Ray Ruffels

Ray Ruffels

AIS Head Tennis Coach Ray Ruffels in 1981
Full name	Raymond Owen Ruffels
Country (sports)	Australia
Born	(1946-03-23) 23 March 1946 (age 80) Sydney, Australia
Turned pro	1968 (amateur from 1964)
Retired	1980
Plays	Left-handed (one-handed backhand)
Singles
Career record	246–204
Career titles	5
Highest ranking	No. 27 (12 December 1976)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	SF (1968, 1969, 1976)
French Open	4R (1968)
Wimbledon	QF (1967)
US Open	4R (1966)
Doubles
Career record	220–137
Career titles	16
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	W (1977)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Wimbledon	F (1978)
US Open	F (1978)

Raymond Owen "Ray" Ruffels (born 23 March 1946) is an Australian former professional tennis player and coach. During his career he won 5 singles and 16 doubles titles.

Playing career

Ruffels was an Australian Open semi-finalist in 1968, 1969 and 1976, and a quarter-finalist in 1970 and 1977. In 1978, partnering with Billie Jean King in mixed doubles competition, Ruffels reached the final at Wimbledon and the US Open. Ruffels beat newly crowned US Open champion Stan Smith at the Wembley tournament in 1971. He had two wins over Ken Rosewall and one over John Newcombe in ATP events. He won five open era ATP singles titles at Hobart in 1968, Brisbane in 1969, Haverford in 1970, Auckland in 1972 and Perth indoors in 1976.

He was a member of the Australian Davis Cup team in 1968, 1969, 1970, and 1977.

Career finals

Singles: 9 (5 titles / 4 runner-ups)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	0–1	Jan 1968	Perth, Australia	Grass	Bill Bowrey	8–6, 9–11, 2–6, 19-17, 4–6
Win	1–1	Jan 1968	Hobart, Australia	Grass	Graham Stilwell	3–6, 6–8, 7–5, 7-5, 6–2
Win	2–1	Dec 1969	Brisbane, Australia	Grass	Allan Stone	8–6, 4–6, 6–3, 6-3
Win	3–1	Aug 1970	Haverford, US	Grass	Jaime Fillol	6–2, 7–6, 6–3
Win	4–1	Dec 1971	Auckland, New Zealand	Grass	John Alexander	6–4, 6–4, 7–6(5–3)
Loss	4–2	Aug 1972	Cleveland, US	Carpet	Mark Cox	3–6, 6–4, 6–4, 3–6, 4–6
Loss	4–3	Oct 1974	Christchurch, New Zealand	Hard (i)	Roscoe Tanner	4–6, 2–6
Win	5–3	Oct 1976	Perth, Australia	Carpet	Phil Dent	6–0, 4–6, 2–6, 6–3, 6–2
Loss	5–4	Nov 1976	Manila, Philippines	Clay	Brian Fairlie	5–7, 7–6, 6–7

Source: ATP

Doubles: 23 (16 titles / 7 runner-ups)

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Aug 1970	Merion, US	Hard	Bill Bowrey	Jim McManus Jim Osborne	3–6, 6–2, 7–5
Win	2–0	Oct 1970	Phoenix, US	Hard	Dick Crealy	Jan Kodeš Charlie Pasarell	7–6, 6–3
Win	3–0	Nov 1970	Buenos Aires, Argentina	Clay	Bob Carmichael	Željko Franulović Jan Kodeš	7–5, 6–2, 5–7, 6–7, 6–3
Win	4–0	Mar 1971	Auckland, New Zealand	Grass	Bob Carmichael	Brian Fairlie Raymond Moore	6–3, 6–7, 6–4, 4–6, 6–3
Loss	4–1	May 1971	Tehran WCT, Iran	Clay	Bob Carmichael	John Newcombe Tony Roche	4–6, 7–6, 1–6
Loss	4–2	Jul 1971	Washington WCT, US	Clay	Bob Carmichael	Tom Okker Marty Riessen	6–7, 2–6
Win	5–2	Feb 1972	Toronto WCT, Canada	Carpet	Bob Carmichael	Roy Emerson Rod Laver	6–4, 4–6, 6–4
Win	6–2	Apr 1972	Quebec WCT, Canada	Indoor	Bob Carmichael	John Alexander Terry Addison	4–6, 6–3, 7–5
Loss	6–3	Oct 1974	Christchurch, New Zealand		Syd Ball	Ismail El Shafei Roscoe Tanner	W/O
Win	7–3	Jan 1975	Auckland, New Zealand	Grass	Bob Carmichael	Brian Fairlie Onny Parun	7–6, RET.
Win	8–3	Jan 1975	Baltimore WCT, US	Carpet	Dick Crealy	Ismail El Shafei Frew McMillan	6–4, 6–3
Win	9–3	Feb 1975	Dayton Indoor, US	Carpet	Allan Stone	Paul Gerken Brian Gottfried	7–6, 7–5
Loss	9–4	Mar 1975	Orlando WCT, US	Hard	Colin Dibley	Brian Gottfried Raúl Ramírez	4–6, 4–6
Win	10–4	Apr 1975	St. Louis, US	Clay	Colin Dibley	Ross Case Geoff Masters	6–4, 6–4
Win	11–4	Feb 1976	Dayton, US	Carpet	Sherwood Stewart	Jaime Fillol Charlie Pasarell	6–2, 3–6, 7–5
Win	12–4	Mar 1976	Little Rock, US	Carpet	Syd Ball	Giuliano Pecci Haroon Rahim	6–3, 6–7, 6–3
Win	13–4	Aug 1976	Boston, US	Clay	Allan Stone	Mike Cahill John Whitlinger	3–6, 6–3, 7–6
Loss	13–5	Sep 1976	Bermuda	Clay	Dick Crealy	Mike Cahill John Whitlinger	4–6, 6–4, 6–7
Win	14–5	Nov 1976	Bangalore, India	Clay	Bob Carmichael	Chiradip Mukerjea Bhanu Nunna	6–2, 7–6
Loss	14–6	Mar 1977	La Costa WCT, US	Hard	Allan Stone	Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan	4–6, 2–6
Win	15–6	Oct 1977	Perth, Australia	Hard	Allan Stone	Nick Saviano John Whitlinger	6–2, 6–1
Loss	15–7	Dec 1977	Sydney Outdoor, Australia	Grass	Allan Stone	John Alexander Phil Dent	6–7, 6–2, 3–6
Win	16–7	Dec 1977	Australian Open, Melbourne	Grass	Allan Stone	John Alexander Phil Dent	7–6, 7–6

Source: ATP

Coaching career

Ruffels was appointed head national tennis coach of Tennis Australia in 1980. He was appointed the inaugural Head Coach of the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) tennis program in 1981. He held this position until his retirement in January 1990. Whilst at the AIS, Ruffels coached many young players that would have successful professional careers including: Pat Cash, Wally Masur, Darren Cahill, Todd Woodbridge, Richard Fromberg, Simon Youl and Johan Anderson. After leaving the AIS, he coached Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, who as a doubles team won many major titles including the gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

In 2009, he returned to Australia to work at the AIS after being a national coach for the United States Tennis Association player development program in California.

In November 2016, he was awarded The President's Spirit of Tennis by Tennis Australia.

Personal

Ruffels married professional tennis player Anna-Maria Fernandez and they have two children, Ryan and Gabriela; both have taken up golf as a career.

References

External links

• Ray Ruffels at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Ray Ruffels at World Tennis
• Ray Ruffels at the Davis Cup (archived)
• Ray Ruffels at Tennis Australia