Tennis star Jim Grabb at his parents' home in Tucson in September, 1990. Photo by Jim Davis / Arizona Daily Star
June 12, 1989: Jim Grabb ranked No. 1 in world tennis doubles
Jim Grabb’s name appeared in a Tucson newspaper for the first time on Nov. 4, 1974. He was 10.
He had won the Boys 12U singles championship at the Kachina Classic in Tempe. It was the beginning of a meteoric climb that saw the son of a Tucson urologist who had immigrated to America from Byelorussia through Cuba become one of the world’s leading tennis players.
Grabb never did win the state tennis championship while at Tucson High, but he helped Stanford win an NCAA championship, and he not only won matches at Wimbledon, the French Open and U.S. Open, but also won for the U.S. Davis Cup team.
In April of 1981, in the middle of his junior season at Tucson High, Grabb relocated to Scotts-dale so he could train against consistently better competition. He ultimately began working with long-time Arizona State coach Lou Belken, who was director of the Scottsdale Racquet Club.
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“There just weren’t that many serious tennis players in Tucson,” said Grabb, whose first notable victory in Arizona tennis was against Scottsdale’s Jonny Levine, ranked No. 1 in the Southwest in 1979, at the Tucson Racquet Club.
New Arizona coach Ted Kissell, who coached Grabb at Tucson High, recruited Grabb, but when Stanford’s legendary coach Dick Gould offered a scholarship, the trajectory of Grabb’s career forever changed.
From 1984-86, he was a three-time NCAA doubles and two-time singles All-American, helping Stanford win the NCAA title in 1986 and finish as runner-up in 1984.
Grabb’s last notable competition in Tucson was March 23, 1984, when he returned to Tucson as a Stanford sophomore and beat long-time rival Mike Lee — Arizona’s 1980 state singles champion from Sabino High School.
It took 6½ hours, with play stalled by rain and strong winds.
“When I had him in high school, Jim was short, thin and aggressive,” said Kissell. “Now he’s tall, thin and aggressive.”
Grabb wasn’t an over-achiever, he was merely an achiever. Gould said he ordinarily didn’t recruit someone projected “as low as” No. 20 in the junior rankings, but saw something special in Grabb.
Modestly, Grabb said, “I kinda snuck in.”
His career catapulted in a hurry.
He won an international singles championships in Seoul, South Korea, in 1987, beating Andre Agassi in the finals.
After pairing with Patrick McEnroe, he won the French Open doubles title at the famed Roland Garros stadium in 1989.
Grabb and McEnroe were then ranked No. 1 in the world. He was ranked No. 1 periodically through 1992, often with Richey Reneberg.
Grabb’s career professional singles record was 179-199. In the small-world department, he beat former Arizona Wildcat standout Paul Chamberlain in a 1990 Wimbledon second-round match.
Grabb’s last notable victory was the Men’s 35 Senior Doubles, with Reneberg, at the 2002 and 2003 U.S. Open.
Where is he now? Grabb earned an economics degree at Stanford. He worked in New York City as a financial analyst from 2007-12. He is now a performance coach and mindfulness instructor at his own firm, Advanced Awareness in Sagaponack, New York.
How he did it: While visiting the Star newsroom in 1993, Grabb, now 52, said, “I felt pretty satisfied to make money doing what I like doing and I look at these (successes) as gifts rather than as things I deserve.
“I don’t expect them. It’s like icing on the cake.”
Photo: Tennis star Jim Grabb at his parents' home in Tucson in September, 1990. Photo by Jim Davis / Arizona Daily Star
