara Jordan won the mixed doubles title in 1983.[6] He made it to the quarterfinals at the US Open in 1980, 1981, and 1983, where each time he was defeated by Jimmy Connors.[6] He beat Connors, ranked # 8 in the world, in Chicago 6–3, 6–1. He won 10 singles titles during his professional career, which ended in 1988.[3]

Davis Cup

Teltscher was on the U.S. Davis Cup team in 1982, 1983, and 1985. His team defeated France in the 1982 tournament.[6]

Coaching

He served as a coach for Justin Gimelstob, Richey Reneberg (1997), Jeff Tarango (1995), Pete Sampras, Jim Grabb (1992), Phillip King and others.[6]

Teltscher served as a head men's tennis coach at Pepperdine University for the 1991–92 school season,[6] and as a tennis coach at the Manhattan Beach Country Club from 1992 to 1997.

He was a coach of the US national team from 1998 to 2001, when he resigned to become personal coach to Taylor Dent.[6]

He was named USTA Director of Tennis Operations in December 2002.[8]

Teltscher was named the 2003 Pan American Games Men's Coach.[9]

Jewish Sports Hall of Fame

Teltscher, who is Jewish, was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1991, into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1998,[10] and into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.[11][12]

Grand Slam finals

Men's doubles

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1981	French Open	Clay	Terry Moor	Heinz Günthardt Balázs Taróczy	2–6, 6–7, 3–6

Mixed doubles

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1983	French Open	Clay	Barbara Jordan	Leslie Allen Charles Strode	6–2, 6–3

ATP Tour finals

Singles 24 (10–14)

Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1.	1978	Atlanta, U.S.	Hard	Stan Smith	6–4, 1–6, 1–2, ret.
Win	1.	1978	Hong Kong	Hard	Pat Du Pré	6–4, 6–3, 6–2
Win	2.	1979	Atlanta, U.S.	Hard	John Alexander	6–3, 4–6, 6–2
Loss	2.	1980	Birmingham, U.S.	Carpet	Jimmy Connors	3–6, 2–6
Loss	3.	1980	New Orleans, U.S.	Carpet	Wojciech Fibak	4–6, 5–7
Win	3.	1980	Atlanta, U.S.	Hard	Terry Moor	6–2, 6–2
Loss	4.	1980	San Francisco, U.S.	Carpet	Gene Mayer	2–6, 6–2, 1–6
Win	4.	1980	Maui, U.S.	Hard	Tim Wilkison	7–6, 6–3
Loss	5.	1980	Republic of China	Carpet	Jimmy Connors	2–6, 4–6
Loss	6.	1980	Tokyo Outdoor, Japan	Clay	Ivan Lendl	6–3, 4–6, 0–6
Win	5.	1981	San Juan, U.S.	Hard	Tim Gullikson	6–4, 6–2
Loss	7.	1981	Montreal, Canada	Hard	Ivan Lendl	3–6, 2–6
Win	6.	1981	San Francisco, U.S.	Carpet	Brian Teacher	6–3, 7–6
Loss	8.	1981	Tokyo Outdoor, Japan	Clay	Balázs Taróczy	3–6, 6–1, 6–7^(3–7)
Loss	9.	1982	Rome, Italy	Clay	Andrés Gómez	2–6, 3–6, 2–6
Loss	10.	1982	Melbourne Indoor, Australia	Carpet	Vitas Gerulaitis	6–2, 2–6, 2–6
Loss	11.	1983	La Quinta, U.S.	Hard	José Higueras	4–6, 2–6
Win	7.	1983	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Andrés Gómez	7–5, 3–6, 6–1
Loss	12.	1984	Los Angeles, U.S.	Hard	Jimmy Connors	4–6, 6–4, 4–6
Win	8.	1984	Brisbane, Australia	Hard	Francisco González	3–6, 6–3, 6–4
Win	9.	1984	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Vitas Gerulaitis	6–3, 6–1, 7–6
Loss	13.	1987	Scottsdale, U.S.	Hard	Brad Gilbert	2–6, 2–6
Win	10.	1987	Hong Kong	Hard	John Fitzgerald	6–7^(6–8), 3–6, 6–1, 6–2, 7–5
Loss	14.	1988	Guarujá, Brazil	Hard	Luiz Mattar	3–6, 3–6

Doubles 14 (4–10)

Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1.	1978	Columbus, U.S.	Clay	Marcello Lara	Colin Dibley Bob Giltinan	2–6, 3–6
Win	1.	1979	Tulsa, U.S.	Hard (i)	Francisco González	Colin Dibley Tom Gullikson	6–7, 7–5, 6–3
Loss	2.	1979	Atlanta, U.S.	Hard	Steve Docherty	Raymond Moore Ilie Năstase	4–6, 2–6
Win	2.	1980	New Orleans, U.S.	Carpet	Terry Moor	Raymond Moore Robert Trogolo	7–6, 6–1
Loss	3.	1980	Rome, Italy	Clay	Balázs Taróczy	Mark Edmondson Kim Warwick	6–7, 6–7
Loss	4.	1980	Columbus, Ohio, U.S.	Hard	Peter Fleming	Brian Gottfried Sandy Mayer	4–6, 2–6
Loss	5.	1980	Tokyo Outdoor, Japan	Clay	Terry Moor	Ross Case Jaime Fillol	3–6, 6–3, 4–6
Loss	6.	1980	Wembley, England	Carpet	Bill Scanlon	Peter Fleming John McEnroe	5–7, 3–6
Loss	7.	1981	San Juan, Puerto Rico	Hard	Tim Gullikson	Tim Mayotte Chris Mayotte	4–6, 6–7
Loss	8.	1981	La Quinta, U.S.	Hard	Terry Moor	Bruce Manson Brian Teacher	6–7, 2–6
Loss	9.	1981	French Open, Paris	Clay	Terry Moor	Heinz Günthardt Balázs Taróczy	2–6, 6–7, 3–6
Win	3.	1982	Delray Beach WCT, U.S.	Clay	Mel Purcell	Tomáš Šmíd Balázs Taróczy	6–4, 7–6
Win	4.	1982	Maui, U.S.	Hard	Mike Cahill	Francisco González Bernard Mitton	6–4, 6–4
Loss	10.	1984	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Steve Meister	Tracy Delatte Francisco González	6–7, 1–6

See also

• List of select Jewish tennis players

References

1. Eliot Teltscher | Overview | ATP World Tour | Tennis
2. Jewish Post 12 March 1982 — Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana's Digital Historic Newspaper Program
3. "Eliot Teltscher – One of the Greatest Jewish Tennis Players Of All Time" | World Tennis Magazine
4. The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California on January 14, 1982 · Page 68
5. Teltscher, Eliot : Jews In Sports @ Virtual Museum
6. "Teltscher, Eliot". Jews in Sports. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
7. Lookout | PEOPLE.com
8. "Teltscher to coach Pe’er in next tournament" - Jerusalem Post
9. "Missing Sole but Not Heart" - latimes
10. Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame Home
11. "Eliot Teltscher". International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
12. "Eliot Teltscher"

External links

• Eliot Teltscher at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Eliot Teltscher at the International Tennis Federation
• Eliot Teltscher at the Davis Cup
• USTA
• Teltscher v Onny Parun 1978 New Zealand Open final