Harold Solomon

Harold Solomon (born September 17, 1952) is an American former professional tennis player who played during the 1970s and 1980s. He achieved a career-high world ranking of No. 5 in singles in 1980, and of No. 4 in doubles in 1976. He lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has a wife named Jan, a daughter named Rachel, and a son named Jesse. Ranked as high as second in the United States in his junior career, Solomon won the Clay Court Championship when he was 18. Among his shots was the moonball—a high and deep shot, normally hit with a lot of spin.

At the French Open, Solomon's best showing was when he reached the singles final in 1976. He "pumped his two-fisted backhand like a cane-cutter", but lost to Adriano Panatta in four sets. Panatta said of Solomon that "his tennis is bizarre, I suppose, but he fights so hard". He reached the quarterfinals in 1972 and 1975 and made it to the semifinals in 1974 and 1980.

Davis Cup Solomon played in the Davis Cup on the American team in 1972, 1973, 1974, and 1978. and later on its board of directors. and the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.

Coaching career Solomon began coaching in the 1990s, working with Jennifer Capriati, Mary Joe Fernandez, Shahar Pe'er, Justin Gimelstob, Eugenie Bouchard, Allie Kiick, Jim Courier, Monica Seles, Anna Kournikova and others. He founded and runs the Harold Solomon Tennis Center, now known as the Florida Tennis SBT Academy, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Grand Slam finals Singles: 1 runner-up ResultYearChampionshipSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss 1976 French Open Clay Adriano Panatta 1–6, 4–6, 6–4, 6–7

Career finals Singles: 38 (22 wins, 16 losses) CategoryGrand SlamGrand Prix Masters (1970–89)WCT Finals (1971–89)Grand Prix Series (1970–89), WCT Series (1968–89)

Grand Slam singles performance timeline