Tommy Ho

Tommy Ho

Full name	Thomas Ho
Country (sports)	United States
Residence	Houston, Texas, United States
Born	(1973-06-17) June 17, 1973 (age 50) Winter Haven, Florida, United States
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Turned pro	1988
Retired	1998
Plays	Left-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	$793,819
Singles
Career record	36–66
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 85 (26 June 1995)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	2R (1995)
French Open	1R (1995)
Wimbledon	2R (1995)
US Open	3R (1992)
Doubles
Career record	57–40
Career titles	4
Highest ranking	No. 13 (8 January 1996)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	3R (1996)
French Open	SF (1995)
Wimbledon	2R (1995)
US Open	3R (1994)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian Open	2R (1996)
Last updated on: 14 December 2021.

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

Tennis career

Juniors

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

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

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

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

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Oct 1994	Beijing, China	World Series	Carpet	Kent Kinnear	David Adams Andrei Olhovskiy	7–6, 6–3
Loss	1–1	Feb 1995	Memphis, United States	Championship Series	Hard	Brett Steven	Jared Palmer Richey Reneberg	6–4, 6–7, 1–6
Win	2–1	Mar 1995	Indian Wells, United States	Masters Series	Hard	Brett Steven	Gary Muller Pieter Norval	6–4, 7–6
Win	3–1	Apr 1995	Hong Kong, Hong Kong	World Series	Hard	Mark Philippoussis	John Fitzgerald Anders Järryd	6–1, 6–7(2–7), 7–6(7–3)
Win	4–1	Oct 1995	Beijing, China	World Series	Carpet	Sébastien Lareau	Dick Norman Fernon Wibier	7–6, 7–6
Loss	4–2	Nov 1995	Moscow, Russia	World Series	Carpet	Brett Steven	Byron Black Jared Palmer	4–6, 6–3, 3–6
Loss	4–3	Jan 1996	Adelaide, Australia	World Series	Hard	Jonas Björkman	Todd Woodbridge Mark Woodforde	5–7, 6–7

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures Finals

Singles: 8 (4–4)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Oct 1990	Ponte Vedra, United States	Challenger	Hard	Chris Pridham	7–6, 6–4
Loss	1–1	Sep 1991	Bloomfield Hills, United States	Challenger	Hard	Chris Pridham	3–6, 4–6
Win	2–1	Dec 1992	Hong Kong	Challenger	Hard	Greg Rusedski	4–6, 6–4, 7–6
Loss	2–2	Jan 1993	Wellington, New Zealand	Challenger	Hard	Byron Black	4–6, 6–4, 1–6
Loss	2–3	Dec 1993	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Challenger	Hard	Alexander Mronz	1–6, 0–6
Win	3–3	Sep 1994	Singapore, Singapore	Challenger	Hard	Chris Wilkinson	6–3, 6–4
Win	4–3	Mar 1995	Indian Wells, United States	Challenger	Hard	Oliver Gross	6–7, 7–6, 6–2
Loss	4–4	Jul 1997	Flushing Meadows, United States	Challenger	Hard	Gianluca Pozzi	1–6, 4–6

Doubles: 6 (4–2)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	0–1	May 1992	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Challenger	Hard	Patrick Rafter	Jamie Morgan Sandon Stolle	4–6, 6–7
Win	1–1	May 1993	Taipei, Taiwan	Challenger	Hard	Patrick Rafter	Kent Kinnear Kenny Thorne	6–4, 7–6
Win	2–1	Dec 1993	Hong Kong, Hong Kong	Challenger	Hard	Shuzo Matsuoka	Dirk Dier Alexander Mronz	2–3 ret.
Win	3–1	Jun 1994	Weiden, Germany	Challenger	Clay	Nuno Marques	Eyal Ran Gabriel Silberstein	6–3, 6–1
Win	4–1	Jun 1994	Košice, Slovakia	Challenger	Clay	Mikael Tillström	Emanuel Couto Bernardo Mota	7–6, 6–1
Loss	4–2	Jan 1995	Wellington, New Zealand	Challenger	Hard	Kenny Thorne	Mark Knowles Daniel Nestor	6–1, 4–6, 6–7

Performance timelines

Singles

Doubles

References

External links

• Tommy Ho at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Tommy Ho at the International Tennis Federation