Eliot Teltscher

Early years

Teltscher was born in Palos Verdes, California, lives in Irvine, California, and is Jewish.^[1][2] His mother was born in pre-state Israel/British Mandate Palestine, and his father Eric, of Austrian descent, was a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to Israel and joined the British military, ultimately becoming an industrial engineer.^[3][4] He began playing tennis when he was nine, and by the time he was 17, he was ranked in the top ten in the United States junior rankings.^[5]

He attended UCLA in 1978 on a tennis scholarship, where he was an All American, but dropped out to begin his professional tennis career.^[6][1] In the NCAA tournament that year, he was ranked number two and was expected play John McEnroe from Stanford in the final. However, he lost in the quarter-finals to John Sadri of North Carolina State.^[3] That same year he defeated Onny Parun to win the New Zealand Open. He lived in Sebring, Florida.^[4]

Pro career

In January 1978, after Teltscher was eliminated by Ilie Nastase at the $100,000 Baltimore International tennis tournament, Nastase said: "Forget about Jimmy Connors. Teltscher is the best player I’ve played in the United States in years. Put him in the Davis Cup, put him in the World Cup, put him in everything."^[7]

In 1979, Teltscher turned pro. A worldwide top 10 player from 1980–82, he was ranked no lower than #15 from through 1984. He reached his highest singles ATP-ranking on May 7, 1982, when he became ranked #6 in the world.^[3]

He and his partner Terry Moor made it to the finals of the French Open in 1981, and he and Barbara Jordan won the mixed doubles title in 1983.^[6] He made it to the quarterfinals at the US Open in 1980, 1981, and 1983, where each time he was defeated by Jimmy Connors.^[6] He beat Connors, ranked # 8 in the world, in Chicago 6–3, 6–1. He won 10 singles titles during his professional career, which ended in 1988.^[3]

Davis Cup

Teltscher was on the U.S. Davis Cup team in 1982, 1983, and 1985. His team defeated France in the 1982 tournament.^[6]

Grand Slam finals

Men's doubles

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1981	French Open	Clay	Terry Moor	Heinz Günthardt Balázs Taróczy	2–6, 6–7, 3–6

Mixed doubles

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1983	French Open	Clay	Barbara Jordan	Leslie Allen Charles Strode	6–2, 6–3

Singles 24 (10-14)

Outcome	No.	Date	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1.	1978	Atlanta, U.S.	Hard	Stan Smith	6–4, 1–6, 1–2, ret.
Winner	1.	1978	Hong Kong	Hard	Pat Du Pré	6–4, 6–3, 6–2
Winner	2.	1979	Atlanta, U.S.	Hard	John Alexander	6–3, 4–6, 6–2
Runner-up	2.	1980	Birmingham, U.S.	Carpet	Jimmy Connors	3–6, 2–6
Runner-up	3.	1980	New Orleans, U.S.	Carpet	Wojtek Fibak	4–6, 5–7
Winner	3.	1980	Atlanta, U.S.	Hard	Terry Moor	6–2, 6–2
Runner-up	4.	1980	San Francisco, U.S.	Carpet	Gene Mayer	2–6, 6–2, 1–6
Winner	4.	1980	Maui, U.S.	Hard	Tim Wilkison	7–6, 6–3
Runner-up	5.	1980	Republic of China	Carpet	Jimmy Connors	2–6, 4–6
Runner-up	6.	1980	Tokyo Outdoor, Japan	Clay	Ivan Lendl	6–3, 4–6, 0–6
Winner	5.	1981	San Juan, U.S.	Hard	Tim Gullikson	6–4, 6–2
Runner-up	7.	1981	Montreal, Canada	Hard	Ivan Lendl	3–6, 2–6
Winner	6.	1981	San Francisco, U.S.	Carpet	Brian Teacher	6–3, 7–6
Runner-up	8.	1981	Tokyo Outdoor, Japan	Clay	Balázs Taróczy	3–6, 6–1, 6–7(3)
Runner-up	9.	1982	Rome, Italy	Clay	Andrés Gómez	2–6, 3–6, 2–6
Runner-up	10.	1982	Melbourne Indoor, Australia	Carpet	Vitas Gerulaitis	6–2, 2–6, 2–6
Runner-up	11.	1983	La Quinta, U.S.	Hard	José Higueras	4–6, 2–6
Winner	7.	1983	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Andrés Gómez	7–5, 3–6, 6–1
Runner-up	12.	1984	Los Angeles, U.S.	Hard	Jimmy Connors	4–6, 6–4, 4–6
Winner	8.	1984	Brisbane, Australia	Hard	Francisco González	3–6, 6–3, 6–4
Winner	9.	1984	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Vitas Gerulaitis	6–3, 6–1, 7–6
Runner-up	13.	1987	Scottsdale, U.S.	Hard	Brad Gilbert	2–6, 2–6
Winner	10.	1987	Hong Kong	Hard	John Fitzgerald	6–7(6), 3–6, 6–1, 6–2, 7–5
Runner-up	14.	1988	Guarujá, Brazil	Hard	Luiz Mattar	3–6, 3–6

Doubles 14 (4-10)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1.	1978	Columbus, U.S.	Clay	Marcello Lara	Colin Dibley Bob Giltinan	2–6, 3–6
Winner	1.	1979	Tulsa, U.S.	Hard (i)	Francisco González	Colin Dibley Tom Gullikson	6–7, 7–5, 6–3
Runner-up	2.	1979	Atlanta, U.S.	Hard	Steve Docherty	Raymond Moore Ilie Năstase	4–6, 2–6
Winner	2.	1980	New Orleans, U.S.	Carpet	Terry Moor	Raymond Moore Robert Trogolo	7–6, 6–1
Runner-up	3.	1980	Rome, Italy	Clay	Balázs Taróczy	Mark Edmondson Kim Warwick	6–7, 6–7
Runner-up	4.	1980	Columbus, Ohio, U.S.	Hard	Peter Fleming	Brian Gottfried Sandy Mayer	4–6, 2–6
Runner-up	5.	1980	Tokyo Outdoor, Japan	Clay	Terry Moor	Ross Case Jaime Fillol	3–6, 6–3, 4–6
Runner-up	6.	1980	Wembley, England	Carpet	Bill Scanlon	Peter Fleming John McEnroe	5–7, 3–6
Runner-up	7.	1981	San Juan, Puerto Rico	Hard	Tim Gullikson	Tim Mayotte Chris Mayotte	4–6, 6–7
Runner-up	8.	1981	La Quinta, U.S.	Hard	Terry Moor	Bruce Manson Brian Teacher	6–7, 2–6
Runner-up	9.	1981	French Open, Paris	Clay	Terry Moor	Heinz Günthardt Balázs Taróczy	2–6, 6–7, 3–6
Winner	3.	1982	Delray Beach WCT, U.S.	Clay	Mel Purcell	Tomáš Šmíd Balázs Taróczy	6–4, 7–6
Winner	4.	1982	Maui, U.S.	Hard	Mike Cahill	Francisco González Bernard Mitton	6–4, 6–4
Runner-up	10.	1984	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Steve Meister	Tracy Delatte Francisco González	6–7, 1–6