Todd Witsken
Todd Witsken was an American tennis player.
Biography
He was one of eight children born to Marilyn and Henry Witsken in Carmel, Indiana.He specialized in playing doubles and began his professional career in 1985. He was a three-time all-American at the University of Southern California. His career-high rankings were world No. 43 in singles and No. 4 in doubles.
His biggest singles win was at the US Open – Men's singles|1986 US Open], where he beat five-time US Open champion, Jimmy Connors, 6–2, 6–4, 7–5, in their third-round match. It was the first time since 1973 that Connors had failed to reach the US Open semifinals.
In 1989, Witsken lost to Greg Holmes 7–5, 4–6, 6–7, 6–4, 12–14, in the second round at Wimbledon, a match that was the longest men's singles match at Wimbledon, timed at 5 hours 28 minutes, until the record-breaking Isner-Mahut match in 2010.
He was known for using the MAD RAQ - an innovative, three-directionally-strung racket based on the weave of a snowshoe.
Witsken retired just before the 1993 US Open and died from brain cancer on May 25, 1998, at the age of 34.