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Former Pro Athletes Who Play Competitive Tournament Tennis
8 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Bios
By Scoop Malinowski
Kyle Macy, was a star guard for the University of Kentucky – the starting point guard on the 1978 National Championship team – and 1975 “Mr. Basketball” award winner in the state of Indiana before being drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft by the Phoenix Suns in 1979 (22nd pick overall). He played seven seasons in the NBA for Phoenix, Boston Celtics and finally Indiana Pacers in 1986-1987. In five seasons with the Suns, Macy averaged 10.6 points per game. He lead the NBA in free throw percentage in 1981-1982 and is second all time (.884) for Phoenix behind Steve Nash (.907).
At some point, Macy became a tennis player and still competes in USTA tournaments. In August he won a round at the national 60’s grass courts tournament and lost in the round of 32 10-3 in the super breaker to a UTR 7. Macy is rated as a UTR 6.
He even played a friend and former hitting partner of mine named Bob Steinmetz in a Naples 65s tournament, losing 76 26 57.
Wilbert Jones is a former ABA and NBA standout from 1969 to 1978 for the Miami Floridians, Memphis Pros, Kentucky Colonels, Indiana Pacers and Buffalo Braves. He won the ABA Championship with Kentucky in 1975. Jones also plays the Senior Grand Prix Florida circuit in the 70s and 75s, primarily in doubles. The six-foot-eight, 75 year old currently holds a UTR 5 rating.
Another former NBA star Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks is said to be an excellent player but he doesn’t have any USTA or UTR results.
Paul Thomas played professional hockey in the International Hockey League and Central Hockey League in the late 70s as a hard-hitting defenseman. He was invited to the NHL’s Colorado Rockies training camp in 1980 but did not make the team. He plays some local tournaments in the Sarasota, Longboat Key area and is know for his Babolat powered big forehand.
Former National Hockey League defenseman Kent Carlson played for the Montreal Canadiens, Washington Capitals and St. Louis Blues in his pro hockey career from 1983-1989. He also competed in USTA 4.0 tennis leagues in New Hampshire in the 2000s.
Former Atlanta Braves great Chipper Jones doesn’t play competitive USTA tennis but his wife does in the Atlanta area for a 3.5 team.
And Mike Tyson, the former world heavyweight champ, has been filmed hitting tennis balls and possesses impressive form and technique though as of today, he doesn’t compete yet on the court. But his daughter Milan is a pretty good player and holds a UTR 6 rating. Milan Tyson, who stands 5-6, just played a 14s nationals in August and won a round before losing in the R128 63 63 to a UTR 8. She also just competed in the very competitive “Battle of Boca” prize money tournaments in Boca Raton, FL but lost first round in all four of the tournaments.
Italy’s World Cup soccer hero Paolo Maldini and his coach Stefano Landonio, who was once ranked 975 in the ATP, attempted to play an ATP Challenger in Italy in 2017. Maldini, the former longtime defender for AC Milan, was 48 years old at the time. He and Landonio were defeated 6-1 6-1 by Polandās Tomasz Bednarek and Dutchman David Pel, a former ATP top 50 ranked doubles team. The first round match lasted just 41 minutes.
āIt was like writing a poem after studying years of maths,ā Maldini said after. āWe tried to enjoy the moment, also because I didnāt expect Iād be able to experience something like this at the age of 49. Ironically, on the very first point of the match I pulled a muscle. It was a unique and unrepeatable experience, I have lived it as a game and there will be no other experience like this. We could have played better on a few points, but no problem. It could have ended 6-0 6-3, we lost 6-1 6-1 and thatās fine.ā
There is no record of Maldini playing any competitive matches since this defeat, on his UTR rating page.
Maybe the best tennis player out of all the former professional athletes is Stefano Torrisi who competed in the highest league in Italy. Sander Groen, a former ATP player for three decades and the man who helped Roger Federer win his first ATP doubles title in Segovia in 1999, competed against Torrisi in the ITF Senior World Championships and estimated his level was “way better than Maldini in tennis. I would say Torrisiās level in tennis could be the best from any athlete who was professional in a different sport before. Hard for me to say in UTR but my guess in Torrisi could be like 9-10 UTR. I was struggling against him during first set.”
