Van Winitsky

Template:Short description Van Winitsky (born March 12, 1959) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. He achieved a career-high rankings of World No. 7 in doubles in October 1983 and world No. 35 in singles in February 1984.

Early and personal life

Winitsky was born in Miami, Florida, lived in Lauderhill, Florida, and is Jewish. His father Manny Winitsky was the best player of his age in Florida for 15 years, beginning at age 45. He lives in Delray Beach, Florida. Van attended North Miami Beach Senior High School and won the Florida state high school singles tennis championships as a freshman in 1974.

Tennis career

Winitsky won Junior Wimbledon, Junior U.S. Open and Junior Nat'l at Kalamazoo, Mich. in singles and doubles in 1977 and won 3 Junior Orange Bowl singles titles. He played college tennis for UCLA for one and a half years, and was an All American. He played on the 1978 U.S. Davis Cup team in with John McEnroe, Brian Gottfried, and Harold Solomon.

Winitsky enjoyed most of his tennis success while playing doubles. During his career, he won 9 ATP Tour doubles titles and finished runner-up an additional 11 times. Partnering Fritz Buehning in doubles, Winitsky finished runner-up at the 1983 US Open. Winitsky also was a quarter finalist in mixed doubles partnering with Rayni Fox Borinsky at the 1980 US Open. He won 3 ATP Tour singles titles and finished runner-up 1 additional time. His titles included 1981 Hong Kong Seiko Open over Mark Edmondson of Australia, 1982 Hollywood Bowl Classic in Guaruja, Brazil over Carlos Kirmayr of Brazil, and 1982 Hilton Head Shipyard WCT over Chris Lewis of New Zealand in the finals. His runner-up finish was the 1978 Cleveland Grand Prix against Peter Feigl of Austria.

At just before 21st birthday, he had surgery that resulted in a 16-inch scar and atrophied muscles. In 1985, he retired from ATP Tour after winning the WTT conference championships for the Miami Beach Breakers.

Career finals

Doubles (11 titles, 9 runner-ups)

Result	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1.	1978	Tulsa, U.S.	Hard (i)	Template:Flagicon Russell Simpson	Template:Flagicon Carlos Kirmayr Template:Flagicon Ricardo Ycaza	4–6, 7–6, 6–2
Win	2.	1978	North Conway, U.S.	Clay	Template:Flagicon Robin Drysdale	Template:Flagicon Mike Fishbach Template:Flagicon Bernard Mitton	4–6, 7–6, 6–3
Loss	1.	1978	Boston, U.S.	Clay	Template:Flagicon Heinz Günthardt	Template:Flagicon Víctor Pecci Template:Flagicon Balázs Taróczy	3–6, 6–3, 1–6
Loss	2.	1978	Hartford, U.S.	Carpet	Template:Flagicon Mark Edmondson	Template:Flagicon John McEnroe Template:Flagicon Bill Maze	3–6, 6–3, 5–7
Win	3.	1978	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Clay	Template:Flagicon Chris Lewis	Template:Flagicon José Luis Clerc Template:Flagicon Belus Prajoux	6–4, 3–6, 6–0
Loss	3.	1980	Tulsa, U.S.	Hard (i)	Template:Flagicon Francisco González	Template:Flagicon Robert Lutz Template:Flagicon Dick Stockton	6–2, 6–7, 2–6
Loss	4.	1980	South Orange, U.S.	Clay	Template:Flagicon Fritz Buehning	Template:Flagicon Bill Maze Template:Flagicon John McEnroe	6–7, 4–6
Win	4.	1981	Washington, D.C., U.S.	Clay	Template:Flagicon Raúl Ramírez	Template:Flagicon Pavel Složil Template:Flagicon Ferdi Taygan	5–7, 7–6, 7–6
Loss	5.	1981	Indianapolis, U.S.	Clay	Template:Flagicon Raúl Ramírez	Template:Flagicon Kevin Curren Template:Flagicon Steve Denton	3–6, 7–5, 5–7
Win	5.	1981	Cleveland, U.S.	Hard	Template:Flagicon Erik van Dillen	Template:Flagicon Syd Ball Template:Flagicon Ross Case	6–4, 5–7, 7–5
Win	6.	1981	Tel Aviv, Israel	Hard	Template:Flagicon Steve Meister	Template:Flagicon John Feaver Template:Flagicon Steve Krulevitz	3–6, 6–3, 6–3
Loss	6.	1981	Bangkok, Thailand	Carpet	Template:Flagicon Lloyd Bourne	Template:Flagicon John Austin Template:Flagicon Mike Cahill	3–6, 6–7
Loss	7.	1982	Las Vegas, U.S.	Hard	Template:Flagicon Carlos Kirmayr	Template:Flagicon Sherwood Stewart Template:Flagicon Ferdi Taygan	6–7, 4–6
Loss	8.	1982	Hilton Head WCT, U.S.	Clay	Template:Flagicon Alan Waldman	Template:Flagicon Mark Edmondson Template:Flagicon Rod Frawley	1–6, 5–7
Win	7.	1982	Washington, D.C., U.S.	Clay	Template:Flagicon Raúl Ramírez	Template:Flagicon Hans Gildemeister Template:Flagicon Andrés Gómez	7–5, 7–6
Win	8.	1982	South Orange, U.S.	Clay	Template:Flagicon Raúl Ramírez	Template:Flagicon Jai DiLouie Template:Flagicon Blaine Willenborg	3–6, 6–4, 6–1
Loss	9.	1982	Hong Kong	Hard	Template:Flagicon Kim Warwick	Template:Flagicon Charles Buzz Strode Template:Flagicon Morris Skip Strode	4–6, 6–3, 2–6
Loss	10.	1983	Guarujá, Brazil	Hard	Template:Flagicon Shlomo Glickstein	Template:Flagicon Tim Gullikson Template:Flagicon Tomáš Šmíd	7–5, 6–7, 3–6
Loss	11.	1983	U.S. Open	Hard	Template:Flagicon Fritz Buehning	Template:Flagicon Peter Fleming Template:Flagicon John McEnroe	3–6, 4–6, 2–6
Win	9.	1983	Dallas, U.S.	Hard	Template:Flagicon Nduka Odizor	Template:Flagicon Steve Denton Template:Flagicon Sherwood Stewart	6–3, 7–5

See also

• List of select Jewish tennis players

External links

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