Paul Wekesa Explained

Paul Wekesa
Residence:Nairobi, Kenya
Birth Date:1967 7, df=y
Birth Place:Nairobi, Kenya
Turnedpro:1987
Retired:1996
Plays:Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Careerprizemoney:$448,114
Singlesrecord:27–43 (at ATP, Grand Prix and Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Singlestitles:0
Highestsinglesranking:No. 100 (1 May 1995)
Australianopenresult:2R (1989)
Frenchopenresult:1R (1995)
Wimbledonresult:1R (1995)
Usopenresult:1R (1995)
Doublesrecord:60–77 (at ATP, Grand Prix and Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Doublestitles:3
Australianopendoublesresult:QF (1992)
Frenchopendoublesresult:2R (1991)
Wimbledondoublesresult:1R (1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995)
Usopendoublesresult:3R (1991)
Highestdoublesranking:No. 66 (23 March 1992)

Paul Wekesa (born 2 July 1967) is a former professional tennis player from Kenya. He won 3 doubles titles, achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 100 and reached two tour-level quarterfinals at Auckland in 1989 and Seoul in 1995.

Tennis career

Prior to turning professional, he won the doubles tournament at the 1987 Division II NCAA Men's Tennis Championships while attending Chapman University.[1] During his career, Wekesa won 3 ATP Tour doubles titles. He reached the quarterfinals in doubles at the 1992 Australian Open.Wekesa won a bronze medal at the 1987 All-Africa Games held in Nairobi, Kenya. He is the only Kenyan tennis player to reach Top 100 of ATP rankings. He also features for the Kenya Davis Cup team and was still active in 1998.[2] He was the first player to be beaten by Tim Henman in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament, at Wimbledon in 1995.After retirement from playing, he has served as a Kenyan national teams coach.[3] He won the "Hall of Fame" category at the 2007 Kenyan Sports Personality of the Year awards.[4] His father Noah Wekesa is a Kenyan politician and minister.[5]

Career finals

Legend
Grand Slam (0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
ATP Masters Series (0)
ATP Tour (6)

Doubles (3 wins, 3 losses)

ResultW/L DateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Win1–0Oct 1988Tel Aviv, IsraelHard Roger Smith Patrick Baur
Alexander Mronz
6–3, 6–3
Win2–0Apr 1989Seoul, South KoreaHard Scott Davis John Letts
Bruce Man-Son-Hing
6–2, 6–4
Loss2–1Apr 1989SingaporeHard Paul Chamberlin Rick Leach
Jim Pugh
3–6, 4–6
Loss2–2Aug 1990Los Angeles, United StatesHard Peter Lundgren Scott Davis
David Pate
6–3, 1–6, 3–6
Win3-2Nov 1991Birmingham, U.K.Carpet (i) Jacco Eltingh Ronnie Båthman
Rikard Bergh
7–5, 7–5
Loss3–3Aug 1994Umag, CroatiaClay Karol Kučera Diego Pérez
Francisco Roig
2–6, 4–6

Notes and References

  1. Web site: NCAA.com – The Official Website of NCAA Championships. NCAA.com. en. 2018-04-20.
  2. Stevegtennis.com: Davis Cup Results 1998
  3. Kenyapage.net: Kenya's greatest Sporting Figures
  4. Web site: SOYA Awards - 2007 winners . 2008-04-23 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080913034301/http://soyaawards.com/winners.html . 2008-09-13 . dead .
  5. Web site: Office of Public Communications . 2008-06-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20071122005306/http://communication.go.ke/ministry.asp?personid=46 . 2007-11-22 . dead .