Robbie Venter

Robbie Venter
Full name Robert Eben Venter
Country (sports)  South Africa
Born (1960-05-07) 7 May 1960
Boksburg, Transvaal
Plays Left-handed
Singles
Career record 7–19
Career titles 0
Highest ranking No. 148 (2 January 1984)
Grand Slam Singles results
Wimbledon 1R (1983)
Doubles
Career record 15–27
Career titles 0
Highest ranking No. 82 (3 January 1983)
Grand Slam Doubles results
French Open 2R (1983)
Wimbledon 1R (1983)

Robert Eben "Robbie" Venter (born 7 May 1960) is a South African businessman and former professional tennis player.

Biography

Venter, who grew up in Boksburg, is the son of South African businessman Bill Venter.[1]

A left handed player, Venter was a semi-finalist at the Wimbledon Juniors in 1978 and moved to the United States that year to take up a tennis scholarship at UCLA.[1][2] He was a three-time All-American and captained the UCLA side which won the team title in the 1982 NCAA Division I Tennis Championships.[3][4] After that triumph he became a tour professional and with former UCLA teammate Blaine Willenborg he was runner-up in the doubles at the 1982 U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, a tournament on the Grand Prix circuit held in Indianapolis.[5] His only singles appearance in the main draw of a grand slam tournament came at the 1983 Wimbledon Championships, where he lost in the first round to Rodney Harmon, in four sets.[6] During his tennis career he won six Challenger titles, three in singles and three in doubles.

Venter retired from tennis in 1985 and completed a MBA at UCLA before working at Bear Stearns for three years.[1] He returned to South Africa in 1990.[1]

In 2011 he replaced his father Bill as CEO of Altron.[1]

Grand Prix career finals

Doubles: 1 (0–1)

Outcome No. Year Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Runner-up 1. 1982 Indianapolis, US Clay United States Blaine Willenborg United States Sherwood Stewart
United States Ferdi Taygan
4–6, 5–7

Challenger titles

Singles: (3)

No. Year Tournament Surface Opponent Score
1. 1980 Turin, Italy Clay Spain Miguel Mir 6–2, 6–1
2. 1983 Solihull, Great Britain Clay Australia Broderick Dyke 6–4, 3–6, 6–3
3. 1983 Lee-on-the-Solent, Great Britain Clay United Kingdom Jeremy Bates 6–3, 6–1

Doubles: (3)

No. Year Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
1. 1980 Royan, France Clay United States Dave Siegler Sweden Jan Gunnarsson
Sweden Stefan Svensson
6–4, 6–4
2. 1980 Le Touquet, France Clay United States Dave Siegler Sweden Hans Simonsson
Sweden Tenny Svensson
7–6, 4–6, 6–3
3. 1981 Reus, Spain Clay United States Egan Adams United States Junie Chatman
New Zealand Bruce Derlin
6–7, 6–4, 6–4

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Stones, Lesley (28 August 2012). "Acing the business world". ITWeb. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  2. "ITF Tennis – Juniors – Player Profile – Venter, Robbie (RSA)". International Tennis Federation. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  3. "Bruin History" (PDF). UCLA Bruins. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  4. "UCLA wins tennis title". The Deseret News. 19 May 1982. p. 2D. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  5. "Sport". The Pantagraph. Bloomington, Illinois. 9 August 1982. p. 15.
  6. "Sports Results, Detail.". The Canberra Times. ACT: National Library of Australia. 22 June 1983. p. 42. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
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