David Wheaton (born June 2, 1969) is an American author, radio host, columnist, and former professional tennis player.
Early life Wheaton was born in Minneapolis as the youngest of four children. He started playing tennis at age four and played in his first tournament aged eight. He won the Minnesota State High School tennis title in 1984 as a freshman. He trained at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy for his last two-and-a-half years of high school and played one year at Stanford.
Juniors In 1987, Wheaton won the US Open junior title and was the No. 1 ranked junior player in the US. In 1988, he helped Stanford University's tennis team win the NCAA team title and received the Block S Award as the most outstanding freshman athlete at Stanford.
Pro tour Wheaton turned professional on July 4, 1988 and won his first top-level singles title in 1990 at the U.S. Clay Court Championships in Kiawah Island, South Carolina. He was also runner-up in the men's doubles at the 1990 US Open, partnering with Paul Annacone.
The most significant highlights of his career came in 1991. He won the Grand Slam Cup in Munich, beating Michael Chang in straight sets in the final 7–5, 6–2, 6–4. He also reached the semifinals of singles at Wimbledon (beating Petr Korda, Cédric Pioline, Ivan Lendl, Jan Gunnarsson and Andre Agassi in the quarterfinals before being knocked-out by Boris Becker). He was a men's doubles runner-up at the Australian Open (partnering with his former Stanford teammate Patrick McEnroe). Wheaton reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 12 in July 1991.
During his career, Wheaton won three top-level singles and three doubles titles, representing the US in Davis Cup (v. Australia, 1993) reached the semifinals or better in either singles or doubles of every Grand Slam tournament, and defeated highly ranked players such as Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg, Jim Courier, and Michael Chang.
He retired from the professional tour in 2001, following a series of injuries. Since then he has played in some senior tour events, winning the "Wimbledon Over 35 Doubles" championship in 2004 (with T.J. Middleton).
Personal life During his tennis career, he dated tennis star Mary Joe Fernández around 1990–1992. Wheaton married in 2009 and has one son.
Junior Grand Slam finals
Singles: 1 (1 title) ResultYearTournamentSurfaceOpponentScoreWin1987US OpenHard Andrey Cherkasov7–5, 6–0
Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up) ResultYearTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss 1986US OpenHard Jeff Tarango Tomas Carbonell Javier Sanchez4–6, 6–1, 1–6
ATP career finals
Singles: 7 (3 titles, 4 runner-ups) LegendGrand Slam Tournaments (0–0)ATP World Tour Finals (1–0)ATP Masters Series(0–1)ATP Championship Series (0–0)ATP World Series (2–3)Finals by surfaceHard (0–1)Clay (1–1)Grass (1–2)Carpet (1–0)Finals by settingOutdoors (2–4)Indoors (1–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreWin1–0Kiawah Island, United StatesWorld SeriesClay Mark Kaplan6–4, 6–4Loss1–1Miami, United StatesMasters SeriesHard Jim Courier6–4, 3–6, 4–6Loss1–2Queen's, United KingdomWorld SeriesGrass Stefan Edberg2–6, 3–6Win2–2Munich, GermanyGrand Slam CupCarpet Michael Chang7–5, 6–2, 6–4Loss2–3Coral Springs, United StatesWorld SeriesClay Todd Martin3–6, 4–6Win3–3Newport, United StatesWorld SeriesGrass Todd Woodbridge6–4, 3–6, 7–6(7–5)Loss3–4Newport, United StatesWorld SeriesGrass David Prinosil6–7(3–7), 7–5, 2–6
Doubles: 15 (3 titles, 12 runner-ups) LegendGrand Slam Tournaments (0–2)ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)ATP Masters Series (1–0)ATP Championship Series (0–0)ATP World Series (2–10)Finals by surfaceHard (2–6)Clay (1–3)Grass (0–3)Carpet (0–0)Finals by settingOutdoors (3–12)Indoors (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreWin1–0Toronto, CanadaMasters SeriesHard Paul Annacone Broderick Dyke Peter Lundgren6–1, 7–6Loss1–1New York, United StatesGrand SlamHard Paul Annacone Pieter Aldrich Danie Visser2–6, 6–7, 2–6Loss1–2Melbourne, AustraliaGrand SlamHard Patrick McEnroe Scott Davis David Pate7–6, 6–7, 3–6, 5–7Loss1–3Umag, CroatiaWorld SeriesClay Richey Reneberg Gilad Bloom Javier Sanchez6–7, 6–2, 1–6Loss1–4Newport, United StatesWorld SeriesGrass Paul Annacone Royce Deppe David Rikl4–6, 4–6Loss1–5Los Angeles, United StatesWorld SeriesHard Francisco Montana Patrick Galbraith Jim Pugh6–7, 6–7Win2–5Hong Kong, Hong