Howard Schoenfield

Howard David Schoenfield (November 15, 1957 – July 8, 2020) was an American professional tennis player.

Early life Schoenfield was born in Fort Hood, Texas, on November 15, 1957, one of three sons of Leslie, a doctor for U.S. Army at Fort Hood Hospital, and Nancy Schoenfield. Soon after his birth the family moved to Rochester, Minnesota, as his father had gotten a job at the Mayo Clinic.

A promising junior tennis player, Schoenfield was evaluated by Jack Kramer in Los Angeles, which encouraged the family to move to Beverly Hills when Howard was 14.

He returned to tennis in 1976.

Following his first round loss at the 1980 Surrey Grass Court Championships, Schoenfield was reported by umpire Bill Kempffer for "unsportsmanlike behavior". The umpire alleged that Schoenfield had not been trying. During the match, which he lost to Chris Lewis 1–6, 1–6, Schoenfield hit an underarm serve into the bottom of the net and on another occasion didn't make an attempt to return serve.

He made the main draw of the 1980 Wimbledon Championships.

At a Grand Prix tournament two months later, the Canadian International Tennis Championships, Schoenfield was ruled "unfit to play" and disqualified four games into his opening round match against John James. Grand Prix supervisor Dick Robertson stepped in when Schoenfield trailed 0–4 in the first set and ruled that his play was not up to professional standards. Schoenfield later claimed that an official had accused him of having taken drugs, an allegation that he denied. He was fined his entire match fee.

Health problems and death In 1981, Schoenfield was admitted to a halfway house near Jacksonville, Florida.

Grand Prix career finals Singles: 1 (1–0)