Jay Berger

Jay Berger
Country (sports)	United States
Residence	Miami, USA
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Turned pro	1986
Retired	1991
Plays	Right
Prize money	US$992,136
Singles
Career record	141 - 80
Career titles	3
Highest ranking	7 (April 16, 1990)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	3r (1991)
French Open	QF (1989)
Wimbledon	2r (1988)
US Open	QF (1989)
Doubles
Career record	19 - 28
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	196 (November 14, 1988)

Jay Berger (born November 26 1966, in Fort Dix, New Jersey) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. He won three singles and one doubles title on the ATP Tour and reached his career-high singles ranking of World #7 in April 1990.

Tennis career

Berger was the USTA Boys’ 18s National Champion in 1985.[1][2]. He also won the 1985 Florida State Junior Championship. He had the best finish of any reigning Boys’ 18s National Champion at the US Open during the Open Era when he reached the 4th round in 1985.

College career

Berger was an All-American at Clemson University in 1985 and 1986, where he recorded a 91-22 singles record in two seasons. His 80.5% career winning percentage in singles play places 3rd all-time at Clemson.

Pro tennis career

Berger turned professional in 1985. He played on the tour from 1985-91. He won his first top-level singles title in 1986 at Buenos Aires. In 1988, he captured both the singles and doubles titles at São Paulo. In March he upset world # 2 Mats Wilander, 6-0, 7-5, in Orlando, Florida. In March 1989 Berger upset world # 3 Boris Becker, 6-1, 6-1, in Indian Wells. In May he upset world # 3 Mats Wilander, 6-3, 6-4, in Rome. In August Berger beat world # 3 Stefan Edberg, 6-4, 6-2, at Indianapolis.

In 1989, Berger reached the quarter-finals at both the French Open and the US Open. He also won the third tour singles title of his career that year at Charleston, South Carolina. Berger was runner-up at the Canadian Open in 1990.

He retired from the professional tour in 1991. Chronic knee injuries and a botched surgery forced his retirement.

Davis Cup

He represented the United States in Davis Cup play in 1988 and 1990, and went undefeated in two singles matches.^[1]

Halls of Fame and Awards

Berger was inducted into the Florida Hall of Fame in 1993. He was inducted into the Greater Miami-Dade Hall of Fame in 2001. He was also voted "Sportsman of the Year" by the Olympic Committee in 1985, and "Junior Player of the Year" by TENNIS Magazine in 1985.

Coaching career

Berger went on to become an assistant coach at Florida International University, where he resumed his studies and graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in Sports Management in 1994. Berger was the Head Men’s and Women’s tennis coach at the University of Miami, and a USTA National Coach. He was the Big East Coach of the Year for two consecutive years, after leading the Hurricanes to the tennis conference championships in 2000 and 2001.

Berger rejoined the USTA Player Development staff in January 2003 as a National Coach for men's tennis.[3] He is located in Key Biscayne. He currently coaches Ashley Harkleroad.

Trivia

Berger was famous for using the aluminum Prince Pro oversize racquet, despite the fact that virtually all professionals were using graphite (or graphite composite) racquets. He continued to play with the Prince Pro, despite not having any endorsements from Prince. He still plays with the Prince Pro to this day.

Berger's racquets were strung at very high tensions, using inexpensive Prince Synthetic Gut string. It was not unusual to see his racquets getting warped out of shape with any moderate impact, since the tensions were at least 90 lb on many occasions (normal tension for that racquet was from 65-80 lb). During a match he would go through 5-6 rackets on average.

The most unusual aspect of Berger's game was an awkward, no-wind-up service motion in which the racket was started behind his shoulder, with no backswing. This service motion was adopted after a shoulder injury during junior tennis which made a normal service motion painful.

ATP Tour finals (9)

Singles champion (3)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	November 10, 1986	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Clay	Franco Davín	6-3, 6-3
2.	October 31, 1988	São Paulo, Brazil	Hard	Horacio de la Peña	6-4, 6-4
3.	May 8, 1989	Charleston, USA	Clay	Duncan Lawson	6-4, 6-3

Singles finalist (4)

1987: Buenos Aires (lost to Guillermo Pérez Roldán)
1989: Indianapolis (lost to John McEnroe)
1989: Itaparica (lost to Martín Jaite)
1990: Toronto (lost to Michael Chang)

Doubles champion (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponents in the final	Score
2.	October 31, 1988	São Paulo, Brazil	Hard	Horacio de la Peña	Ricardo Acuña Javier Sánchez	5-7, 6-4, 6-3