# Van Winitsky

Van Winitsky (born March 12, 1959) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. He achieved a career-high rankings of World No. 7 in doubles in October 1983 and world No. 35 in singles in February 1984.

## Early and personal life

Winitsky was born in Miami, Florida, lived in Lauderhill, Florida, and is Jewish. His father Manny Winitsky was the best player of his age in Florida for 15 years, beginning at age 45. He lives in Delray Beach, Florida. Van attended North Miami Beach Senior High School and won the Florida state high school singles tennis championships as a freshman in 1974.

## Tennis career

Winitsky won Junior Wimbledon, Junior U.S. Open and Junior Nat'l at Kalamazoo, Mich. in singles and doubles in 1977 and won 3 Junior Orange Bowl singles titles. He played college tennis for UCLA for one and a half years, and was an All American. He played on the 1978 U.S. Davis Cup team in with John McEnroe, Brian Gottfried, and Harold Solomon.
Winitsky enjoyed most of his tennis success while playing doubles. During his career, he won 9 ATP Tour doubles titles and finished runner-up an additional 11 times. Partnering Fritz Buehning in doubles, Winitsky finished runner-up at the 1983 US Open. Winitsky also was a quarter finalist in mixed doubles partnering with Rayni Fox Borinsky at the 1980 US Open. He won 3 ATP Tour singles titles and finished runner-up 1 additional time. His titles included 1981 Hong Kong Seiko Open over Mark Edmondson of Australia, 1982 Hollywood Bowl Classic in Guaruja, Brazil over Carlos Kirmayr of Brazil, and 1982 Hilton Head Shipyard WCT over Chris Lewis of New Zealand in the finals. His runner-up finish was the 1978 Cleveland Grand Prix against Peter Feigl of Austria.
At just before 21st birthday, he had surgery that resulted in a 16-inch scar and atrophied muscles. In 1985, he retired from ATP Tour after winning the WTT conference championships for the Miami Beach Breakers.

## Career finals
### Doubles (11 titles, 9 runner-ups)

| Result | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
| Win | 1. | 1978 | Tulsa, U.S. | Hard (i) | Russell Simpson | Carlos Kirmayr Ricardo Ycaza | 4–6, 7–6, 6–2 |
| Win | 2. | 1978 | North Conway, U.S. | Clay | Robin Drysdale | Mike Fishbach Bernard Mitton | 4–6, 7–6, 6–3 |
| Loss | 1. | 1978 | Boston, U.S. | Clay | Heinz Günthardt | Víctor Pecci Balázs Taróczy | 3–6, 6–3, 1–6 |
| Loss | 2. | 1978 | Hartford, U.S. | Carpet | Mark Edmondson | John McEnroe Bill Maze | 3–6, 6–3, 5–7 |
| Win | 3. | 1978 | Buenos Aires, Argentina | Clay | Chris Lewis | José Luis Clerc Belus Prajoux | 6–4, 3–6, 6–0 |
| Loss | 3. | 1980 | Tulsa, U.S. | Hard (i) | Francisco González | Robert Lutz Dick Stockton | 6–2, 6–7, 2–6 |
| Loss | 4. | 1980 | South Orange, U.S. | Clay | Fritz Buehning | Bill Maze John McEnroe | 6–7, 4–6 |
| Win | 4. | 1981 | Washington, D.C., U.S. | Clay | Raúl Ramírez | Pavel Složil Ferdi Taygan | 5–7, 7–6, 7–6 |
| Loss | 5. | 1981 | Indianapolis, U.S. | Clay | Raúl Ramírez | Kevin Curren Steve Denton | 3–6, 7–5, 5–7 |
| Win | 5. | 1981 | Cleveland, U.S. | Hard | Erik van Dillen | Syd Ball Ross Case | 6–4, 5–7, 7–5 |
| Win | 6. | 1981 | Tel Aviv, Israel | Hard | Steve Meister | John Feaver Steve Krulevitz | 3–6, 6–3, 6–3 |
| Loss | 6. | 1981 | Bangkok, Thailand | Carpet | Lloyd Bourne | John Austin Mike Cahill | 3–6, 6–7 |
| Loss | 7. | 1982 | Las Vegas, U.S. | Hard | Carlos Kirmayr | Sherwood Stewart Ferdi Taygan | 6–7, 4–6 |
| Loss | 8. | 1982 | Hilton Head WCT, U.S. | Clay | Alan Waldman | Mark Edmondson Rod Frawley | 1–6, 5–7 |
| Win | 7. | 1982 | Washington, D.C., U.S. | Clay | Raúl Ramírez | Hans Gildemeister Andrés Gómez | 7–5, 7–6 |
| Win | 8. | 1982 | South Orange, U.S. | Clay | Raúl Ramírez | Jai DiLouie Blaine Willenborg | 3–6, 6–4, 6–1 |
| Loss | 9. | 1982 | Hong Kong | Hard | Kim Warwick | Charles Buzz Strode Morris Skip Strode | 4–6, 6–3, 2–6 |
| Loss | 10. | 1983 | Guarujá, Brazil | Hard | Shlomo Glickstein | Tim Gullikson Tomáš Šmíd | 7–5, 6–7, 3–6 |
| Loss | 11. | 1983 | U.S. Open | Hard | Fritz Buehning | Peter Fleming John McEnroe | 3–6, 4–6, 2–6 |
| Win | 9. | 1983 | Dallas, U.S. | Hard | Nduka Odizor | Steve Denton Sherwood Stewart | 6–3, 7–5 |