Torrisi, now 51, played pro soccer as a defender from 1987 to 2007 for teams such as Bologna, Parma, Atletico Madrid. Modena, Reggiana, Marseille, and the Italian national team in 1997.
Groen said another former distinguished athlete from another sport who excels in tennis that caught his eye is Bram Lomans, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in field hockey in Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000, who is playing in some senior tournaments. Lomans has a UTR 9 rating now and played in several tournaments this summer.
Former 1980 Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics Natalia Shaposhnikova started to play tennis six years ago and competes in some tennis tournaments in NJ and Florida and also various leagues. She said the fluid, elegant athleticism needed to excel in tennis is a total contrast to that required for gymnastics.
Former pro golfers Greg Norman and Jack Nicklaus are said to be avid tennis players in south Florida but they have not competed in any sanctioned USTA senior tournaments.
Greg Norman · Kyle Macy · Mike Tyson · Paolo Maldini
Scoop Malinowski · October 7, 2022 at 2:18 pm
Tyson actually looks pretty good whacking forehands and backhands in the video. Don’t want to see his serve though )
catherine · October 10, 2022 at 5:57 am
Off topic but I feel a mention deserves to be made of the epic 3 hour + final in Ostrava between Swiatek and Krejcikova yesterday – won by Barbora. This was one of the best women’s matches I’ve ever seen – inventive all-court tennis played at a cracking pace in great spirit and in front of a raucous crowd. Why can’t more WTA matches be like this ?
I know, it’s a bit like Roger Federer asking “Why don’t the other guys play like me ?” But it’s worth thinking about. Too many dreary grinders on WTA tour.
Barbora, also a champion doubles player, was coached by Jana Novotna before her too early deah and thus carries on a great Czech tradition.
Scoop Malinowski · October 10, 2022 at 7:20 am
Catherine I saw the match point and it was a riveting atmosphere, more dramatic than some Grand Slam finals. Wish the wta would practice equality and equally promote it’s best players like Krejcikova who like Kenin, Rybakina, Pegula, is not one of their preferred darlings but she produces some of the best tennis like Iga. The wta needs to clean house. So what if Barbora has a boring personality, she plays electric tennis. Borg and Evert were boring personalities on court but they played electric tennis.
catherine · October 10, 2022 at 9:28 am
Well Scoop, I agree but unfortunately for cultural reasons glamour sells in women’s tennis and the WTA isn’t in a financial position to turn these sponsors away when they come calling.
Actually I suspect the public prefers talent over pinups and that’s what we saw in Ostrava. I’d like to see girls wanting to play like Iga and Barbora, taking risks and being aggressive. They’ve nothing to lose.
Scoop Malinowski · October 10, 2022 at 11:13 am
Catherine, but Billie always preaches equality. She needs to preach equality to sponsors and there is no such thing as beauty, plain jane, and unattractive. Force the sponsors to honor equality of player appearance. Why doesn’t Billie take on this fight?
catherine · October 10, 2022 at 12:15 pm
Scoop – BJK is probably feeling too old to fight yesterday’s battles. And she knows how pointless it would be to ‘take on’ this fight. Appearances count, however much we might wish they didn’t. Which you know very well.
Anyway, my point was that junior girls should be coached to play aggressively and to stop treating the baseline as the place of safety.
Of course Swiatek’s speed around the court is phenomenal – at her best she’s the fastest woman player I’ve ever seen.
Scoop Malinowski · October 10, 2022 at 1:14 pm
Catherine, appearance counts? It should not because it’s biased in favor of attractive over unattractive, we must strive for equality. Corporate must not give beauty special privileges because it shames the less beautiful, plain jane and unattractive. That is just not fair ) See how ridiculous the whole equality sham is?
Scoop Malinowski · October 10, 2022 at 1:16 pm
Iga is fast, so were Arantxa and Steffi. Yes I agree, juniors should be training serve and volley a couple times a week just to get the reps in and to be comfortable with all styles of tactics instead of focusing on just one.