Brian Teacher

Junior, high school, and college

Teacher won a CIF singles title in tennis in 1972 during his senior year while at Crawford High School.^[4][12] In 1972, he also won the boys' 18 singles and doubles national titles at the USTA Boys' 18 National Championships.^[13]

At the University of California-Los Angeles, he won the Pacific-8 singles and doubles championship in his sophomore season in 1974. He was also an All-American in four consecutive years from 1973 to 1976, and was a member of the UCLA teams that won the NCAA Men's Tennis Championship back-to-back in 1975 and 1976.^[7] He turned professional just prior to completing his degree requirements.^[14]

Professional career

Teacher’s earliest appearance in a Grand Slam tournament was in 1972. That year, along with American Steve Turner he made his way through the multi-round qualification brackets to advance into the main draw of the 1972 US Open, where he competed as a 17-year-old; he lost in the first round.^[15][16]

He reached the finals in the South Australian Open and the New South Wales Open, in Adelaide and Sydney, in 1977.^[17][18] At the inaugural 1978 Seiko World Super Tennis tournament in Tokyo, Teacher upset fellow UCLA graduates Jimmy Connors and Arthur Ashe, before losing in the indoor carpet final to top seed Björn Borg of Sweden in straight sets.^[19][20]

In 1980, he won the singles title at the Australian Open, becoming the second Jewish player to win a men's Grand Slam Singles championship (after Dick Savitt).^[1] He won the final over Kim Warwick of Australia in straight sets.^[21][22] With his Grand Slam victory, Teacher is one of only five American male players in the Open era to have won a single Grand Slam event (along with Michael Chang, Vitas Gerulaitis, Andy Roddick, and Roscoe Tanner).^[23] Seven more Americans have more than one Slam (Stan Smith, Arthur Ashe, Jim Courier, Jimmy Connors, Andre Agassi, John McEnroe, and Pete Sampras).^[24].

Teacher's career-high ATP world singles ranking was No. 7, and his world doubles ranking was No. 5, both in 1981.^[1] He won 8 Grand Prix circuit career singles titles, and 16 doubles titles.^[1]

Coaching career

Following his playing career, he became an ATP and WTA touring coach, working with future world #1 Andre Agassi and Greg Rusedski.^[25][26][27] Under his tutelage, Rusedski made a run from #85 in the world to the top ten and the U.S. Open finals over a 14-month span.^[28][29]

Teacher also coached five players who reached world #1 in doubles: Jim Grabb, Richey Reneberg, Daniel Nestor, Max Mirnyi, and Mark Knowles.^[8][28] On the women's circuit, he coached WTA tour player Marissa Irvin.^[30]

He currently runs the Brian Teacher Tennis Academy in South Pasadena, California.^[31]

Halls of fame

Teacher was inducted in 1996 into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, in 2001 into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Hall of Fame (the NCAA Tennis Hall of Fame), and in 2008 into the San Diego Tennis Hall of Fame.^[32][33] In 2014 he was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, and in 2015 into the Southern California Tennis Association Hall of Fame.^[1][34]

Singles (1 win)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1980	Australian Open	Grass	Kim Warwick	7–5, 7–6(7–4), 6–3

Singles: 23 (8 titles / 15 runners-up)

Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Sep 1976	Newport, U.S.	Grass	Vijay Amritraj	3–6, 6–4, 3–6, 1–6
Loss	0–2	Jan 1977	Adelaide, Australia	Grass	Victor Amaya	1–6, 4–6
Win	1–2	Apr 1977	Jackson, Mississippi, U.S.	Carpet	Bill Scanlon	6–3, 6–3
Loss	1–3	Dec 1977	Sydney Outdoor, Australia	Grass	Roscoe Tanner	3–6, 6–3, 3–6, 7–6, 4–6
Loss	1–4	Oct 1978	Tokyo Indoor, Japan	Carpet	Björn Borg	3–6, 4–6
Win	2–4	Nov 1978	Taipei, Taiwan	Carpet	Tom Gorman	6–3, 6–3, 6–3
Win	3–4	Jul 1979	Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.	Grass	Stan Smith	1–6, 6–3, 6–4
Loss	3–5	Apr 1980	Los Angeles, U.S.	Hard	Gene Mayer	3–6, 2–6
Loss	3–6	Nov 1980	Hong Kong	Hard	Ivan Lendl	7–5, 6–7(2–7), 3–6
Loss	3–7	Nov 1980	Taipei, Taiwan	Carpet	Ivan Lendl	7–6, 3–6, 3–6, 6–7(5–7)
Loss	3–8	Nov 1980	Bangkok, Thailand	Carpet	Vijay Amritraj	3–6, 5–7
Loss	3–9	Dec 1980	Sydney Outdoor, Australia	Grass	Fritz Buehning	3–6, 7–6(7–5), 6–7(5–7)
Win	4–9	Dec 1980	Australian Open, Melbourne	Grass	Kim Warwick	7–5, 7–6(7–4), 6–3
Win	5–9	Aug 1981	Columbus, Ohio, U.S.	Hard	John Austin	6–3, 6–2
Loss	5–10	Sep 1981	San Francisco, U.S.	Carpet	Eliot Teltscher	3–6, 6–7(4–7)
Loss	5–11	Sep 1982	Maui, Hawaii, U.S.	Hard	John Fitzgerald	2–6, 3–6
Win	6–11	Dec 1982	Dortmund WCT, West Germany	Carpet	Wojciech Fibak	6–7, 6–4, 6–4, 2–6, 6–4
Win	7–11	Mar 1983	Munich WCT, West Germany	Carpet	Mark Dickson	1–6, 6–4, 6–2, 6–3
Win	8–11	Aug 1983	Columbus, Ohio, U.S.	Hard	Bill Scanlon	7–6, 6–4
Loss	8–12	Sep 1983	Dallas, Texas, U.S.	Hard	Andrés Gómez	7–6(7–2), 1–6, 1–6
Loss	8–13	Jun 1984	Bristol, U.K.	Grass	Johan Kriek	7–6, 6–7, 4–6
Loss	8–14	Jul 1984	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Joakim Nyström	4–6, 2–6
Loss	8–15	Jul 1985	Livingston, U.S.	Hard	Brad Gilbert	6–4, 5–7, 0–6

