Brad Gilbert’s wide-ranging success is unique in the history of tennis: Top 10 ATP player including a career-high #4 ranking; elite coach of grand slam champions; author of the international best-seller Winning Ugly; and popular commentator on ESPN. In 1994 Gilbert began coaching Agassi who was struggling with a serious wrist injury and had dropped to #31 in the rankings. Twelve months later Agassi was #1. With Gilbert’s coaching, Andre captured six grand slam championships, an Olympic Gold Medal, and multiple Davis Cup victories. According to Agassi, ‘’Brad made me believe I could beat anyone.” Andy Roddick joined forces with Gilbert in 2003 and rose quickly to a #1 world ranking including the US Open Championship. When Andy Murray teamed with Gilbert he was ranked #36 in the world. Within twelve months Murray was #8. Because of his spectacular results, Brad Gilbert became recognized as perhaps the premier coach in the professional game – the “Tennis Whisperer.” Earlier, as a player, Gilbert won 20 ATP tournaments, a bronze medal at the ’88 Seoul Olympics, and successfully represented the U.S.A. in Davis Cup competition (10-5), all with a style pundits called “ugly”. His strokes were neither elegant nor overpowering. Brad’s gritty game featured a brilliant ability to recognize and exploit an opponent’s weaknesses and minimize their strengths: winning ugly. Brad’s first coach, in Piedmont, CA, was his dad, Barry Gilbert Sr., but Tom Chivington at foothill college moved Gilbert to a different level: “Coach Chivington gave me the belief I really needed when I was 18. He helped me in every way as a person and player. He was my model for a coach.”

Inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame in 2019

Narrative by Steve Jamison