Van Emburgh Hired as Men's Tennis Coach
June 09, 2005 | Men's Tennis
Greg Van Emburgh, associate head men's tennis coach at the University of Kentucky since 2001, has been named head men's tennis coach at the University of Wisconsin, Director of Athletics Barry Alvarez announced Thursday.
Van Emburgh's new position is effective July 1.
'We're very excited that Greg will be leading our men's tennis program,' Alvarez said. 'He played at a very high level collegiately and professionally and he has been coaching in a program that fields a perennial top-20 team. I know our student-athletes will benefit from Greg's experiences. We're all looking forward to his arrival.'
Kentucky finished with a national ranking no lower than 15th in each of Van Emburgh's four seasons on the Wildcat staff. UK reached the NCAA quarterfinals in 2001-02.
Van Emburgh, 39, a native of Mineola, N.Y., is a graduate of Kentucky, where he was a four-time tennis All-American in singles and doubles from 1986-88. The school's first All-American, he was an NCAA singles quarterfinalist and doubles semifinalist in 1987. Van Emburgh was a member of the 1987 U.S. World University Team that earned a bronze medal, as well as the 1988 USTA Junior Davis Cup Team. He is a member of UK's tennis Hall of Fame.
Van Emburgh was an ATP touring professional from 1988-99. He was a touring pro for Naples Bath and Tennis Club from 1990-94, conducting exhibitions, pro-ams and clinics. He also served as Director of Tennis for that organization from 1999-2000. Van Emburgh competed in World Team Tennis as a member of the Florida Twist in 1994.
A Wimbledon doubles semifinalist in 1990 and a quarterfinalist the year before, Van Emburgh was a winner of seven ATP Tour doubles events and a runner-up in seven more. His highest individual world ranking was No. 28 in 1993. He was ranked as high as No. 11 with doubles partner Shelby Cannon and he finished in the ATP ranking's top 100 for 10 straight years.
Van Emburgh's professional career included doubles wins over Pete Sampras, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Todd Martin, Goran Ivanisevic and Boris Becker (twice).
Van Emburgh and his wife, Tracey, are the parents of two children: Jake and Jenson.
