Kevin Curren

This article is about the former tennis player. For similarly named people, see Kevin Curran (disambiguation).

---

Kevin Curren

Country (sports)	South Africa United States
Residence	Austin, TX, USA
Born	(1958-03-02) 2 March 1958 Durban, South Africa
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Turned pro	1979
Retired	1993
Plays	Right-handed
Prize money	$3,055,510
Singles
Career record	338–235 (at ATP Tour, Grand Prix tour, WCT tour, and Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	5
Highest ranking	No. 5 (22 July 1985)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	F (1984)
French Open	2R (1992)
Wimbledon	F (1985)
US Open	4R (1981, 1990)
Doubles
Career record	430–249 (at ATP Tour, Grand Prix tour, WCT tour, and Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	26
Highest ranking	No. 3 (3 January 1983)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	SF (1981)
French Open	QF (1984)
Wimbledon	SF (1982, 1983)
US Open	W (1982)

Kevin Melvyn Curren (born 2 March 1958 in Durban, South Africa) is a former professional tennis player. He played in two Grand Slam singles finals and won four Grand Slam doubles titles.

Personal

Curren became a naturalized American citizen in April 1985.

Career

Curren played both tennis and cricket at Glenwood High School in Durban. At college he played tennis for the University of Texas at Austin in the United States and won the NCAA singles title in 1979. He turned professional later that year, and won his first top-level singles title in 1981 in Johannesburg.

In 1983, Curren reached his first Grand Slam semi-final at Wimbledon, beating defending champion, Jimmy Connors 6–3, 6–7, 6–3, 7–6, in the fourth round, causing a big upset. Curren lost to unseeded New Zealander Chris Lewis in a dramatic five-set semi final match 6–7, 6–4, 7–6, 6–7, 8–6, that was noteworthy for allowing Lewis to become only the seventh unseeded player to ever reach the Wimbledon final. In 1984, Curren powered his way through the draw and played Mats Wilander in the final of the Australian Open, after making a comeback from two sets down to defeat Ben Testerman in the semi-finals. Wilander won the match, played on the grass courts at Kooyong, in four sets 6–7, 6–4, 7–6, 6–2.

In 1985, Curren reached the final at Wimbledon with the help of coaching from Tony Roche. After defeating future champion Stefan Edberg in the fourth round in straight sets, 7–6, 6–3, 7-6, he comprehensively eliminated the then-World No. 1 John McEnroe in the quarter-finals 6–2, 6–2, 6-4 and World No. 3 Jimmy Connors in the semi-finals 6–2, 6–2, 6–1. Curren was the first player to beat both legends in the same Grand Slam event. McEnroe later commented that he had difficulty in dealing with Curren's highly individualistic and very fast serving, which, in its low toss, was hard to read and tended to produce low balls that would skip on the grass courts of the time. In the final he lost in four sets to Boris Becker 3-6, 7-6, 6-7, 4-6 in a match best remembered for making the 17 year-old Becker the youngest-ever male Grand Slam champion (a record which would later be eclipsed by Michael Chang in 1989 at the French Open). The final was very heated and intense, and Becker sent several hostile glares to Curren before and after points. On one of the final change-overs, Becker even bumped Curren's shoulder as they passed one another. After his defeat, Curren was noted as saying that he thought the game would see an increase in the number of successful young players, and predicted they would have more intense, but shorter, careers.

Though he never won a Grand Slam singles title, Curren did win four Grand Slam doubles titles. In 1981 he won the US Open mixed doubles, and in 1982 he won the Wimbledon mixed doubles, and both men's doubles and mixed doubles at the US Open. During his career, Curren won 5 top-level singles titles and 26 doubles titles. His career-high rankings were World No. 5 in singles and World No. 3 in doubles. His career prize-money earnings totalled US$3,055,510. His final career singles title came in 1989 at Frankfurt, and his last doubles title was won in 1992 in Seoul. Curren retired from the professional tour in 1993.

Since retiring from the tour, Curren has served as Captain of South Africa's Davis Cup team.

