John Letts (tennis)

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John Letts
Country (sports)Flag of the United States (23px).png  United States
Born (1964-05-11) May 11, 1964 (age 60)
Houston, Texas, United States
Height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand)
CoachLarry Easley
Prize money$89,800
Singles
Career record4–11
Career titles0
0 Challenger, 0 Futures
Highest rankingNo. 244 (13 June 1988)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open 2R (1987)
Wimbledon Q2 (1989)
US Open 1R (1982)
Doubles
Career record35–51
Career titles1
2 Challenger, 0 Futures
Highest rankingNo. 69 (20 October 1986)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open QF (1985)
French Open 1R (1989)
Wimbledon 2R (1989)
US Open 2R (1987)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian Open 1R (1987)
French Open 1R (1989)
Wimbledon 2R (1987)

John Letts (born May 11, 1964), is a former professional tennis player from the United States. He enjoyed most of his tennis success while playing doubles. During his career, he won seven ATP tour doubles titles and reached four ATP tour doubles finals. He also reached the quarterfinals of the 1985 Australian Open in doubles knocking out the 3rd seeded team of Tomáš Šmíd and John Fitzgerald in the second round.

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Born in Houston, Texas, Letts grew up in Southern California.

The 1982 U.S. National Champion for boys 18 & under, Letts received a full scholarship to Stanford University, where he was a two-time All-American and member of two NCAA championship teams. At Stanford, he partnered with three doubles players who later reached the top five in the world: Scott Davis, Jim Grabb, and Patrick McEnroe.

He reached a high of No. 244 in the world in singles achieving most of his success on the ATP Challenger Tour including the semifinals of Manchester (1989) and San Luis Potosí (1988) and the quarterfinals of Nagoya (1988) and Dublin (1989). In Grand Slam singles, he reached the second round of the 1987 Australian Open before losing to eventual champion Stefan Edberg in four sets. He played the opening match on the grandstand court at the new Australian Open facility in 1988 at Melbourne Park, losing to Australian Todd Woodbridge in 3 sets. A torn rotator cuff suffered in 1989 eventually ended Letts' playing career.

Letts attended law school and graduated cum laude from the Northwestern University School of Law in 1994. He practiced intellectual property law for Brinks, Hofer, Gilson & Lione in Chicago from 1994 to 1998.

In 1999, Letts founded iTennis, Inc., a tennis coaching and management company in Southern California.

His older sister, Elizabeth, is a #1 New York Times Best-Selling author.

ATP career finals

Doubles: 4 (1 title, 3 runner-ups)

Legend
Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP Masters 1000 Series (0–0)
ATP 500 Series (0–0)
ATP 250 Series (1–3)
Finals by surface
Hard (1–3)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Finals by setting
Outdoors (1–3)
Indoors (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Win1–0 Oct 1986 Tel Aviv, IsraelGrand PrixHard Flag of Sweden.svg Peter Lundgren Flag of South Africa.svg Christo Steyn
Flag of South Africa.svg Danie Visser
6–3, 3–6, 6–3
Loss1–1 Jan 1989 Auckland, New ZealandGrand PrixHard Flag of the United States.svg Bruce Man-Son-Hing Flag of New Zealand.svg Steve Guy
Flag of Japan.svg Shuzo Matsuoka
6–7, 6–7
Loss1–2 Apr 1989 Seoul Open, South KoreaGrand PrixHard Flag of the United States.svg Bruce Man-Son-Hing Flag of the United States.svg Scott Davis
Flag of Kenya.svg Paul Wekesa
2–6, 4–6
Loss1–3 Jan 1991 Wellington, New ZealandWorld SeriesHard Flag of Brazil.svg Jaime Oncins Flag of Brazil.svg Luiz Mattar
Flag of Venezuela.svg Nicolás Pereira
6–4, 6–7, 2–6

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Doubles: 3 (2–1)

Legend
ATP Challenger (2–1)
ITF Futures (0–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (2–0)
Clay (0–1)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Win1–0Apr 1989 Nagoya, JapanChallengerHard Flag of the United States.svg Bruce Man-Son-Hing Flag of India.svg Ramesh Krishnan
Flag of the United States.svg Jonathan Canter
7–5, 4–6, 6–0
Win2–0Oct 1990 Singapore, SingaporeChallengerHard Flag of New Zealand.svg Steve Guy Flag of the United States.svg Mark Keil
Flag of the United States.svg Kent Kinnear
6–1, 7–5
Loss2–1Feb 1991 São Paulo, BrazilChallengerClay Flag of the United States.svg Tom Mercer Flag of Sweden.svg Henrik Holm
Flag of Sweden.svg Nils Holm
7–5, 4–6, 4–6

Performance timeline

Key
W F SFQF#RRRQ#DNQANH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Doubles

Tournament 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 SRW–LWin %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open QF A 2R 1R 2R AAA0 / 45–456%
French Open AAAA 1R AAA0 / 10–10%
Wimbledon AA 1R Q2 2R AAA0 / 21–233%
US Open A 1R 2R A 1R AAA0 / 31–325%
Win–loss3–10–12–30–12–40–00–00–00 / 107–1041%
ATP Masters Series
Miami AA 1R 1R 2R AAA0 / 31–325%
Rome AAAA 1R AAA0 / 10–10%
Canada A 1R 1R A 1R AA Q2 0 / 30–30%
Cincinnati AAAAA 1R A Q1 0 / 10–10%
Win–loss0–00–10–20–11–30–10–00–00 / 81–811%