Tommy Ho

Tommy Ho
Full nameThomas Ho
Country (sports) United States
ResidenceHouston, Texas, United States
Born (1973-06-17) June 17, 1973 (age 51)
Winter Haven, Florida, United States
Height6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Turned pro1988
Retired1998
PlaysLeft-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money$793,819
Singles
Career record36–66
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 85 (26 June 1995)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open2R (1995)
French Open1R (1995)
Wimbledon2R (1995)
US Open3R (1992)
Doubles
Career record57–40
Career titles4
Highest rankingNo. 13 (8 January 1996)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open3R (1996)
French OpenSF (1995)
Wimbledon2R (1995)
US Open3R (1994)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian Open2R (1996)
Last updated on: 14 December 2021.
Tommy Ho
Traditional Chinese何思模
Simplified Chinese何思模
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyinhé sīmó
Wade–GilesHo2 Ssŭ1-mo2

Thomas Ho (born June 17, 1973, in Winter Haven, Florida) is an American former professional tennis player.[1]

Tennis career

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Juniors

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Ho first came to the tennis world's attention as an exceptionally successful junior player. He won several junior tennis events in the 1980s, and set a number of 'youngest-ever' records.

Pro tour

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In August 1988, Ho became the youngest male player in the open era to play in the main draw of the US Open singles at the age of 15 years and 2 months. He lost the first round match to Johan Kriek 6–4, 7–6, 7–6. That same month, Ho became the second youngest male player to win a main draw match at a top-level tour event when he beat Matt Anger in the first round at Rye Brook 6–4, 3–6, 6–4, just after Argentina's Franco Davín.

Ho's early successes drew many comparisons with Michael Chang, another Asian American tennis player who achieved great success as a junior. However Ho did not manage to make the same kind of impact on the professional circuit as Chang (who went on to win the French Open and reach the World No. 2 singles ranking). Ho enjoyed some success in satellite tournaments, but did not win any top-level singles events on the tour. He did, however, win four tour doubles titles (Beijing in 1994, and Beijing, Hong Kong and Indian Wells in 1995).

Ho's professional career was hampered by injuries. In 1995, Ho and Brett Steven became the fastest-ever losers of a match at Wimbledon. In the very first point of their men's doubles match, Steven served and Ho tried to intercept the return at the net, only to injure his back. The pair thus had had to forfeit the match after just one rally, which had lasted all of five seconds. The back injury was to recur again in future years, and eventually led to Ho's retirement from the tour in 1997.

During his professional career, Ho reached career-high rankings of World No. 85 in singles and World No. 13 in doubles. His career prize-money totalled $793,819.

Post-retirement

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Since retiring from the tour, Ho has completed a degree at Rice University in Houston and worked as a tennis journalist.

In 2011, Ho was inducted into the USTA Florida Hall of Fame.

After working as a partner at global recruiting firm Heidrick & Struggles, he is currently the Chief Talent Officer at Quantum Energy Partners.

ATP career finals

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Doubles: 7 (4 titles, 3 runner-ups)

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Legend
Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP Masters Series (1–0)
ATP Championship Series (0–1)
ATP World Series (3–2)
Finals by surface
Hard (2–2)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (2–1)
Finals by setting
Outdoors (2–1)
Indoors (2–2)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 Oct 1994 Beijing, China World Series Carpet United States Kent Kinnear South Africa David Adams
Russia Andrei Olhovskiy
7–6, 6–3
Loss 1–1 Feb 1995 Memphis, United States Championship Series Hard New Zealand Brett Steven United States Jared Palmer
United States Richey Reneberg
6–4, 6–7, 1–6
Win 2–1 Mar 1995 Indian Wells, United States Masters Series Hard New Zealand Brett Steven South Africa Gary Muller
South Africa Pieter Norval
6–4, 7–6
Win 3–1 Apr 1995 Hong Kong, Hong Kong World Series Hard Australia Mark Philippoussis Australia John Fitzgerald
Sweden Anders Järryd
6–1, 6–7(2–7), 7–6(7–3)
Win 4–1 Oct 1995 Beijing, China World Series Carpet Canada Sébastien Lareau Belgium Dick Norman
Netherlands Fernon Wibier
7–6, 7–6
Loss 4–2 Nov 1995 Moscow, Russia World Series Carpet New Zealand Brett Steven Zimbabwe Byron Black
United States Jared Palmer
4–6, 6–3, 3–6
Loss 4–3 Jan 1996 Adelaide, Australia World Series Hard Sweden Jonas Björkman Australia Todd Woodbridge
Australia Mark Woodforde
5–7, 6–7

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures Finals

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Singles: 8 (4–4)

