Jeff Tarango
Age: 56
Jeffrey Gail ("Jeff") Tarango (born November 20, 1968) is a retired American professional tennis player. He was a Top 10 doubles player and a runner-up at the 1999 French Open Men's Doubles tournament. At Wimbledon in 1995, he defaulted a match after a dispute with the umpire, and his wife assaulted the umpire once Tarango had left the court.
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 2 top-level professional singles titles and 14 doubles titles. Tarango reached two Super 9 quarterfinals: Rome in 1995 and Miami in 1998. His career-high world rankings were No. 42 in singles and No. 10 in doubles. He was runner-up in the men's doubles at the 1999 French Open (partnering with Goran Ivanišević).
Wimbledon 1995 default
Trailing 7-6 (8-6), 2-1, 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. To add to the controversy, Tarango's wife at the time then slapped Rebeuh twice in the face.
Tarango was eventually banned by the ITF from the 1996 Wimbledon tournament.
Ironically, Tarango was also the beneficiary of a default in the men's doubles tournament at the same championship. He and partner Henrik Holm were at two sets all against the team of Jeremy Bates and Tim Henman when Henman angrily smashed a ball which inadvertently hit a ball girl, resulting in their disqualification.
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 6 years within the USTA. He still makes occasional appearances at professional events, including the 2008 USA F21 Futures event in Milwaukee. 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. 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 and many others.
After professional tennis, Tarango worked for the AON Corporation with Theodore Forstmann, Andy Roddick, and many other society notables.
Tarango currently consults and does speaking engagements for inspired groups.
Tarango is currently married to Jessica Balgrosky and they have five children (Nina Rose, Katherine, Jackson, Ace, and Jesse).
Record in detail
Doubles titles (14)
No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partnering | Opponents in the final | Score |
1. | May 1, 1995 | Seoul, South Korea | Hard | Sébastien Lareau | Joshua Eagle Andrew Florent |
6-3, 6-2 |
2. | July 24, 1995 | Washington D.C., United States | Hard | Olivier Delaître | Petr Korda Cyril Suk |
1-6, 6-3, 6-2 |
3. | September 18, 1995 | Bucharest, Romania | Clay | Mark Keil | Cyril Suk Daniel Vacek |
6-4, 7-6 |
4. | July 15, 1996 | Bastad, Sweden | Clay | David Ekerot | Joshua Eagle Peter Nyborg |
6-4, 3-6, 6-4 |
5. | September 16, 1996 | Bucharest, Romania | Clay | David Ekerot | David Adams Menno Oosting |
7-6, 7-6 |
6. | November 16, 1998 | Moscow, Russia | Carpet (I) | Jared Palmer | Yevgeny Kafelnikov Daniel Vacek |
6-4, 6-7, 6-2 |
7. | January 18, 1999 | Auckland, New Zealand | Hard | Daniel Vacek | Jiří Novák David Rikl |
7-5, 7-5 |
8. | February 15, 1999 | St. Petersburg, Russia | Carpet (I) | Daniel Vacek | Menno Oosting Andrei Pavel |
3-6, 6-3, 7-5 |
9. | April 19, 1999 | Tokyo, Japan | Hard | Daniel Vacek | Wayne Black Brian MacPhie |
4-3, RET. |
10. | July 12, 1999 | Bastad, Sweden | Clay | David Adams | Nicklas Kulti Mikael Tillström |
7-6(8-6), 6-4 |
11. | September 20, 1999 | Bournemouth, England | Clay | David Adams | Michael Kohlmann Nicklas Kulti |
6-3, 6-7(5-7), 7-6(7-5) |
12. | October 4, 1999 | Toulouse, France | Hard (I) | Olivier Delaître | David Adams John-Laffnie de Jager |
6-3, 7-6(7-2), 6-4 |
13. | November 20, 2000 | Brighton, England | Hard (I) | Michael Hill | Paul Goldstein Jim Thomas |
6-3, 7-5 |
14. | April 16, 2001 | Casablanca, Morocco | Clay | Michael Hill | Pablo Albano David Macpherson |
7-6(7-2), 6-3 |
Doubles finalist (12)
- 1994 - St. Poelten
- 1997 - Hong Kong
- 1998 - Auckland, Los Angeles
- 1999 - French Open
- 2000 - Auckland, Tokyo
- 2001 - Moscow, Madrid, Gstaad, Marseille, Stuttgart