Bryan Shelton

Country (sports)	USA
Residence	Gainesville, Florida[1]
Born	(1965-12-22) December 22, 1965 (age 52) Huntsville, Alabama
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[2]
Turned pro	1989
Retired	1997
Plays	Right-handed[2] (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	US$1,220,283[2]
Singles
Career record	104–137
Career titles	2
Highest ranking	No. 55 (March 23, 1992)[2]
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	2R (1991)
French Open	2R (1994)
Wimbledon	4R (1994)
US Open	2R (1989)
Doubles
Career record	94–129
Career titles	2
Highest ranking	No. 52 (February 28, 1994)[2]
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	2R (1991, 1994)
French Open	3R (1990)
Wimbledon	3R (1994)
US Open	2R (1992, 1993, 1994)

Bryan Shelton (born December 22, 1965) is an American college tennis coach and former professional tennis player. Shelton played collegiately for Georgia Tech from 1985 to 1988, and then played professionally from 1989 to 1997.^[1] He subsequently returned to his alma mater to coach the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets women's tennis team,^[1][3] which won the NCAA Women's Tennis Championship in 2007.^[4][5][6] He is currently the head coach of the Florida Gators men's tennis team of the University of Florida.

Early years[edit]

Shelton was born in Huntsville, Alabama. For high school, he attended Randolph School in Huntsville.^[7] He played for the Randolph Raiders men's tennis team, and won the Alabama high school singles championship as a senior in 1984.

College career[edit]

Shelton accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, where he played for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets men's tennis team from 1985 to 1988. Shelton was the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) champion in singles in 1985, and he and teammate Richy Gilbert were the ACC champions in doubles 1986.^[1] He was recognized as an All-ACC selection during each of his four seasons as a Yellow Jacket, and was named an All-American in 1988.^[1] Shelton won the United States Amateur Championships in 1985.^[8] He graduated from Georgia Tech with a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering in 1989, and was inducted into the Georgia Tech Athletics Hall of Fame in 1993.

Professional career[edit]

Shelton won two singles titles (Newport, 1991 and 1992) during his professional career. He also reached the mixed doubles final at the 1992 French Open, partnering Lori McNeil. The right-hander reached his highest individual ranking on the ATP Tour on March 23, 1992, when he became number 55 in the world; his highest doubles ranking, 52, occurred on February 28, 1994. He was inducted to the Huntsville-Madison County Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006.^[9]

Coaching[edit]

Shelton officially retired from the professional tour in 1997,^[1] and was named a United States Tennis Association (USTA) National Coach, a position he held from January 1998 until June 1999.^[1] Shelton coached MaliVai Washington, a 1996 Wimbledon finalist.^[1]

Shelton became head coach of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets women's tennis team in July 1999.^[1] In his first season as coach at Georgia Tech, his team went to the second round of the NCAA tournament, upsetting the No. 25 Washington Huskies before falling to the No. 9 UCLA Bruins.^[10] He was named ACC Coach of the Year in 2002,^[1] 2005,^[1][11] and 2007.^[12] His 2007 team won the Yellow Jackets' third-straight ACC Championship.^[12] They then won Georgia Tech's first NCAA-recognized team championship on May 22, 2007, by defeating UCLA in the finals of the NCAA Women's Tennis Championship.^[4][5][6] Prior to his coaching tenure, the Georgia tech women's tennis team had never qualified for the NCAA tournament. Shelton was named the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Coach of the Year in 2007.^[13]

On June 8, 2012, the University of Florida announced that Shelton had been hired as the new head coach of the Florida Gators men's tennis team.^[14]

Coaching Record^[15][edit]

ATP Tour titles (4)[edit]

Singles wins (2)[edit]

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	July 8, 1991	Newport, U.S.	Grass	Javier Frana	3–6, 6–4, 6–4
2.	July 6, 1992	Newport, USA	Grass	Alex Antonitsch	6–4, 6–4

Singles finalist (1)[edit]

• 1993: Atlanta (lost to Jacco Eltingh) 6–7¹ 2–6

Doubles titles (2)[edit]

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponents in the final	Score
1.	February 21, 1994	Mexico City, Mexico	Clay	Francisco Montana	Luke Jensen Murphy Jensen	6–3, 6–4
2.	December 30, 1996	Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Patrick Rafter	Todd Woodbridge Mark Woodforde	6–4, 1–6, 6–3

Doubles finalist (1)[edit]

• 1990: Newport (partnering Todd Nelson, lost to Darren Cahill / Mark Kratzmann) 6–7 2–6

Singles performance timeline[edit]

A = did not participate in the tournament

SR = the ratio of the number of tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played

See also[edit]

• Florida Gators


• History of the University of Florida


• Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets


• List of Georgia Institute of Technology athletes


• Roland Thornqvist


• University Athletic Association

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• 
  Bryan Shelton at the Association of Tennis Professionals
  


• 
  Bryan Shelton at the International Tennis Federation
  


• 
  Bryan Shelton – Georgia Tech profile at RamblinWreck.com


• 
  Bryan Shelton – University of Florida profile at GatorZone.com at Archive.is (archived January 24, 2013)