John-Laffnie de Jager
Country (sports) South Africa
ResidenceErmelo, Transvaal, South Africa
Born (1973-03-17) 17 March 1973
Johannesburg, South Africa
Height1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Turned pro1992
Retired2003
PlaysRight-handed
Prize money$1,357,700
Singles
Career record0–3
Career titles0
0 Challenger, 0 Futures
Highest rankingNo. 313 (12 October 1992)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenQ1 (1993)
Wimbledon1R (1992)
US OpenQ2 (1992)
Doubles
Career record246–258
Career titles7
7 Challenger, 0 Futures
Highest rankingNo. 11 (31 July 2000)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian OpenSF (1993)
French Open2R (1993, 1998)
WimbledonSF (2000)
US OpenSF (1998, 2001)
Other doubles tournaments
Tour FinalsRR (1999)
Olympic GamesSF – 4th (2000)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian OpenF (1997)
French OpenF (1995)
WimbledonQF (1997, 2000)
US OpenSF (1994)
Last updated on: 24 November 2021.

John-Laffnie de Jager (born 17 March 1973) is a South African former tour professional tennis player. A doubles specialist, de Jager reached the semi-finals for three different grand slam tournaments three times in three different years partnering three different fellow South African players. de Jager is the current non-playing captain of the South Africa Davis Cup team.

Career

A native of Ermelo, de Jager turned professional in 1992 during which year he played his only tour singles. He won two of five matches he played on the challenger circuit and reached through qualifying the main draw at Wimbledon, where he lost in the first round to future champion Richard Krajicek, 7–5 6–1 6–2. He played but one other event in singles, a challenger in Dublin in October, before focusing his tennis exclusively on doubles. His career high singles ranking stood at World No. 313, reached in October.

De Jager won back-to-back challenger events in doubles in September 1991, partnering compatriots, in Madeira partnering Byron Talbot and in Jerusalem with Christo van Rensburg. He played some half dozen times with Van Rensburg in 1991-2 and some dozen times, but with limited success, with Johan de Beer. He won two more challenger events the following year, in June partnering Zimbabwean Byron Black and in November with Capetonian Marius Barnard. 1993 saw de Jager reach his first of three grand slam semis, in partnership with yet another South African, Marcos Ondruska. Together they reached the second round at the Roland Garros and the third round at Wimbledon. In October, de Jager reached his first Grand Prix event final, in Lyon partnering still another South African and Capetonian, Stefan Kruger.

1994 saw de Jager reach four grand prix semi-finals, with three different partners (all southern Africans), another final and capture his first grand prix win, in Tel Aviv partnering still another compatriot, Pietermaritzburg native Lan Bale. Aside from a few occasions, most notable of which was a four tournament stint where he partnered Aussie doubles master John Fitzgerald, de Jager and Bale remained a team into 1995. Together they reached the Stuttgart Indoor, Munich, and Italian Open grand prix, but faltered at the French where they went out in the first round. After a third round exit at Wimbledon, and first round exit at Flushing Meadows, the partnership was dissolved in September. The change worked immediately for de Jager as he won his very next tournament, the Toulouse Grand Prix, partnering Swede Jonas Björkman. He again had success in Lyon, reaching the final with star compatriot Wayne Ferreira. Beginning 1996 playing mostly with Gary Muller, de Jager played the late spring and summer with some 10 different partners and without reaching a single event final. His misfortune got worse in the first of half of 1997, where a string of first round loses saw his doubles ranking fall from No. 53 in September 1996 to No. 164 by August 1997. A new partnership with yet another compatriot, this time Robbie Koenig saw de Jager recover his form, with a quarterfinal result at the U.S. Open followed by winning a challenger event and reaching the finals of another. Then with Pretoria's Chris Haggard, he won the following two challengers as well.

De Jager began 1998 partnering Koenig, reaching the semis of the Sydney Outdoor, the third round of the Australian Open, and the second round or better of every tournament but one through Roland Garros, where they reached the third round. Their success continued throughout the summer, culminating in but only de Jager's second grand slam semis appearance, at the 1998 U.S. Open. During the autumn de Jager partnership altered between the one of him and Koenig and a newer one, with yet another South African, David Adams. De Jager played exclusively with Adams for 1999 and the tandem met with success in reaching the finals or better six times in International Series events. This led to their competing in the ATP Doubles Championship, where they lost in the round robin however. The duo had an even year 2000 nevertheless winning back-to-back in February, in Rotterdam and London, in Munich in May, and reaching the semi-finals of Wimbledon. At the Sydney Olympics, they again finished as semi-finalists, for de Jager, for the third and final time. He achieved his career high ranking in doubles at the end of July, at World No. 11.

He reached two Grand Slam finals in mixed doubles. In 1995 he reached the final of the French Open with Jill Hetherington but they lost 6–7 6–7 to Larisa Neiland and Todd Woodbridge. In 1997 he partnered Larisa Neiland to reach the final of the Australian Open, but they lost 3–6, 7–6, 5–7 to Manon Bollegraf and Rick Leach.

