Jeff Tarango

Jeff Tarango
Full name	Jeffrey Gail Tarango
Country (sports)	United States
Residence	Manhattan Beach, CA, USA
Born	November 20, 1968 (age 56); Manhattan Beach, CA, USA
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Turned pro	1989
Retired	2003 (comeback 2008-2010)
Plays	Left-handed (2-handed backhand)
Prize money	$3,730,289
Singles
Career record	239–294
Career titles	2
Highest ranking	No. 42 (November 2, 1992)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	3R (1997, 1999)
French Open	3R (1993, 1996)
Wimbledon	3R (1995)
US Open	3R (1989, 1996, 1997)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games	2R (2000)
Doubles
Career record	253–247
Career titles	14
Highest ranking	No. 10 (October 18, 1999)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	3R (1996, 2001, 2002)
French Open	F (1999)
Wimbledon	3R (1997, 2001)
US Open	3R (1996, 1997, 2000)

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.^[1] 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. ^[2] To add to the controversy, Tarango's wife at the time then slapped Rebeuh twice in the face.^[3]

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.^[4]

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.^[5] 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.^[6] 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