KongWorld SeriesHard Todd Woodbridge Sandon Stolle Jason Stoltenberg6–1, 6–3Loss2–6Newport, United StatesWorld SeriesGrass Kent Kinnear Alex Antonitsch Greg Rusedski4–6, 6–3, 4–6Loss2–7Nice, FranceWorld SeriesClay Luke Jensen Cyril Suk Daniel Vacek6–3, 6–7, 6–7Loss2–8Tel Aviv, IsraelWorld SeriesHard Kent Kinnear Jim Grabb Jared Palmer4–6, 5–7Win3–8Atlanta, United StatesWorld SeriesClay Christo Van Rensburg Bill Behrens Matt Lucena7–6, 6–2Loss3–9Pinehurst, United StatesWorld SeriesClay Ken Flach Pat Cash Patrick Rafter2–6, 3–6Loss3–10Scottsdale, United StatesInternational SeriesHard Kent Kinnear Cyril Suk Michael Tebbutt6–4, 1–6, 6–7Loss3–11Hong Kong, Hong Konginternational SeriesHard Andre Agassi James Greenhalgh Grant SilcockwalkoverLoss3–12Queen's, United Kingdominternational SeriesGrass Eric Taino Mike Bryan Bob Bryan3–6, 6–3, 1–6
ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals
Singles: 2 (1–1) LegendATP Challenger (1–1)ITF Futures (0–0)Finals by surfaceHard (1–0)Clay (0–0)Grass (0–1)Carpet (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfaceOpponentScoreWin1–0Brasília, BrazilChallengerHard Dan Cassidy6–1, 6–2Loss1–1Annenheim, AustriaChallengerGrass Alex Radulescu4–6, 2–6
Doubles: 1 (1–0) LegendATP Challenger (1–0)ITF Futures (0–0)Finals by surfaceHard (1–0)Clay (0–0)Grass (0–0)Carpet (0–0)
ResultW–LDateTournamentTierSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreWin1–0Itu, BrazilChallengerHard Kent Kinnear Nelson Aerts Marcos Hocevar6–3, 6–4
Performance timelines
Singles Tournament1986198719881989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001SRW–LWin %Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenAAA1RQF1R4R3RA4R2RA2RAAA0 / 814–8French OpenAAA2R1R1R2R1R2R3R2RAAAAA0 / 86–8WimbledonAQ1A1R4RSF3R4R1R3R3RA1RQ2AA0 / 917–9US OpenA1RA2RQF4R3R1R1R2R4R1R1RAQ2A0 / 1114–11Win–loss0–00–10–02–411–48–48–45–41–38–47–40–11–30–00–00–00 / 3651–36Year-end ChampionshipsGrand Slam CupDid not qualifySFWDid not qualifyNot Held1 / 26–1ATP Masters SeriesIndian WellsAAAAA1R2R2RA3RAAAAAA0 / 44–4Miami1RAAAAF2R1R3R3RAA1RAAA0 / 79–7Monte CarloAAAAAAAAAQFAAAAAA0 / 13–1RomeAAAA1RAAAAAAAAAAA0 / 10–1CanadaAAAA3RA1R2R3R1RAAAQ11RA0 / 65–6CincinnatiAAAA2R3RQF1RSF2RA2RQ1AAQ20 / 711–7StuttgartNot HeldAAAAAAAAAQ1AAAA0 / 00–0ParisAAAA1R2RQF2R2R2RQ2AAAAA0 / 66–6Win–loss0–10–00–00–03–47–47–53–59–48–60–01–10–10–00–10–00 / 3238–32
Doubles Tournament198719881989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001SRW–LWin %Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenAA1R2RFA1RA1R1RASFAAA0 / 710–7French OpenAAA1R2R2R1RASF1RAAAAA0 / 66–6WimbledonAAA2RAA2RAA1RAAAAA0 / 32–3US Open1RAQFFA1R2R1R2R3RA2RAAA0 / 913–9Win–loss0–10–03–27–46–21–22–40–15–32–40–05–20–00–00–00 / 2531–25ATP Masters SeriesIndian WellsAAAA2RSFAA2RAAAAAA0 / 35–3MiamiAAAASF1RSF3R1RAA1RAAQ10 / 69–6CanadaAAAWA2R2RAQFAAAAAA1 / 49–3CincinnatiAAAA2RA2RQ11RAA1RAAA0 / 42–4StuttgartNHAAAAAAAAAQ1AAAA0 / 00–0ParisAAA1RQFAA1RAAAAAAA0 / 32–3Win–loss0–00–00–05–17–44–36–32–23–40–00–00–20–00–00–01 / 2027–19
Mixed doubles Tournament1989199019911992199319941995199619971998SRW–LWin %Grand Slam tournamentsAustralian OpenA2RAAAAAAAA0 / 11–1French OpenAAAAAAAAAA0 / 00–0WimbledonQFAAAAAAAA1R0 / 23–2US OpenQFAAAAAAAAA0 / 12–1Win–loss5–21–10–00–00–00–00–00–00–00–10 / 46–4
Radio and writing career In 2002, Wheaton embarked a new career in radio, writing, and speaking. He is the producer and host of The Christian Worldview, a live talk radio program that airs on 250 stations in the US. He is a tennis columnist for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and the author of two books, University of Destruction: Your Game Plan for Spiritual Victory on Campus (Bethany House, 2005) and My Boy, Ben—A Story of Love, Loss and Grace (Tristan Publishing, 2014).
Service and awards Wheaton serves on the board of The Overcomer Foundation, a non-profit organization that directs his radio ministry. He also served on the board of directors of the United States Tennis Association (USTA) from 2003-2006. He is a member of the Intercollegiate Tennis Hall of Fame (class of 2012) and the USTA Northern Section Hall of Fame (class of 2005). Wheaton received the Eugene L. Scott Renaissance Award in 2011—an award presented to a national/international tennis champion who demonstrates excellence in promoting and developing the sport of tennis in public parks.
External links and sources David Wheaton's Radio Show – The Christian Worldview