For most players, Futures tournaments are a stepping stone to get their feet wet on the pro circuit as they begin their careers and start to establish themselves as pro tennis players.
Leave it to a 39-year-old to rewrite the rule book on that.
Five years after ending a pro career that lasted for fifteen 15 years, former American star Jeff Tarango is back competing this week at the Time Warner Cable “Road Runner Pro Tennis Classic,” a $10,000 futures tournament in Elm Grove, Wisconsin. Paired with Edward Kelly, a player on the Stanford University tennis team, Tarango won his first round doubles match with a routine 6-1, 6-4 win over William Boe-Wiegaard and Patrick Frandij.
Despite naturally losing a step, Tarango’s textbook volleys and old-school groundstokes remained the same as he helped led his team into the quarterfinals.
“I still feel that I can compete at this level,” Tarango said. “I won most of my matches during my career off the mental side of the game. That’s something which has never gone away.”
During his career, Tarango won two singles and 14 doubles titles on the ATP Tour. He reached a career high ranking of No. 42 in singles and No. 10 in doubles. He reached the men’s doubles finals at the French Open in 1999, and reached the third round of every Grand Slam at least once in singles and doubles. Tarango also represented the United States at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
Most recently, Tarango also competed in doubles this year at the $50,000 challenger in Carson, California, reaching the quarterfinals. However, Tarango said that he doesn’t view this as a comeback, and instead views his match play as a way to strengthen his abilities as a tennis coach.
“This is sort of a guinea pig experiment with the USTA,” Tarango said. “I wanted to come out and see how the young guys here are hitting the ball, and really get a sense of what we’re working with.”
Tarango, who currently serves on the USTA’s Davis Cup and Olympic committees, said he believes that a different approach needs to be taken with American tennis.
“We don’t have the numbers that Spain has or Russia has in terms of producing top players, so we need to look at what can be done to change that in the future,” Tarango said.
Tarango, who is currently coaching two players who are competing in the tournament this week, said he believes that players need to realize there is more to being a pro tennis player than hitting balls.
“I think that I can be a good influence on these players,” Tarango said. “It’s all about how you prepare for a tournament the week before, the night before, and the hour before. You have to pay attention to every detail if you want to be successful.”
