 Murray at 2017 Citi Open | |
| Country (sports) |  United States |
|---|---|
| Born | 1980 (age 43) |
| Coaching career (2005–) | |
| Coaching achievements | |
| Coachee singles titles total | 5 |
| List of notable tournaments (with champion) US Open (Stephens) | |
| Last updated on: 7 April 2021. | |
Kamau Murray (born 1980) is an American tennis coach. He is best known for coaching Sloane Stephens to the US Open title in 2017.
Murray grew up on the South Side of Chicago. His father was an attorney and his mother was a high school assistant principal. Murray began playing tennis at age 7 during his summer break from school, as it was the first summer program his parents found where they could afford to send him. He continued to play during the school year in Chicago Public Schools after-school programs for many years. His parents also hoped he could earn a scholarship through playing tennis, as they did not expect to be able to pay for him to attend college. [1] [2]
Murray attended Whitney Young Magnet High School, the same high school as USTA president Katrina Adams. He was also classmates with future NBA player Quentin Richardson, who was and still is one of his best friends. [3] [4]
Murray played tennis at Florida A&M University, where he served as the team captain for two years. During his sophomore season, the team won the MEAC conference title. After finishing his undergraduate degree, he also served as an assistant coach for the team while completing an MBA degree. [1] [5]
Murray, side-by-side with Othmane Garma (“Coach OG”), has coached Sloane Stephens on the WTA Tour. [6]
Murray is the founder of the XS Tennis program in Chicago. Taylor Townsend was one of Murray's first five players at XS Tennis when he first launched the program. [7]
Ivan Lendl is a Czech-American former professional tennis player. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time. Lendl was ranked world No. 1 in singles for a then-record 270 weeks and won 94 singles titles. He won eight major singles titles and was runner-up 11 times, making him the first man to contest 19 major finals. Lendl also contested a record eight consecutive US Open finals, and won five year-end championships.Lendl is the only man in professional tennis history to have a match winning percentage of over 90% in five different years. He also had a comfortable head-to-head winning record against his biggest rivals, which translates to a 22–13 record against Jimmy Connors and a 21–15 record against John McEnroe.Lendl's dominance of his era was the most evident at the year-end championships, which feature the eight best-ranked singles players. He holds a win–loss record at the event of 39–10, having contested the final nine consecutive times, a record.Commonly referred to as the 'Father Of Modern Tennis' and 'The Father Of The Inside-Out Forehand', Lendl pioneered a new style of tennis; his game was built around his forehand, hit hard and with a heavy topspin, and his success is cited as a primary influence in popularizing the now-common playing style of aggressive baseline power tennis. After retirement, he became a tennis coach for several players; in particular, he helped Andy Murray win three major titles and reach the world No. 1 ranking.
Sir Andrew Barron Murray is a British professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray has won three Grand Slam singles titles, two at Wimbledon and one at the US Open (2012), and has reached eleven major finals. Murray was ranked in the top 10 for all but one month from July 2008 through to October 2017, and was no lower than world No. 4 in eight of the nine year-end rankings during that span. Murray has won 46 ATP Tour singles titles, including 14 Masters 1000 events and two gold medals at the Summer Olympics.
John Lloyd is a British former professional tennis player. Lloyd reached an ATP world ranking of 21 in July 1978, and was ranked as UK number 1 in 1984 and 1985. He now works as a tennis commentator.
Brad Gilbert is an American former professional tennis player, tennis coach, and tennis commentator and analyst for ESPN. During his career, he won 20 singles titles and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4 in 1990, and a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 18 four years prior. He won a bronze medal at the 1988 Olympics, and both a gold medal and a silver medal at the 1981 Maccabiah Games.
Paul Annacone is an American former touring professional tennis player and current tennis coach. He is the former coach of 20-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer, 14-time Grand Slam winner Pete Sampras, and 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens. Annacone is currently a coach at ProTennisCoach.com, a commentator at Tennis Channel, and works with Taylor Fritz.
Darren Cahill is a tennis coach and former professional tennis player from Australia. In addition, Cahill is a tennis analyst for the Grand Slam events on the US sports network ESPN and a coach with the Adidas Player Development Program and at ProTennisCoach.com.
Mel Purcell is a former professional tennis player and coach from the U.S. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 21, achieved in November 1980. Purcell's finest moment was when he reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 1983. He was head coach of the Murray State University men's tennis team from 1996 to 2016.
The Philadelphia Freedoms is a tennis team currently competing in World TeamTennis.
Eric Butorac, nicknamed Booty, is an American retired professional tennis player. He was a doubles specialist, and for a period of approximately six years was the No. 3 ranked American doubles player. His best result was reaching the 2014 Australian Open finals with partner Raven Klaasen. Their run to the final included a victory over the World No. 1 team of Bob and Mike Bryan.
Steve "Lightning" Krulevitz is an American-Israeli former professional tennis player, and current coach. Playing for UCLA, he was an All-American. He won gold medals for the United States in singles and doubles at the 1977 Maccabiah Games in Israel. He played # 1 for the Israel Davis Cup team from 1978–80. His highest world singles ranking was No. 42. He was in the top 100 on the men’s tour from 1974 to 1983.
Chatsworth Charter High School is a charter secondary school located in Chatsworth in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Whitney M. Young Magnet High School is a public 4–year magnet high school and middle school located in the Near West Side neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Opened on September 3, 1975, Young was the city's first public magnet high school.
Anastasija Sevastova is a professional tennis player from Latvia. She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 in October 2018, after reaching her first Premier Mandatory final at the China Open. She has won four singles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as 13 singles and four doubles titles on the ITF Circuit.
Madison Keys is an American professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 7 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), which she first achieved in October 2016. Keys has contested a Major singles final at the 2017 US Open, competed at the 2016 WTA Finals, and was a semifinalist at the 2016 Rio Olympics. She has won seven WTA Tour tournaments, six of which were at the Premier level, and won her biggest title at the 2019 Cincinnati Open, a Premier 5 event.
Sloane Stephens is an American professional tennis player. She achieved a career-best ranking of world No. 3 after Wimbledon in 2018. Stephens was the 2017 US Open champion, and has won seven WTA Tour singles titles in total.
Taylor Townsend is an American professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 61 in singles by the WTA, which she first achieved in July 2018, and she attained her career-high doubles ranking of world No. 5 in June 2023. A four-time doubles title holder on the WTA Tour, Townsend has also reached two major finals: the 2022 US Open and the 2023 French Open.
Kyle Steven Edmund is a South African-born British professional tennis player. He has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 14 and was the top-ranked male British tennis player from March 2018 to October 2019.
Sybil Smith is an American former collegiate swimmer. She is the first African-American female swimmer to be named a first-team Division I All-American, and the only All-American in Boston University women's swimming history. Her daughter Sloane Stephens is a Grand Slam champion tennis player.
The 2018 WTA Awards are a series of awards given by the Women's Tennis Association to players who have achieved something remarkable during the 2018 WTA Tour.
The Chicago Smash is a World TeamTennis (WTT) franchise founded in 2020, owned by the league. The team was the third expansion teams in two years to enter the league in 2020 following the addition of the Orlando Storm and Vegas Rollers during the 2019 season. The Chicago Smash will play their home matches at the Credit Union 1 Arena in Chicago, Illinois.