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26
July 26 • 2018
jn
rad Gilbert has had a remark-
able career in tennis as a
player, coach and now one of
the top analysts for ESPN.
He won 20 singles championships,
was runner-up 20 times in singles
finals, went 519-288 in singles and
earned more than $5.5 million in
prize money while playing profes-
sionally from 1982-1995.
He ascended to the No. 4 rank-
ing in the world in 1990, reached
the quarterfinals of the 1987 U.S.
Open and 1990 Wimbledon tour-
nament, and beat Boris Becker,
John McEnroe, Stefan Edberg, Pete
Sampras and Jim Courier when they
were ranked in the top three in the
world.
Representing his country, Gilbert
won a bronze medal in singles in
the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South
Korea.
After retiring as a player in 1995,
Gilbert began coaching full-time.
He coached Andre Agassi, Andy
Roddick and Andy Murray at the
high points of their careers. Agassi
won six of his eight Grand Slam
championships while Gilbert was his
coach from 1994-2002.
ESPN hired Gilbert in 2004. He’s
worked in the studio, as a match
analyst and sideline reporter.
What happened 37 years ago
in Israel also is a special tennis
memory for Gilbert. He won a gold
medal in doubles and a silver medal
in singles at the Maccabiah Games,
an Olympics-style event that brings
together the top Jewish athletes in
the world.
Gilbert admits he didn’t compre-
hend the significance of competing
in the Maccabiah Games at the time.
Now he does.
“Until I got to Israel, I didn’t know
the Maccabiah Games was such
a big event,” he said. “I remember
it felt like it was a million degrees
there, and I stayed in a dorm room
with eight people and no air condi-
tioning.
“But I had a great time and I still
see some of my U.S. teammates,
including Jon Levine, who was my
doubles partner.”
Gilbert and Levine defeated fel-
low Americans Rick Meyer and
Paul Bernstein for the Maccabiah
Games doubles title. Israeli Shlomo
Glickstein beat Gilbert for the sin-
gles championship.
The 56-year-old Californian
reflected on his Maccabiah Games
experience Saturday while he was
in the area for a busy three-day
weekend filled with adult and youth
clinics, exhibition matches and a
social gathering, all hosted by the
Birmingham Athletic Club.
“You can’t make huge changes in
your game from one clinic,” Gilbert
said, “but I hope those who attended
the clinics are more excited now
about playing tennis.”
It’s easy getting Gilbert to be excit-
ed about tennis, especially when he
talks about it as a lifetime sport.
Gilbert still plays tennis competi-
tively occasionally. He said he’s going
to keep playing as long as he can.
Gilbert was invited to the
Birmingham Athletic Club by his
friend Cade McLogan, who teaches
tennis there.
As for the world of professional
tennis, Gilbert thinks Rafael Nadal,
Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic
are the top men’s players these days.
Then there’s Serena Williams, who
was the women’s singles runner-up
at Wimbledon earlier this month
even though she had a baby Sept. 1,
2017, in a difficult Cesarean section
delivery following labor complica-
tions that included blood clots in
her lungs and a pulmonary embo-
lism.
“Am I surprised Serena did that
well at Wimbledon after what she
went through? No,” Gilbert said.
“She’s an incredible competitor.
Never underestimate a Williams
sister.”
Gilbert and his wife, Kim, have
three children. •
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stevestein502004@yahoo.com.