Larry Stefanki is an American tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 coach and former professional tennis player.

Tennis career

He played for nine years from 1979, reaching a career-high ranking of 35 and winning one ATP tournament in singles and three in doubles. He is one of three Stefanki brothers to have played on the varsity tennis team at the University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

.

However, he is more renowned as a tennis coach, having trained such players as John McEnroe

John McEnroe

John Patrick McEnroe, Jr. is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player from the United States. During his career, he won seven Grand Slam singles titles , nine Grand Slam men's doubles titles, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title...

, Marcelo Ríos

Marcelo Ríos

Marcelo Andrés Ríos Mayorga is a former World No. 1 tennis player from Chile. Nicknamed El Chino and El zurdo de Vitacura , he became the first Latin American player to reach the top position on the Association of Tennis Professionals singles rankings in 1998. He held the World No...

, Yevgeny Kafelnikov

Yevgeny Kafelnikov

Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Kafelnikov is a former World No. 1 tennis player from Russia. He won two Grand Slam singles titles , four Grand Slam doubles titles, and the men's singles gold medal at the Sydney Olympic Games. He also helped Russia win the Davis Cup in 2002...

, and Tim Henman

Tim Henman

Timothy Henry "Tim" Henman OBE is a retired English professional tennis player and former British Number One. Henman played a serve-and-volley style of tennis that suited the grass courts of Wimbledon. He was the first player from the United Kingdom since Roger Taylor in the 1970s to reach the...

 amongst others. Ríos and Kafelnikov both achieved their number 1 tennis rankings while under his guidance, and Henman reached a career-high of 4 under his tutelage.

Stefanki was also the coach of Fernando González

Fernando González

----Fernando Francisco González Ciuffardi is a professional tennis player from Chile. He is known for having one of the hardest forehands on the circuit. In Spanish he is called El Bombardero de La Reina and Mano de Piedra...

, after taking over this role from Horacio de la Peña

Horacio de la Peña

Horacio de la Peña, born August 1, 1966 and nicknamed "el Pulga" , is a tennis coach and a former tennis player from Argentina, who reached a top singles world rank of 31 during his career....

 in May 2006. Under Stefanki the Chilean reached back-to-back finals in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, the Madrid Masters

Madrid Masters

There are two sporting events named the Madrid Masters:*Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open — a men's and women's tennis tournament*Madrid Masters...

 and Basel

Davidoff Swiss Indoors

The Swiss Indoors is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. Originally an event of the Grand Prix tennis circuit between 1970 and 1989. It is currently part of the World Tour 500 Series of the ATP Tour. It is held annually at the St...

 in 2006 and the 2007 Australian Open

2007 Australian Open

The 2007 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament held in Melbourne, Australia from 15 January until 28 January 2007.The total prize pool was set at exactly A$20 million, with the winners of both the men's and women's singles competition each receiving A$1,281,000. Over 500 players...

 final —a tournament in which he eased past the likes of Lleyton Hewitt

Lleyton Hewitt

Lleyton Glynn Hewitt born 24 February 1981) is an Australian professional tennis player and former world no. 1.In 2000, Hewitt had won ATP titles on all three major surfaces and reached one final on carpet. By 2001, he became the youngest male ever to be ranked no. 1 at the age of 20...

, James Blake

James Blake

James Riley Blake is an American professional tennis player. Blake is known for his speed and powerful, flat forehand. As of August 2011, Blake is ranked no. 63 among active male players with 24 career finals appearances...

, Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal

Rafael "Rafa" Nadal Parera is a Spanish professional tennis player and a former World No. 1. , he is ranked No. 2 by the Association of Tennis Professionals...

, and Tommy Haas

Tommy Haas

Tommy Haas is a German and recently naturalized American professional tennis player. He has competed on the ATP Tour since 1996. After breaking into the world top 100 in 1997, and reaching a career-high ranking of world no...

— which saw González, 26, reach a career-high of 5 in the ATP Rankings.

Stefanki is currently the coach of American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 tennis player Andy Roddick

Andy Roddick

Andrew Stephen "Andy" Roddick is an American professional tennis player and a former World No. 1. He is currently the second highest-ranked American player, behind Mardy Fish....

, and has been credited with improving Roddick's tactics and all-court game and helping him achieve things like reaching the semi-finals of the 2009 Australian Open

2009 Australian Open

The 2009 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 97th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, from 19 January through 1 February 2009. The 2009 men's...

, the fourth round of the 2009 French Open

2009 French Open

The 2009 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 108th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year...

 for the first time, the 2009 Wimbledon final for the third time, winning the 2010 Sony Ericsson Masters in Miami and the 2010 Brisbane International in Brisbane.

Singles (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	February 18, 1985	La Quinta Indian Wells Masters The Indian Wells Masters is an annual tennis tournament held in Indian Wells, California.... , United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...	Hard	David Pate David Pate David Pate is a former professional tennis player from the United States who won two singles titles and eighteen doubles titles during his career. He reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 18 on June 8, 1987 and a career-high doubles ranking of No...	6–1, 6–4, 3–6, 6–3

External links