| Name |
Brad Gilbert |
| Height |
6 ft 1 in |
| Naionality |
American |
| Date of Birth |
9-August-1961 |
| Place of Birth |
San Rafael, California, U.S. |
| Famous for |
Tennis Player |
Brad Gilbert is an American tennis coach, a television tennis commentator, an author and former professional tennis player. He was born in Oakland, California and graduated from Piedmont High School (California). Gilbert's career-high singles ranking was World No. 4, which he reached in January 1990. Since retiring from the tour, he has coached several top players, including Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, Andy Murray, and Kei Nishikori.
Gilbert played tennis for Foothill College, a junior college in Los Altos Hills, California, from 1980–82, where he was coached by Tom Chivington. During this time, he won the California Junior College Singles Championship and the U.S. Amateur Hardcourt Championship. In 1981, Gilbert became a member of the American Junior Davis Cup team. In 1982, he transferred to Pepperdine University, playing for Allen Fox, where he became an All-American and reached the Finals of the 1982 NCAA Championship. Gilbert joined the professional tour in 1982 and won his first top-level singles title later that year in Taipei. His first doubles title came in 1985 in Tel Aviv. Gilbert won a total of 20 top-level singles titles during his career, the biggest being the Cincinnati event in 1989. He was also runner-up in a further 20 singles events, including Cincinnati in 1990 (where he lost to future International Tennis Hall of Fame inductee Stefan Edberg) and the Paris Indoors in 1987 and 1988. Unlike many other professional players of his era, Gilbert did not have a major offensive weapon such as an overpowering serve or forehand. His best asset was his ability to keep the ball in play.
He hit the ball most often at a slow but accurate pace and was sometimes called a pusher. In his 2002 autobiography John McEnroe called Gilbert a pusher and claimed that Gilbert had the ability to bring talented players down to his type of game. In addition, McEnroe stated that Gilbert was the most negative person he had ever played tennis against and was riled by Gilbert's alleged non-stop tirades against himself whilst playing.
