Peter Doohan

Australian tennis player (1961–2017)

Peter Doohan
Singles
Country (sports)	Australia
Residence	Nelson Bay, New South Wales, Australia
Born	(1961-05-02)2 May 1961 Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
Died	21 July 2017(2017-07-21) (aged 56) Australia
Height	190 cm (6 ft 3 in)
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
College	University of Arkansas
Prize money	$445,192
Career record	49–81
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	No. 43 (3 August 1987)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	4R (1987)
French Open	1R (1986)
Wimbledon	4R (1987)
US Open	2R (1984)
Doubles
Career record	141–106
Career titles	5
Highest ranking	No. 15 (9 February 1987)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	F (1987)
French Open	2R (1989)
Wimbledon	SF (1984, 1988)
US Open	3R (1988, 1990)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian Open	SF (1989)
French Open	3R (1989)
Wimbledon	3R (1984, 1985, 1989)
US Open	1R (1987)

Peter Leslie Doohan (2 May 1961 – 21 July 2017) was an Australian tennis player who won three consecutive Australian Hard Court Championships singles titles (1984, 1985, 1986),^[1] which remains an Open era record for that tournament. He won a further two singles titles at the South Australian Open in 1984 and San Louis Potosí tournament in Mexico in 1988. He also won five doubles titles during his career. The right-hander reached his highest Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking of world No. 43 in August 1987.

Early and personal life

Peter Leslie Doohan was born on 2 May 1961 in Newcastle, New South Wales, to Paul and Thelma Doohan.^[2]^[3] Her sisters were Cathie Roff and Margaret Knight.^[2]^[3] His sons include tennis coach John Doohan and American actor Hunter Doohan.

Doohan died on 21 July 2017 from motor neurone disease.^[4]

Career

At the 1987 Wimbledon Championships, he unexpectedly defeated two-time defending champion and top-seeded Boris Becker in the second round, earning himself the nickname "The Becker Wrecker" at home in Australia.^[5]^[6]^[7]

Doohan played collegiately in the United States with the University of Arkansas where he won the NCAA doubles title in 1982. Also a successful singles player, he won three Australian Hard Court Championships consecutively from (1984–1986). In 1984, he won the South Australian Open singles title.^[8] In 1988, he won the San Louis Potosí singles title on clay^[9] in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. He also coached high school tennis at Donoho High School in Anniston, Alabama, for several years in the mid-1990s.^[4]

Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1987	Australian Open	Grass	Laurie Warder	Stefan Edberg Anders Järryd	4–6, 4–6, 6–7^(3–7)

ATP career finals

Singles: 4 (1 title, 3 runner-ups)

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP World Tour Masters Series (0–0)
ATP World Tour Championship Series (0–0)
ATP World Tour World Series (1–3)

Titles by surface
Hard (0–0)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (1–3)
Carpet (0–0)

Titles by setting
Outdoor (1–3)
Indoor (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Dec 1984	Adelaide, Australia	Grand Prix	Grass	Huub van Boeckel	1–6, 6–1, 6–4
Loss	1–1	Dec 1985	Adelaide, Australia	Grand Prix	Grass	Eddie Edwards	2–6, 4–6
Loss	1–2	Dec 1985	Melbourne, Australia	Grand Prix	Grass	Jonathan Canter	7–5, 3–6, 4–6
Loss	1–3	Feb 1987	Sydney, Australia	Grand Prix	Grass	Miloslav Mečíř	2–6, 4–6

Doubles: 14 (5 titles, 9 runner-ups)

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–1)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP World Tour Masters Series (0–1)
ATP World Tour Championship Series (0–1)
ATP World Tour World Series (5–6)

Titles by surface
Hard (3–4)
Clay (0–1)
Grass (2–4)
Carpet (0–0)

Titles by setting
Outdoor (5–9)
Indoor (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Sep 1984	Tel Aviv, Israel	Grand Prix	Hard	Brian Levine	Colin Dowdeswell Jakob Hlasek	6–3, 6–4
Loss	1–1	Dec 1984	Adelaide, Australia	Grand Prix	Grass	Brian Levine	Broderick Dyke Wally Masur	6–4, 5–7, 1–6
Win	2–1	Jul 1985	Newport, United States	Grand Prix	Grass	Sammy Giammalva	Paul Annacone Christo van Rensburg	6–1, 6–3
Win	3–1	Jul 1985	Livingston, United States	Grand Prix	Hard	Mike De Palmer	Eddie Edwards Danie Visser	6–3, 6–4
Loss	3–2	Mar 1986	Fort Meyers, United States	Grand Prix	Hard	Paul McNamee	Andrés Gómez Ivan Lendl	5–7, 4–6
Loss	3–3	Jan 1987	Adelaide, Australia	Grand Prix	Grass	Laurie Warder	Ivan Lendl Bill Scanlon	7–6, 3–6, 4–6
Loss	3–4	Jan 1987	Melbourne, Australia	Grand Slam	Grass	Laurie Warder	Stefan Edberg Anders Järryd	4–6, 4–6, 6–7
Loss	3–5	Feb 1987	Sydney, Australia	Grand Prix	Grass	Laurie Warder	Brad Drewett Mark Edmondson	4–6, 6–4, 2–6
Loss	3–6	Aug 1987	Montreal, Canada	Masters Series	Hard	Laurie Warder	Pat Cash Stefan Edberg	7–6, 3–6, 4–6
Win	4–6	Jun 1988	Bristol, United Kingdom	Grand Prix	Grass	Laurie Warder	Marty Davis Tim Pawsat	2–6, 6–4, 7–5
Loss	4–7	Sep 1988	Los Angeles, United States	Grand Prix	Hard	Jim Grabb	John McEnroe Mark Woodforde	4–6, 4–6
Win	5–7	Jan 1989	Wellington, New Zealand	Grand Prix	Hard	Laurie Warder	Rill Baxter Glenn Michibata	3–6, 6–2, 6–3
Loss	5–8	May 1989	Munich, Germany	Grand Prix	Clay	Laurie Warder	Javier Sánchez Balázs Taróczy	6–7, 3–6
Loss	5–9	Aug 1989	Indianapolis, United States	Championship Series	Hard	Laurie Warder	Pieter Aldrich Danie Visser	6–7, 6–7