Junior Grand Slam finals

Doubles: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-ups)

Result Year Tournament Surface Partnet Opponents Score
Loss1989WimbledonGrassSouth Africa Wayne FerreiraUnited States Jared Palmer
United States Jonathan Stark
6–7(4–7), 6–7(2–7)
Loss1991WimbledonGrassUkraine Andrei MedvedevMorocco Karim Alami
United Kingdom Greg Rusedski
6–1, 6–7(4–7), 4–6
Win1991US OpenHardMorocco Karim AlamiUnited States Michael Joyce
United States Vince Spadea
6–4, 6–7, 6–1

Major finals

Grand Slam finals

Mixed doubles: 2 (2 runners-up)

Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 1995 French Open Clay Canada Jill Hetherington Latvia Larisa Savchenko Neiland
Australia Todd Woodbridge
6–7(8–10), 6–7(4–7)
Loss 1997 Australian Open Hard Latvia Larisa Savchenko Neiland Netherlands Manon Bollegraf
United States Rick Leach
3–6, 7–6(7–5), 5–7

Olympic finals

Doubles: 1

Outcome Year Championship Partner Opponents Score
4th place 2000 Sydney South Africa David Adams Spain Àlex Corretja
Spain Albert Costa
6–2, 4–6, 3–6

ATP career finals

Doubles: 19 (7 titles, 12 runner-ups)

Legend
Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP Masters Series (0–2)
ATP Championship Series (3–2)
ATP World Series (4–8)
Finals by surface
Hard (4–6)
Clay (1–1)
Grass (0–1)
Carpet (2–4)
Finals by setting
Outdoors (2–6)
Indoors (5–6)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 Nov 1992 Moscow, Russia World Series Carpet South Africa Marius Barnard South Africa David Adams
Russia Andrei Olhovskiy
6–4, 3–6, 7–6
Loss 1–1 Oct 1993 Lyon, France World Series Carpet South Africa Stefan Kruger South Africa Gary Muller
South Africa Danie Visser
3–6, 6–7
Loss 1–2 Oct 1994 Basel, Switzerland World Series Hard South Africa Lan Bale United States Jared Palmer
United States Patrick McEnroe
3–6, 6–7
Win 2–2 Oct 1994 Tel Aviv, Israel World Series Hard South Africa Lan Bale Sweden Jan Apell
Sweden Jonas Björkman
6–7, 6–2, 7–6
Win 3–2 Oct 1995 Toulouse, France World Series Hard Sweden Jonas Björkman United States Dave Randall
United States Greg Van Emburgh
7–6, 7–6
Loss 3–3 Oct 1995 Lyon, France World Series Carpet South Africa Wayne Ferreira Switzerland Jakob Hlasek
Russia Yevgeny Kafelnikov
3–6, 3–6
Loss 3–4 Jun 1998 Halle, Germany World Series Grass Germany Marc-Kevin Goellner South Africa Ellis Ferreira
United States Rick Leach
6–4, 4–6, 6–7
Loss 3–5 Oct 1998 Vienna, Austria Championship Series Carpet South Africa David Adams Russia Yevgeny Kafelnikov
Czech Republic Daniel Vacek
5–7, 3–6
Loss 3–6 Feb 1999 Dubai, United Arab Emirates World Series Hard South Africa David Adams Zimbabwe Wayne Black
Australia Sandon Stolle
6–4, 1–6, 4–6
Win 4–6 Feb 1999 Rotterdam, Netherlands Championship Series Carpet South Africa David Adams United Kingdom Neil Broad
Australia Peter Tramacchi
6–7, 6–3, 6–4
Loss 4–7 May 1999 Rome, Italy Masters Series Clay South Africa David Adams South Africa Ellis Ferreira
United States Rick Leach
7–6, 1–6, 2–6
Loss 4–8 Aug 1999 Washington, United States Championship Series Hard South Africa David Adams United States Justin Gimelstob
Canada Sébastien Lareau
5–7, 7–6, 3–6
Loss 4–9 Oct 1999 Toulouse, France World Series Carpet South Africa David Adams France Olivier Delaître
United States Jeff Tarango
6–3, 6–7, 4–6
Loss 4–10 Oct 1999 Stuttgart, Germany Masters Series Hard South Africa David Adams Zimbabwe Byron Black
Sweden Jonas Björkman
7–6, 6–7, 0–6
Win 5–10 Feb 2000 Rotterdam, Netherlands Championship Series Hard South Africa David Adams United Kingdom Tim Henman
Russia Yevgeny Kafelnikov
5–7, 6–2, 6–3
Win 6–10 Feb 2000 London, United Kingdom Championship Series Hard South Africa David Adams United States Jan-Michael Gambill
United States Scott Humphries
6–3, 6–7(7–9), 7–6(13–11)
Win 7–10 May 2000 Munich, Germany International Series Clay South Africa David Adams Belarus Max Mirnyi
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Nenad Zimonjić
6–4, 6–4
Loss 7–11 Sep 2001 Shanghai, China International Series Hard South Africa Robbie Koenig Zimbabwe Byron Black
Japan Thomas Shimada
2–6, 6–3, 5–7
Loss 7–12 Mar 2002 San Jose, United States International Series Hard South Africa Robbie Koenig Zimbabwe Wayne Black
Zimbabwe Kevin Ullyett
3–6, 6–4, [5–10]