Major finals

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 2 finals (2 runner-ups)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1984	Australian Open	Grass	Mats Wilander	6–7(5), 6–4, 7–6(3), 6–2
Runner-up	1985	Wimbledon	Grass	Boris Becker	6–3, 6–7(4), 7–6(3), 6–4

Grand Slam, Grand Prix, WCT, and ATP Tour singles finals (13)

Wins (5)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	1981	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Bernard Mitton	6–4, 6–4
2.	1982	Cologne, Germany	Hard (i)	Shlomo Glickstein	2–6, 6–2, 6–3
3.	1985	Toronto, Canada	Carpet	Anders Järryd	7–6(6), 6–3
4.	1986	Atlanta, U.S.	Carpet	Tim Wilkison	7–6(5), 7–6(2)
5.	1989	Frankfurt, Germany	Carpet	Petr Korda	6–2, 7–5

Runner-ups (8)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	1982	Los Angeles, U.S.	Carpet	Ivan Lendl	7–6(5), 7–5, 6–1
2.	1982	Amsterdam, Netherlands	Carpet	Wojtek Fibak	7–5, 3–6, 6–4, 6–3
3.	1983	Milan, Italy	Carpet	Ivan Lendl	5–7, 6–3, 7–6
4.	1984	Australian Open	Grass	Mats Wilander	6–7(5), 6–4, 7–6(3), 6–2
5.	1985	Houston, U.S.	Carpet	John McEnroe	7–5, 6–1, 7–6(4)
6.	1985	Wimbledon	Grass	Boris Becker	6–3, 6–7(4), 7–6(3), 6–4
7.	1986	Scottsdale, U.S.	Hard	John McEnroe	6–3, 3–6, 6–2
8.	1988	Canadian Open	Hard	Ivan Lendl	7–6(10), 6–2

Grand Slam, Grand Prix, WCT, and ATP Tour doubles finals (53)

Titles (26)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	1980	Denver, U.S.	Carpet	Steve Denton	Wojtek Fibak Heinz Günthardt	7–5, 6–2
2.	1980	Indianapolis, U.S.	Clay	Steve Denton	Wojtek Fibak Ivan Lendl	3–6, 7–6, 6–4
3.	1980	Basel, Switzerland	Hard (i)	Steve Denton	Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan	6–7, 6–4, 6–4
4.	1981	Monterrey WCT, Mexico	Carpet	Steve Denton	Johan Kriek Russell Simpson	7–6, 6–3
5.	1981	Indianapolis, U.S.	Clay	Steve Denton	Raúl Ramírez Van Winitsky	6–3, 5–7, 7–5
6.	1981	Stockholm, Sweden	Hard (i)	Steve Denton	Sherwood Stewart Ferdi Taygan	6–7, 6–4, 6–0
7.	1982	Denver, U.S.	Carpet	Steve Denton	Phil Dent Kim Warwick	6–4, 6–4
8.	1982	Memphis, U.S.	Carpet	Steve Denton	Peter Fleming John McEnroe	7–6, 4–6, 6–2
9.	1982	Houston, U.S.	Clay	Steve Denton	Mark Edmondson Peter McNamara	7–5, 6–4
10.	1982	U.S. Open, New York	Hard	Steve Denton	Victor Amaya Hank Pfister	6–2, 6–7, 5–7, 6–2, 6–4
11.	1982	Los Angeles-2 WCT, U.S.	Carpet	Hank Pfister	Andy Andrews Drew Gitlin	4–6, 6–2, 7–5
12.	1983	Philadelphia, U.S.	Carpet	Steve Denton	Peter Fleming John McEnroe	6–4, 7–6
13.	1983	Munich WCT, Germany	Carpet	Steve Denton	Heinz Günthardt Balázs Taróczy	6–7, 6–4, 6–4
14.	1983	Houston WCT, U.S.	Clay	Steve Denton	Mark Dickson Tomáš Šmíd	7–6, 6–7, 6–1
15.	1983	Las Vegas, U.S.	Hard	Steve Denton	Tracy Delatte Johan Kriek	6–3, 7–5
16.	1984	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Carpet	Wojtek Fibak	Fritz Buehning Ferdi Taygan	6–4, 6–4
17.	1986	London/Queen's Club, England	Grass	Guy Forget	Darren Cahill Mark Kratzmann	6–2, 7–6
18.	1987	Tokyo Outdoor, Japan	Hard	Paul Annacone	Andrés Gómez Anders Järryd	6–3, 6–7, 6–3
19.	1987	Los Angeles, U.S.	Hard	David Pate	Brad Gilbert Tim Wilkison	6–3, 6–4
20.	1987	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard (i)	David Pate	Eric Korita Brad Pearce	6–4, 6–4
21.	1988	Memphis, U.S.	Hard (i)	David Pate	Peter Lundgren Mikael Pernfors	6–3, 7–5
22.	1988	Stockholm, Sweden	Hard (i)	Jim Grabb	Paul Annacone John Fitzgerald	7–5, 7–5
23.	1988	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard (i)	David Pate	Gary Muller Tim Wilkison	7–6, 6–4
24.	1989	Tokyo Indoor, Japan	Carpet	David Pate	Andrés Gómez Slobodan Živojinović	4–6, 6–3, 7–6
25.	1990	London/Queen's Club, England	Grass	Jeremy Bates	Henri Leconte Ivan Lendl	6–2, 7–6
26.	1992	Seoul, South Korea	Hard	Gary Muller	Kelly Evernden Brad Pearce	7–6, 6–4