Doubles: 23 (16 titles / 7 runners-up)

Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Aug 1976	Columbus, U.S.	Hard	William Brown	Fred McNair Sherwood Stewart	6–3, 6–4
Loss	1–1	Mar 1978	Miami, U.S.	Clay	Bob Carmichael	Tom Gullikson Gene Mayer	6–7, 3–6
Win	2–1	Nov 1978	Manila, Philippines	Clay	Sherwood Stewart	Ross Case Chris Kachel	6–3, 7–6
Loss	2–2	Mar 1979	Washington Indoor, U.S.	Carpet	Bob Carmichael	Robert Lutz Stan Smith	4–6, 5–7, 6–3, 6–7
Loss	2–3	Apr 1979	Stuttgart Indoor, West Germany	Hard (i)	Bob Carmichael	Wojciech Fibak Tom Okker	3–6, 7–5, 6–7
Win	3–3	Mar 1980	Washington-2, U.S.	Carpet	Ferdi Taygan	Kevin Curren Steve Denton	4–6, 6–3, 7–6
Loss	3–4	Mar 1980	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Carpet	Bill Scanlon	Vijay Amritraj Stan Smith	4–6, 3–6
Win	4–4	Apr 1980	Los Angeles, U.S.	Hard	Butch Walts	Anand Amritraj John Austin	6–2, 6–4
Win	5–4	Aug 1980	Toronto, Canada	Hard	Bruce Manson	Heinz Günthardt Sandy Mayer	6–3, 3–6, 6–4
Win	6–4	Aug 1980	Cincinnati, U.S.	Hard	Bruce Manson	Wojciech Fibak Ivan Lendl	6–7, 7–5, 6–4
Loss	6–5	Nov 1980	Hong Kong	Hard	Bruce Manson	Peter Fleming Ferdi Taygan	5–7, 2–6
Win	7–5	Nov 1980	Taipei, Taiwan	Carpet	Bruce Manson	John Austin Ferdi Taygan	6–4, 6–0
Win	8–5	Nov 1980	Bangkok, Thailand	Carpet	Ferdi Taygan	Tom Okker Dick Stockton	7–6, 7–6
Win	9–5	Feb 1981	La Quinta, U.S.	Hard	Bruce Manson	Terry Moor Eliot Teltscher	7–6, 6–2
Win	10–5	Apr 1981	Frankfurt, West Germany	Carpet	Butch Walts	Vitas Gerulaitis John McEnroe	7–5, 6–7, 7–5
Win	11–5	Jun 1981	London/Queen's Club, U.K.	Grass	Pat DuPré	Kevin Curren Steve Denton	3–6, 7–6, 11–9
Win	12–5	Aug 1981	Columbus, U.S.	Hard	Bruce Manson	Anand Amritraj Vijay Amritraj	6–1, 6–1
Loss	12–6	Apr 1982	Los Angeles, U.S.	Hard	Bruce Manson	Sherwood Stewart Ferdi Taygan	1–6, 7–6, 3–6
Win	13–6	Jul 1982	Stuttgart Outdoor, West Germany	Clay	Mark Edmondson	Andreas Maurer Wolfgang Popp	6–3, 6–1
Win	14–6	Sep 1982	San Francisco, U.S.	Carpet	Fritz Buehning	Marty Davis Chris Dunk	6–7, 6–2, 7–5
Loss	14–7	Feb 1983	Richmond, Virginia, U.S.	Carpet	Fritz Buehning	Pavel Složil Tomáš Šmíd	2–6, 4–6
Win	15–7	Aug 1983	Columbus, U.S.	Hard	Scott Davis	Anand Amritraj John Fitzgerald	6–1, 4–6, 7–6
Win	16–7	Nov 1983	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Steve Meister	Andrés Gómez Sherwood Stewart	6–7, 7–6, 6–2