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 1 (0–1)

Legend
ATP Challenger (0–1)
ITF Futures (0–0)

Finals by surface
Hard (0–0)
Clay (0–1)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Mar 1989	San Luis Potosí, Mexico	Challenger	Clay	Jorge Lozano	4–6, 4–6

Doubles: 1 (1–0)

Legend
ATP Challenger (1–0)
ITF Futures (0–0)

Finals by surface
Hard (0–0)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (1–0)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Sep 1990	Canberra, Australia	Challenger	Carpet	Brett Custer	David Adams Jamie Morgan	6–3, 6–4

Performance timelines

**Key**
W	F	SF	QF	#R	RR	Q#	DNQ	A	NH

(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles

Tournament	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	SR	W–L	Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	1R	Q1	Q3	1R	1R	3R	A	4R	2R	1R	1R	1R	0 / 9	6–9	40%
French Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 1	0–1	0%
Wimbledon	Q2	1R	Q1	1R	Q3	Q2	1R	1R	4R	1R	Q2	Q1	A	0 / 6	3–6	33%
US Open	A	A	A	A	A	2R	1R	A	1R	A	A	A	A	0 / 3	1–3	25%
Win–loss	0–0	0–2	0–0	0–1	0–1	1–2	2–3	0–2	6–3	1–2	0–1	0–1	0–1	0 / 19	10–19	34%
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	A	A	0 / 1	0–1	0%
Miami	A	A	A	A	A	A	2R	A	A	1R	A	A	A	0 / 2	1–2	33%
Canada	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	A	A	A	0 / 1	0–1	0%
Cincinnati	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	A	A	A	0 / 1	0–1	0%
Win–loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–1	0–0	0–2	0–2	0–0	0–0	0–0	0 / 5	1–5	17%

Doubles

Tournament	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	SR	W–L	Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	1R	1R	A	1R	SF	3R	A	F	1R	3R	1R	2R	0 / 10	11–10	52%
French Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	2R	A	A	0 / 1	1–1	50%
Wimbledon	1R	Q2	A	Q2	SF	1R	2R	3R	SF	QF	2R	1R	0 / 9	15–9	63%
US Open	A	A	1R	A	2R	2R	A	2R	3R	A	3R	A	0 / 6	7–6	54%
Win–loss	0–2	0–1	0–1	0–1	8–3	2–3	1–1	7–3	6–3	6–3	3–3	1–2	0 / 26	34–26	57%
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	2R	QF	2R	A	A	0 / 3	4–3	57%
Miami	A	A	A	A	A	3R	A	QF	2R	A	2R	A	0 / 4	0–4	64%
Monte Carlo	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	2R	A	A	0 / 1	0–1	0%
Hamburg	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	QF	A	A	0 / 1	2–1	67%
Rome	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	QF	A	A	0 / 1	2–1	67%
Canada	A	A	A	A	A	A	2R	F	A	A	SF	A	0 / 3	8–3	73%
Cincinnati	A	A	A	A	A	A	2R	QF	2R	A	A	A	0 / 3	4–3	57%
Paris	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	A	A	A	0 / 1	0–1	0%
Win–loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	2–1	2–2	10–5	4–3	5–4	4–2	0–0	0 / 17	27–17	50%

Mixed doubles

Tournament	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	SR	W–L	Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	A	QF	1R	SF	2R	0 / 4	6–4	60%
French Open	A	A	A	A	A	3R	A	0 / 1	1–1	50%
Wimbledon	3R	3R	A	2R	A	3R	1R	0 / 5	7–5	58%
US Open	A	A	A	1R	A	A	A	0 / 1	0–1	0%
Win–loss	2–1	2–1	0–0	3–3	0–1	6–3	1–2	0 / 11	14–11	56%

References

^ "Display:Peter Doohan". collections.ncc.nsw.gov.au. NSW Government Sporting Hall of Fame, Australia. Archived from the original on 25 June 2017. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
^ ^a ^b "Obituary for Peter Leslie Doohan, Nelson Bay, Australia, AR". www.nwaonline.com. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
^ ^a ^b "Thelma DOOHAN Obituary (2018) - Legacy Remembers". Legacy.com. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
^ ^a ^b "'Becker wrecker': Ex-Aussie tennis player Peter Doohan dies at age 56". The Sydney Morning Herald. 23 July 2017.
^ "Becker Is Upset at Wimbledon by Unseeded Australian". New York Times. 27 June 1987. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
^ Warren, Dan (23 June 2003). "Wimbledon's greatest shocks". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
^ Paul Fein (2005). You Can Quote Me on That: Greatest Tennis Quips, Insights, and Zingers. Potomac Books, Incorporated. p. 34. ISBN 978-1-57488-925-3.
^ "South Australian Open tournament roll of honour". thetennisbase.com. The Tennis Base. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
^ "1988 San Luis Potosí tournament draw". thetennisbase.com. The Tennis Base. Retrieved 13 October 2017.