Justin Gimelstob

Justin Jeremy Gimelstob (born January 26, 1977 ) is an American retired tennis player. Gimelstob has been a resident of Morristown, New Jersey, and as of 2009 lived in Santa Monica, California.

He was the top-ranked boy in his age group at the ages of 12, 14, 16, and 18. As a pro, he made the final of the Newport Tournament in singles and has 15 doubles championships to his name, including the 1998 Australian Open and 1998 French Open mixed doubles titles with Venus Williams. He was twice a member of the U.S. Davis Cup team. Petr Korda, Àlex Corretja, Pat Rafter, and Gustavo Kuerten. His career singles record was 107–172.

Gimelstob grew up in the New Vernon section of Harding Township, New Jersey. He graduated from Newark Academy in Livingston, New Jersey, in 1995. As a sophomore at Newark Academy, Gimelstob led the school's tennis team to a 26–0 record and won the state Tournament of Champions. In 2005, he was entered into the high school's hall of fame, the Newark (N.J.) Academy Hall of Fame. The high school named its tennis facility after him and his brothers.

Gimelstob, as a resident of Essex Fells, New Jersey, competed in junior tennis.

College and pro careers

In January 1995, Gimelstob enrolled at UCLA after first recruiting him as a 12 year old, and eliciting legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden during his recruitment process, Gimelstob accepted a scholarship to attend UCLA after graduating high school a year early. He was an Academic All American is his freshman year.

Gimelstob turned pro in 1996. At Wimbledon in June 1997 he upset world # 12 Gustavo Kuerten, 6–3, 6–4, 4–6, 1–6, 6–4. In July 1997, he defeated world # 32 Andre Agassi at the ATP event in Los Angeles, 7–5, 6–2. Later that month, he defeated world # 16 Petr Korda 6–4, 6–4 in Montreal. Gimelstob then reached the 3rd round at the 1997 US Open.

Gimelstob subsequently established himself chiefly as a doubles specialist, winning 12 titles. In 11 appearances at the US Open, he partnered 11 different players.

He won the 1998 Australian Open and French Open mixed doubles titles, with Venus Williams as his partner. In June 1998 at Wimbledon he beat world No. 9 Àlex Corretja in straight sets. In July he upset world No. 5 Pat Rafter 6–4, 6–3 in Los Angeles.

In March he beat world # 22 Thomas Muster, 6–4, 7–5 in Scottsdale, and in August he upset world # 7 Todd Martin, 6–4, 6–4 in Cincinnati. In June 2000 he beat world No.27 Fabrice Santoro in London, 4–6, 6–4, 6–0. In July he upset world # 19 Mark Philippoussis 3–6, 7–6 (7–5), 7–6 (7–3). In 2001, he and partner Scott Humphries got to the semifinals of the Australian Open.

At the 2002 U.S. Open singles competition, Gimelstob lost in the second round to Andre Agassi. In doubles, he and Jeff Tarango lost in the 2nd round to Brian MacPhee and Nenad Zimonjić, 7–5, 2–6, 6–7 (5–7).

In June 2007, Gimelstob lost a contentious 6–4 vote of the ATP Players Council in his attempt to replace Andre Agassi's manager, Perry Rogers, on the men's tour's 3-man board of directors, and to become the first active player on the board.

Gimelstob retired from professional tennis in the fall of 2007. His highest world singles ranking was # 63, and in doubles, # 18.

Jewish heritage Gimelstob is Jewish. His father Gary was an assistant coach of Team USA's tennis squad at the 1981 Maccabiah Games in Israel. Asked in 2003, in the wake of a Vanity Fair magazine article about increased anti-Semitism in France, whether he had been the brunt of anti-Semitism while he was in France for the French Open, he responded that he was uncertain. "They're so impolite and rude in general, you don't know if they think I'm Jewish or whether I'm just another American tourist".

He is a member of the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.

He said he was proud to be a Jewish role model. He added: "When I played, I got a lot of support from the Jewish community. People identify me as a Jewish athlete. It's a strong responsibility, and I appreciate that."

Significant finals

Grand Slam finals

Mixed doubles: 2 (2 titles) Outcome Year Championship Surface Partner OpponentsScoreWin 1998 Australian Open Hard Venus Williams Helena Suková Cyril Suk 6–2, 6–1Win 1998 French Open Clay Venus Williams Serena Williams Luis Lobo 6–4, 6–4

ATP Tour career finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up) LegendGrand Slam tournaments (0–0)ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)ATP World Tour Masters Series (0–0)ATP World Tour Championship Series (0–0)ATP World Tour International Series (0–1)Finals by surfaceHard (0–0)Clay (0–0)Grass (0–1)Finals by settingOutdoor (0–1)Indoor (0–0)

Doubles: 17 (13 titles, 4 runner-ups) LegendGrand Slam tournaments (0–0)ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)ATP World Tour Masters Series (0–0)ATP World Tour Championship Series (3–0)ATP World Tour World/International Series (10–4)Finals by surfaceHard (8–1)Clay (1–2)Grass (3–1)Carpet (1–0)Finals by settingOutdoor (10–4)Indoor (3–0)

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 16 (9–7) LegendATP Challenger (9–7)ITF Futures (0–0)Finals by surfaceHard (8–7)Clay (0–0)Grass (1–0)Carpet (0–0)

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Doubles: 22 (12–10) LegendATP Challenger (12–10)ITF Futures (0–0)Finals by surfaceHard (11–8)Clay (0–0)Grass (1–1)Carpet (0–1)

Junior Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Grand Slam tournament performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

Mixed doubles

Post-playing career Gimelstob was a blogger for Sports Illustrated (under the name "Gimel Takes All"), and served as a regular commentator for Tennis Channel. In 2010, Gimelstob was suspended from his Tennis Channel commentating duties for comments he made about President Barack Obama. He also presented tennis features and interviews for the TV Guide channel. On May 1, 2019, Gimelstob resigned from the ATP Player Council after a series of controversies (see below) and subsequent pressure from Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray.

John Isner hired Gimelstob as his new coach at the end of the 2014 season and worked with him until April 2016.

Controversies

Sexist comments On June 17, 2008, when Gimelstob was a guest on the Washington, D.C., morning radio show The Sports Junkies, he referred to French tennis player Tatiana Golovin as a "sexpot", Czech player Nicole Vaidišová as a "well developed young lady", and French player Alizé Cornet as a "little sexpot".

Also in 2008, Gimelstob told Out Magazine: "The locker room couldn't be a more homophobic place. We're not gay-bashing. There's just a lot of positive normal hetero talk about pretty girls and working out and drinking beer. That's why people want to be pro athletes!"

Domestic abuse allegations In 2016, Gilmelstob's wife Cary sought a restraining order against him, alleging that he "physically assaulted, harassed, verbally attacked, and stole" from her. Cary also accused Justin of a placing a "video recording device in my bedroom" which captured "me having sex with another man" and that Justin threatened to show the footage to the couple's son.

Assault case In November 2018, Gimelstob was charged with assault after being accused of repeatedly striking Randall Kaplan while the venture capitalist, his wife and their two-year-old daughter were trick-or-treating on Halloween in West Los Angeles. Gimelstob denied the accusations. Gilmelstob later changed his plea to "no contest" to a felony battery charge, and was sentenced to three years’ probation and 60 days of community labor. The wife of the victim attributed the miscarriage of her unborn child to the stress of witnessing the attack. In 2019, he resigned from the ATP board of directors.