Runner-ups (27)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	1980	Washington-2, U.S.	Carpet	Steve Denton	Ferdi Taygan Brian Teacher	4–6, 6–3, 7–6
2.	1980	North Conway, U.S.	Clay	Steve Denton	Jimmy Connors Brian Gottfried	7–6, 6–3
3.	1981	Brussels, Belgium	Carpet	Steve Denton	Sandy Mayer Frew McMillan	4–6, 6–3, 6–3
4.	1981	London/Queen's Club, United Kingdom	Grass	Steve Denton	Pat Du Pré Brian Teacher	3–6, 7–6, 11–9
5.	1981	Newport, U.S.	Grass	Billy Martin	Brad Drewett Erik Van Dillen	6–2, 6–4
6.	1982	Masters Doubles WCT, London	Carpet	Steve Denton	Heinz Günthardt Balázs Taróczy	6–7, 6–3, 7–5, 6–4
7.	1982	Munich-2 WCT, Germany	Carpet	Steve Denton	Mark Edmondson Tomáš Šmíd	4–6, 7–5, 6–2
8.	1982	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Carpet	Fritz Buehning	Mark Edmondson Sherwood Stewart	7–5, 6–2
9.	1982	Amsterdam WCT, Netherlands	Carpet	Buster Mottram	Fritz Buehning Tomáš Šmíd	4–6, 6–3, 6–0
10.	1983	Forest Hills WCT, U.S.	Clay	Steve Denton	Tracy Delatte Johan Kriek	6–7, 7–5, 6–3
11.	1983	London/Queen's Club, United Kingdom	Grass	Steve Denton	Brian Gottfried Paul McNamee	6–4, 6–3
12.	1984	Richmond WCT, U.S.	Carpet	Steve Denton	John McEnroe Patrick McEnroe	7–6, 6–2
13.	1984	Brussels, Belgium	Carpet	Steve Denton	Tim Gullikson Tom Gullikson	6–4, 6–7, 7–6
14.	1984	Milan, Italy	Carpet	Steve Denton	Pavel Složil Tomáš Šmíd	6–4, 6–3
15.	1985	Memphis, U.S.	Carpet	Steve Denton	Pavel Složil Tomáš Šmíd	1–6, 6–3, 6–4
16.	1985	Brussels, Belgium	Carpet	Wojtek Fibak	Stefan Edberg Anders Järryd	6–3, 7–6
17.	1988	Philadelphia, U.S.	Carpet	Danie Visser	Kelly Evernden Johan Kriek	7–6, 6–3
18.	1988	Vienna, Austria	Carpet	Tomáš Šmíd	Alex Antonitsch Balázs Taróczy	4–6, 6–3, 7–6
19.	1989	Indian Wells, U.S.	Hard	David Pate	Boris Becker Jakob Hlasek	3–6, 6–3, 6–4
20.	1989	Tokyo Outdoor, Japan	Hard	David Pate	Ken Flach Robert Seguso	6–4, 6–4
21.	1989	Frankfurt, Germany	Carpet	Eric Jelen	Pieter Aldrich Danie Visser	7–6, 6–7, 6–3
22.	1989	Wembley, United Kingdom	Carpet	Jeremy Bates	Jakob Hlasek John McEnroe	6–1, 7–6
23.	1990	Toronto Indoor, Canada	Carpet	Neil Broad	Patrick Galbraith David Macpherson	2–6, 6–4, 6–3
24.	1990	Hong Kong	Hard	Joey Rive	Pat Cash Wally Masur	6–3, 6–3
25.	1990	Berlin, Germany	Carpet	Patrick Galbraith	Pieter Aldrich Danie Visser	7–6, 7–6
26.	1991	Lyon, France	Hard (i)	Jeremy Bates	Steve DeVries David Macpherson	7–6, 3–6, 6–3
27.	1992	Memphis, U.S.	Hard (i)	Gary Muller	Todd Woodbridge Mark Woodforde	7–5, 4–6, 7–6

External links

• Official ATP Profile
• tenniscorner.net profile
• sporting-heroes.net profile of Curren's 1984 Australian Open finals appearance
• sporting-heroes.net' profile of Curren's 1985 Wimbledon finals appearance