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Legend
ATP Challenger (4–4)
ITF Futures (0–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (4–4)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Oct 1990 Ponte Vedra, United States Challenger Hard Canada Chris Pridham 7–6, 6–4
Loss 1–1 Sep 1991 Bloomfield Hills, United States Challenger Hard Canada Chris Pridham 3–6, 4–6
Win 2–1 Dec 1992 Hong Kong Challenger Hard Canada Greg Rusedski 4–6, 6–4, 7–6
Loss 2–2 Jan 1993 Wellington, New Zealand Challenger Hard Zimbabwe Byron Black 4–6, 6–4, 1–6
Loss 2–3 Dec 1993 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Challenger Hard Germany Alexander Mronz 1–6, 0–6
Win 3–3 Sep 1994 Singapore, Singapore Challenger Hard United Kingdom Chris Wilkinson 6–3, 6–4
Win 4–3 Mar 1995 Indian Wells, United States Challenger Hard Germany Oliver Gross 6–7, 7–6, 6–2
Loss 4–4 Jul 1997 Flushing Meadows, United States Challenger Hard Italy Gianluca Pozzi 1–6, 4–6

Doubles: 6 (4–2)

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Legend
ATP Challenger (4–2)
ITF Futures (0–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (2–2)
Clay (2–0)
Grass (0–0)
Carpet (0–0)
Result W–L Date Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 May 1992 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Challenger Hard Australia Patrick Rafter Australia Jamie Morgan
Australia Sandon Stolle
4–6, 6–7
Win 1–1 May 1993 Taipei, Taiwan Challenger Hard Australia Patrick Rafter United States Kent Kinnear
United States Kenny Thorne
6–4, 7–6
Win 2–1 Dec 1993 Hong Kong, Hong Kong Challenger Hard Japan Shuzo Matsuoka Germany Dirk Dier
Germany Alexander Mronz
2–3 ret.
Win 3–1 Jun 1994 Weiden, Germany Challenger Clay Portugal Nuno Marques Israel Eyal Ran
Chile Gabriel Silberstein
6–3, 6–1
Win 4–1 Jun 1994 Košice, Slovakia Challenger Clay Sweden Mikael Tillström Portugal Emanuel Couto
Portugal Bernardo Mota
7–6, 6–1
Loss 4–2 Jan 1995 Wellington, New Zealand Challenger Hard United States Kenny Thorne The Bahamas Mark Knowles
Canada Daniel Nestor
6–1, 4–6, 6–7

Performance timelines

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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

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Tournament 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 SR W–L Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A A Q1 A 1R 1R 2R Q2 A A 0 / 2 1–2 33%
French Open A A A A A A Q1 1R A A A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Wimbledon A A A A A 1R A 2R A A Q1 0 / 2 1–2 33%
US Open 1R A 2R A 3R 1R 1R A A 1R A 0 / 6 3–6 33%
Win–loss 0–1 0–0 1–1 0–0 2–1 0–3 0–2 2–3 0–0 0–1 0–0 0 / 12 5–12 29%
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells A A A A A A Q2 2R A A A 0 / 1 1–1 50%
Miami A A A A A A Q2 3R A A A 0 / 1 2–1 67%
Canada A 1R A A A 1R A A A A A 0 / 2 0–2 0%
Cincinnati A A A A Q1 Q1 Q3 1R A A A 0 / 1 0–1 0%
Paris A A A A A A A Q3 A A A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Win–loss 0–0 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 3–3 0–0 0–0 0–0 0 / 5 3–5 38%

Doubles

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Tournament 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 SR W–L Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A A A A 2R 3R A 0 / 2 3–2 60%
French Open A A A A SF A A 0 / 1 4–1 80%
Wimbledon A A Q3 A 2R A A 0 / 1 1–1 50%
US Open 2R 2R 1R Q1 A A Q1 0 / 3 2–3 40%
Win–loss 1–1 1–1 0–1 0–0 6–3 2–1 0–0 0 / 7 10–7 59%
Year-end Championships
ATP Finals Did not qualify RR DNQ 0 / 1 1–2 33%
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells A A A A W A 1R 1 / 2 5–1 83%
Miami A A A A 3R A 1R 0 / 2 1–2 33%
Canada A A Q2 A A A A 0 / 0 0–0  – 
Cincinnati A 2R A A 2R A A 0 / 2 2–2 50%
Paris A A A A 2R A A 0 / 1 2–1 50%
Win–loss 0–0 1–1 0–0 0–0 8–3 0–0 0–2 1 / 7 9–6 60%

References

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  1. ^ "Archives". Los Angeles Times.
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