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Dan Goldie |
Dan Goldie
Stanford; ATP Pro Player
Stanford Through and Through: Breaking into the ATP top 100 while still in college would set a definitive path for most tennis players, but not Dan Goldie, “I thought of turning pro at that point, but I wanted to stay and finish my education. I really enjoyed school and Stanford had committed a full scholarship to me, so I thought I owed them all 4 years.” A decision made with a clear understanding as to the complexity of being successful on the pro tour, “On the pro circuit you lose a lot, but alternatively, when you are the top collegiate player and everyone wants you to win it’s a different kind of pressure – I wanted to learn from that and use it to become stronger.”
As a child in McLean, Virginia, Goldie was always active in sports, but didn’t take tennis seriously until the age of 13. “At that point I gave up all other sports and focused on tennis exclusively. It was at a late age and I had a lot of ground to make up, but I stayed focused and practiced hard.”
Goldie moved to Northern California in 1982 to attend college, “Stanford was always my first choice; I wanted to go to a school that combined top-rate academics with the best tennis program.” West coast living agreed with Goldie, as he earned All-American three times, was the NCAA Singles Champion in 1986 and member of the NCAA Championship teams in his freshman and senior years (1983 and 1986). He was inducted into the Intercollegiate hall of fame in 2006.
It was during the summers while at Stanford that Goldie earned his notable ranking on the pro circuit. One of his top wins at the time was defeating a world ranked #5 Jimmy Arias. His results were just as impressive once he turned pro full-time and included two ATP singles titles, 1987 Newport, 1988 Seoul; two ATP doubles titles1987 Newport, 1987 Auckland; fourth round 1988 US Open (defeated by Stefan Edberg); fourth round Australian Open 1989 (defeated by Ivan Lendl) and Goldie was a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon in 1989 (again, defeated by Ivan Lendl). Goldie was also an alternate member of the 1989 US Davis Cup Team.
In the three years that he was on the pro tour, Goldie had exciting wins over many of the sports top stars, including, Andre Agassi, Jimmy Arias, Mats Wilander (when ranked #1), Michael Chang, Jimmy Connors (at Wimbledon), Jim Courier, Kevin Curren, Marc Edmonson, Brian Gottfried, Johan Kriek, Tim Mayotte, Eliot Teltscher, Guillermo Vilas and Yanek Noah.
In 1989 Goldie developed stress fractures in both of his shins that never healed and unfortunately ended his pro career, as he explains, “I took 6 months or so off but I wasn’t able to play without pain, so I eventually called it quits. It was time to move on to something else.” Thankful he had that Stanford education; Goldie turned to the business world and today runs an investment advisory business in Menlo Park, CA.
Looking back on that decision at 13 to focus exclusively on tennis, Goldie still feels that he made the right choice, as he says, “Tennis was always my best sport. I liked that it was an individual sport where the results all fell on your shoulders. In tennis, you have control over your own destiny.” And the life lessons that he learned from tennis are incorporated into his everyday life, “Tennis gives you a sense of dedication; you learn how to work, set and achieve goals. It teaches you how to handle success and failure – appropriately – don’t get too excited about success but also don’t worry about failure. You lose a lot as a tennis player so it’s imperative to learn from your losses. The better you can do that the better you can progress – in anything.”