Grant Connell
Grant Connell (born November 17, 1965 in Regina) is a former professional tennis player from Canada who became the world's number doubles tennis player in November 1995.
As a college player
Growing up in North Vancouver, Connell was an All-American in doubles in 1984 and in singles in 1985 at Texas A&M University. In '85 he lost in the quarterfinals of the NCAA individual tennis championships to fellow further pro Mikael Pernfors.
As a pro doubles player
Connell won 22 career doubles titles during his eleven seasons on the ATP tour (1986 to 1997). He won his first four with fellow Canadian Glenn Michibata. Upon Michibata's retirement from the tour, Connell joined Patrick Galbraith. The Connell-Galbraith tandem won 12 titles together including the 1995 season ending Doubles Championship tournament. Connell's next main partner became Byron Black with whom he won 4 more titles. He also won a title each with Todd Martin and Scott Davis. He was a three-time Wimbledon doubles finalist, once each with Michibata, Galbraith, and Black.
As a singles pro player
A lefthander, Connell best singles ranking was World No. 67, which he reached in June 1991. His best tour singles results were reaching the semi-finals of the 1991 Chicago, 1991 Singapore, and 1992 Auckland Grand Prix events. A solid grass-court player, Connell in 1991 at Wimbledon played a five-set first round match on Centre Court against Andre Agassi, where Connell went up two sets to one on a second serve ace in a third set tie-breaker. Agassi however won the final two sets to win the match. The following year at Wimbledon saw Agassi win his first Grand Slam event and Connell reach the third round to equal his best ever Grand Slam event showing. He also reached the third round of Wimbledon 1994 and the 1991 Australian Open.
As a Davis Cup player
Connell played Davis Cup for Canada on numerous occasions posting a career 15 and 6 win-loss record in doubles and an equally impressive 8 and 3 record in singles. He was a member of Canada's 1991 and 1992 teams, its first ever to qualify for the World Group.
External link
After retiring as a player
Upon retiring from the tour in 1997, Connell became High Performance Director with Tennis BC and real estate agent with a Prudential Financial subsidiary. From February 2001 to June 2004 he also captained Canada's Davis Cup team, as the team in September 2003 won promotion to the World Group for only the second time.