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Wikipedia / David Witt

David Witt (born June 2, 1973) is an American tennis coach and former professional player. He is currently coaching Peyton Stearns. Before that, he coached Aleksandar Kovacevic and is best known as the former long-time coach of Venus Williams and Jessica Pegula. He enjoyed a successful junior career, during which time he won the USTA Boys' 16s Clay, Hard and National Championships and was the top-ranked under-16 in the USTA in 1989. He was also a semifinalist at the US Open Junior Boys Singles event in 1991.

Career

His closest career win on the main tour was in the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Birmingham, Alabama, where he and Brian MacPhie were runners-up in the doubles in 1994. He did win two challenger-level events in his career: Guadalajara, Mexico in 1992 and the Levene Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger at Binghamton, New York in 1997. He retired from professional tennis in 2005.

Coaching

In 2002, while working as the resident pro at the Deerwood Country Club in Jacksonville, Florida, Witt was approached by the Williams sisters to act as a hitting partner during their participation at the Bausch & Lomb Championships at nearby Amelia Island. In 2007, they asked him to accompany them to Charleston, South Carolina for the Family Circle Cup. Since then he acted as a travelling hitting partner for both women, most notably for elder sister Venus. In December 2018, Venus ended the 11-year partnership.

David Witt coached Jessica Pegula from July 2019 to January 2024. In March 2024, Witt began coaching Maria Sakkari, and several months later, in July he started a collaboration with Frances Tiafoe, which ended in October 2025. In January 2026, Aleksandar Kovacevic hired Witt as a coach to start the 2026 season.

ATP career finals

Doubles: 1 (runner-up)

Legend

Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0)

ATP Masters Series (0–0)

ATP Championship Series (0–0)

ATP World Series (0–1)

Finals by surface

Hard (0–0)

Clay (0–1)

Grass (0–0)

Carpet (0–0)

Finals by setting

Outdoors (0–1)

Indoors (0–0)

Result

W–L

Date

Tournament

Tier

Surface

Partner

Opponents

Score

Loss

0–1

Apr 1994

Birmingham, United States

World Series

Clay

Brian MacPhie

Richey Reneberg Christo van Rensburg

6–2, 3–6, 2–6

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 4 (2–2)

Legend

ATP Challenger (2–2)

ITF Futures (0–0)

Finals by surface

Hard (1–2)

Clay (1–0)

Grass (0–0)

Carpet (0–0)

Result

W–L

Date

Tournament

Tier

Surface

Opponent

Score

Loss

0-1

Whistler Mountain, Canada

Challenger

Hard

Fabio Silberberg

5–7, 3–6

Win

1-1

Guadalajara, Mexico

Challenger

Clay

Mark Koevermans

6–4, 6–3

Loss

1-2

Binghamton, United States

Challenger

Hard

Leander Paes

4–6, 2–6

Win

2-2

Binghamton, United States

Challenger

Hard

Brian MacPhie

6–2, 6–4

Doubles: 4 (2–2)

Legend

ATP Challenger (2–1)

ITF Futures (0–1)

Finals by surface

Hard (1–1)

Clay (1–1)

Grass (0–0)

Carpet (0–0)

Result

W–L

Date

Tournament

Tier

Surface

Partner

Opponents

Score

Win

1–0

Winnetka, United States

Challenger

Hard

Brian MacPhie

Doug Flach Wade McGuire

7–5, 6–2

Loss

1–1

Flushing Meadows, United States

Challenger

Hard

Michael Joyce

Geoff Grant Mark Merklein

1–6, 4–6

Win

2–1

Birmingham, United States

Challenger

Clay

Doug Flach

Eyal Erlich Eric Taino

6–4, 7–5

Loss

2–2

USA F11, Orange Park

Futures

Clay

Scott Melville

Levar Harper-Griffith Chris Kwon

5–7, 3–6

Performance timelines

Singles

Tournament

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

SR

W–L

Win %

Grand Slam tournaments

Australian Open

A

A

A

A

Q3

A

A

A

1R

0 / 1

0–1

French Open

A

A

A

Q2

Q3

Q2

A

A

A

0 / 0

0–0

Wimbledon

A

Q1

Q1

Q3

1R

Q2

A

A

Q1

0 / 1

0–1

US Open

1R

1R

Q2

1R

2R

A

A

Q1

Q1

0 / 4

1–4

Win–loss

0–1

0–1

0–0

0–1

1–2

0–0

0–0

0–0

0–1

0 / 6

1–6

ATP Tour Masters 1000

Indian Wells

A

A

A

Q1

Q1

A

A

A

A

0 / 0

0–0

Miami

A

2R

A

Q1

Q3

A

Q1

A

Q1

0 / 1

1–1

Canada

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

Q1

0 / 0

0–0

Cincinnati

A

A

A

Q3

A

A

A

A

A

0 / 0

0–0

Win–loss

0–0

1–1

0–0

0–0

0–0

0–0

0–0

0–0

0–0

0 / 1

1–1

Doubles

Tournament

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

SR

W–L

Win %

Grand Slam tournaments

Australian Open

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

0 / 0

0–0

French Open

A

A

A

1R

A

A

A

A

0 / 1

0–1

Wimbledon

A

A

Q3

Q2

A

A

A

Q1

0 / 0

0–0

US Open

1R

A

3R

2R

A

A

2R

Q1

0 / 4

4–4

Win–loss

0–1

0–0

2–1

1–2

0–0

0–0

1–1

0–0

0 / 5

4–5

ATP Tour Masters 1000

Miami

A

A

Q2

A

A

A

A

A

0 / 0

0–0

Win–loss

0–0

0–0

0–0

0–0

0–0

0–0

0–0

0–0

0 / 0

0–0

References