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Doubles: 9 (7–2)

Legend
ATP Challenger (7–2)
ITF Futures (0–0)
Finals by surface
Hard (5–1)
Clay (1–0)
Grass (0–1)
Carpet (1–0)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Jul 1991 Newcastle, United Kingdom Challenger Grass South Africa Christo van Rensburg United Kingdom Nicholas Fulwood
Sweden Peter Nyborg
6–7, 1–6
Win 1–1 Sep 1991 Madeira, Portugal Challenger Hard South Africa Byron Talbot Zimbabwe Byron Black
United States T. J. Middleton
2–6, 7–6, 6–4
Win 2–1 Oct 1991 Jerusalem, Israel Challenger Hard South Africa Christo van Rensburg Nigeria Nduka Odizor
United States Bryan Shelton
6–2, 6–4
Win 3–1 Jun 1992 Turin, Italy Challenger Clay Zimbabwe Byron Black United States T. J. Middleton
United States Ted Scherman
6–4, 6–2
Win 4–1 Oct 1997 Sedona, United States Challenger Hard South Africa Robbie Koenig United States Adam Peterson
United States Eric Taino
6–2, 6–2
Loss 4–2 Oct 1997 Brest, France Challenger Hard South Africa Robbie Koenig United States Dave Randall
United States Jack Waite
6–3, 6–7, 4–6
Win 5–2 Nov 1997 Aachen, Germany Challenger Hard South Africa Chris Haggard United States Dave Randall
United States Jack Waite
3–6, 6–1, 7–6
Win 6–2 Nov 1997 Neumünster, Germany Challenger Carpet South Africa Chris Haggard Germany Lars Burgsmüller
Germany Markus Hantschk
6–3, 6–1
Win 7–2 Aug 2001 Lexington, United States Challenger Hard South Africa Robbie Koenig Australia Paul Kilderry
United States Jack Waite
7–6(7–1), 7–5

Performance timelines

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Doubles

Tournament199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003SRW–LWin %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A SF 2R 1R 2R 1R 3R 3R 2R A 1R 2R 0 / 10 12–10 55%
French Open A 2R 1R 1R 1R 1R 2R 1R 1R A 1R A 0 / 9 2–9 18%
Wimbledon 2R 3R 1R 3R 1R 2R 3R 3R SF 2R 2R 1R 0 / 12 16–12 57%
US Open 1R 1R 3R 1R 2R QF SF 2R 1R QF A 1R 0 / 11 14–11 56%
Win–loss 1–2 7–4 3–4 2–4 2–4 4–4 9–4 5–4 5–4 4–2 1–3 1–3 0 / 42 44–42 51%
National Representation
Summer Olympic Games A Not Held A Not Held 4th Not Held 0 / 1 3–2 60%
Year-end Championships
ATP World Tour Finals Did not qualify RR DNQ 0 / 1 0–3 0%
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells A A SF 2R QF A 1R 1R QF 1R 1R A 0 / 8 8–8 50%
Miami A A 2R 3R 1R 2R 1R 2R 3R QF 2R A 0 / 9 7–9 44%
Monte Carlo A A SF QF 1R A A 1R 2R 1R 1R A 0 / 7 6–7 46%
Rome A 1R SF SF 1R Q1 1R F 1R A 1R A 0 / 8 10–8 56%
Hamburg A A 2R 1R QF A 2R 2R 1R A A A 0 / 6 5–6 45%
Canada A 1R A A A A 1R SF QF A A A 0 / 4 5–4 56%
Cincinnati A 2R 1R 2R A A 2R QF 1R A A A 0 / 6 5–6 45%
Stuttgart A A A A QF A 1R F 2R A A A 0 / 4 5–4 56%
Paris A Q3 1R 2R A A 1R 2R QF A A A 0 / 5 3–5 38%
Win–loss 0–0 1–3 11–7 9–7 6–6 1–1 2–8 14–9 7–9 2–3 1–4 0–0 0 / 57 54–57 49%

Mixed doubles

Tournament19931994199519961997199819992000200120022003SRW–LWin %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open A 1R 2R SF F A 1R 2R A A A 0 / 6 9–6 60%
French Open 1R 1R F 3R A QF 3R SF A A A 0 / 7 12–7 63%
Wimbledon 2R 1R 2R 1R QF 1R 2R QF 2R 1R 2R 0 / 11 11–11 50%
US Open A SF 1R 2R A 2R QF A A A A 0 / 5 7–5 58%
Win–loss 1–2 3–4 7–4 5–4 7–2 3–3 4–4 7–3 1–1 0–1 1–1 0 / 29 39–29 57%
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