David_Witt
David Witt
American tennis coach and former tennis player
David Witt (born June 2, 1973) is an American former professional tennis player best known as the former long-time coach of Venus Williams and Jessica Pegula. He enjoyed a successful junior career, during which time he won the USTA Boys' 16s Clay, Hard and National Championships and was the top-ranked under-16 in the USTA in 1989.[1] He was also a semi-finalist at the US Open Junior Boys Singles event in 1991.[2]
His closest career win on the main tour was in the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Birmingham, Alabama, where he and Brian MacPhie were runners-up in the doubles in 1994. He did win two challenger-level events in his career: Guadalajara, Mexico in 1992 and the Levene Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger at Binghamton, New York in 1997. He retired from professional tennis in 2005.
In 2002, while working as the resident pro at the Deerwood Country Club in Jacksonville, Florida, Witt was approached by the Williams sisters to act as a hitting partner during their participation at the Bausch & Lomb Championships at nearby Amelia Island. In 2007, they asked him to accompany them to Charleston, South Carolina for the Family Circle Cup.[3] Since then he has acted as a travelling hitting partner for both women,[4] most notably for elder sister Venus.[5][6] In December 2018, Venus ended the 11-year partnership.[7] David Witt coached Jessica Pegula from July 2019[8] to January 2024. In March 2024, Witt began coaching Maria Sakkari.[9]
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