Family

Washington was born in Glen Cove, New York. His father, William, taught himself and then his five children to play tennis. When William was the assistant dean at the State University of New York, he decided to teach underprivileged children in the area how to play tennis on the university's new courts. When the family moved to Mundy Township, Michigan, they played on the courts at General Motors headquarters, where MaliVai's parents worked, and at the Flint Tennis Club.

Washington's younger sister, Mashona, is also an accomplished professional tennis player. She was a member of the 1992 U.S. National Team. His younger brother, Mashiska, received All-America honors at Michigan State University, before joining the men's professional tour. MaliVai's older sister, Michaela, also played professionally.

Amateur tennis

Washington began playing tennis at the age of five after his family moved to Michigan. Growing up in Mundy Township, Michigan, MaliVai worked on his game and trained at the Indoor Genesee Valley Tennis Club and the Flint Tennis Club in nearby Flint, Michigan. As a teenager, he played on the junior circuit and competed in the USTA national junior championships, facing future world-class players like Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, and Todd Martin.

As a high school senior, at Carman - Ainsworth High School in Flint Township, Washington was coached by former ATP Tour participant Victor Amaya. For two seasons, Washington played tennis for the University of Michigan and was the top ranked college player in the United States at the end of his sophomore season. He left school and turned professional in 1989.

Professional tennis

His first notable tour result came in 1990, when he defeated Ivan Lendl in straight sets in the second round of the tournament at New Haven, Connecticut. Just a week earlier, Lendl had lost the World No. 1 ranking to Stefan Edberg, and he would have regained it if he had won that match.

Washington won his first top-level singles title in 1992 at Memphis, Tennessee.

In 1996, Washington reached his only Grand Slam final at Wimbledon. He was the first African-American male to reach the Wimbledon final since Arthur Ashe in 1975. Washington lost to the Dutch player Richard Krajicek, 3-6, 4-6, 3-6. He also reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in 1994, defeating No. 2 seed Michael Stich in 4 sets in the first round.

During his career, Washington won 4 tour singles titles. His career-high singles ranking was no. 11 in 1992.

The later years of Washington's career were plagued by injuries, and he retired from the professional tour in 1999. Since retiring, he has served as a TV analyst with ESPN, and as an on-court interviewer for the USTA during the US Open.

Accolades

MaliVai received the 1997 Boys and Girls Clubs of America CARE Award. In 1998, he was honored with the Arthur Ashe Athletic Association Leadership Award. Washington also played on the US Davis Cup team in 1992.

He was awarded the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Of The Year Award in the 2009 ATP World Tour Awards.

Grand Slam singles final

Runner-up (1)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
Runner-up	1996	Wimbledon	Grass	Richard Krajicek	3-6, 4-6, 3-6

ATP Tour finals

Singles champion (4)

Legend

Grand Slam (0)

Tennis Masters Cup (0)

ATP Masters Series (0)

ATP Championship Series (1)

ATP Tour (3)

Outcome	No.	Date	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1.	January 6, 1992	Auckland, New Zealand	Hard	Jaime Yzaga	6-7(6-8), 4-6
Winner	1.	February 10, 1992	Memphis, U.S.	Hard (i)	Wayne Ferreira	6-3, 6-2
Runner-up	2.	April 13, 1992	Tampa, U.S.	Clay	Jaime Yzaga	6-3, 4-6, 1-6
Winner	2.	May 4, 1992	Charlotte, U.S.	Clay	Claudio Mezzadri	6-3, 6-3
Runner-up	3.	June 15, 1992	Manchester, U.K.	Grass	Jacco Eltingh	3-6, 4-6
Runner-up	4.	August 17, 1992	New Haven, U.S.	Hard	Stefan Edberg	6-7(4-7), 1-6
Runner-up	5.	January 11, 1993	Auckland, New Zealand	Hard	Alexander Volkov	6-7(2-7), 4-6
Runner-up	6.	March 12, 1993	Miami, U.S.	Hard	Pete Sampras	3-6, 2-6
Winner	3.	October 10, 1994	Ostrava, Czech Republic	Carpet (i)	Arnaud Boetsch	4-6, 6-3, 6-3
Runner-up	7.	October 9, 1995	Ostrava, Czech Republic	Carpet (i)	Wayne Ferreira	6-3, 4-6, 3-6
Runner-up	8.	October 23, 1995	Essen, Germany	Carpet (i)	Thomas Muster	6-7(6-8), 6-2, 3-6, 4-6
Winner	4.	April 15, 1996	Bermuda	Clay	Marcelo Filippini	6-7(6-8), 6-4, 7-5
Runner-up	9.	July 7, 1996	Wimbledon, London	Grass	Richard Krajicek	3-6, 4-6, 3-6

Doubles finalist (1)

• 1995: Bogotá (with Steve Campbell, lost to Jiří Novák and David Rikl)

Performance Timeline

Singles

Tournament	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	Career SR	Career Win-Loss
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	A	1R	3R	4R	QF	1R	4R	4R	2R	A	0 / 8	16-7
French Open	A	A	1R	1R	2R	4R	1R	2R	1R	A	A	A	0 / 7	5-7
Wimbledon	A	A	2R	2R	1R	2R	1R	1R	F	A	A	A	0 / 7	9-7
U.S. Open	A	2R	2R	3R	4R	3R	2R	1R	2R	A	1R	A	0 / 9	11-9
Grand Slam SR	0 / 0	0 / 1	0 / 3	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 1	0 / 2	0 / 0	0 / 31	N/A
Annual Win-Loss	0-0	1-1	2-3	3-4	6-4	9-4	5-4	1-4	10-4	3-1	1-1	0-0	N/A	41-30
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells	A	A	A	A	3R	3R	1R	1R	A	A	2R	A	0 / 5	5-5
Miami	A	A	A	1R	2R	F	2R	4R	3R	A	2R	A	0 / 7	10-7
Monte Carlo	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 0	0-0
Rome	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	3R	2R	A	A	A	0 / 3	3-3
Hamburg	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	2R	2R	A	A	A	0 / 2	2-2
Montreal/Toronto	A	A	1R	2R	SF	2R	QF	QF	3R	A	3R	A	0 / 8	13-8
Cincinnati	A	A	A	3R	1R	2R	3R	1R	2R	A	A	1R	0 / 7	6-6
Stockholm/Essen/Stuttgart	A	A	A	A	2R	SF	1R	F	2R	A	A	A	0 / 5	9-5
Paris	A	A	A	2R	2R	2R	A	2R	3R	A	A	A	0 / 5	4-5
Masters Series SR	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 1	0 / 4	0 / 5	0 / 7	0 / 5	0 / 8	0 / 8	0 / 0	0 / 3	0 / 1	0 / 42	N/A
Annual Win-Loss	0-0	0-0	0-1	4-4	3-5	13-7	7-5	15-8	6-7	0-0	4-3	0-1	N/A	52-41
Year End Ranking	329	199	93	50	13	23	30	26	20	258	178	1115	N/A

[ Source: Wikipedia ]