Former 1983 NCAA champion from the University of Utah, Greg Holmes, recalls his first and last professional matches. Greg is in the tennis history books for having played the longest Wimbledon match before Isner vs Mahut, a five hour, 28 minute epic against Todd Witsken 57 64 76 46 14-12 in 1989 in the second round.
Greg won an ATP doubles title in 1987 with Gary Donnelly in Livingston, NJ where they beat Flach and Seguso 76 63. His best singles ranking was no. 22 in 1985. Today Greg is the tennis director at Almaden Valley Athletic Club in San Jose, CA.
FIRST: After playing in the 1983 US Open as an amateur and getting to the fourth round by beating Guillermo Vilas (62 62 63), I turned pro. My first match as a pro tennis player was at the Transamerica Open in 1983 (San Francisco after US Open) and I played and lost to Marty Davis (American) Rd 32 6-4,6-3 if I remember correctly. (Greg lost to 15th ranked Eliot Teltscher in the fourth round 63 16 26 16.)
LAST: My last match officially as a pro I believe would be in a 50K tournament in British Columbia, Canada (Coquitlam Challenger 1990). I played and lost to Steve Devries (American) Rd 32 6-7, 5-7.
Also in his career, Greg competed against legendary players including John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker and Pete Sampras. He defeated top ten ranked players Jimmy Connors, Andre Agassi, Vilas, Mats Wilander, Johan Kriek, Aaron Krickstein, Brad Gilbert and Tomas Smid.
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