In eleven years of professional tennis, Grant Connell aced his way through many international tennis championships, competing in both singles and doubles play with incredible success.
Active in sport while a teenager, Connell attended school on a tennis scholarship and joined the professional circuit in 1986. During his eleven-year-career, he captured a series of titles in the sport’s most prestigious tournaments and amassed career prize money totalling over $2.8 million. In 1991 Connell won the Canadian national championships in singles and in 1993 he became the only Canadian male to reach number one world ranking, which he accomplished in doubles.
Of the 48 career doubles finals he reached, he captured 22 professional doubles titles including seven national doubles titles and the coveted world doubles championship with Patrick Galbraith of the United States in 1995. The world championship title automatically granted him membership into the Hall of Fame of Canadian Tennis. Other professional highlights include reaching the doubles finals in Grand Slam tournaments at the Australian Open in 1990 and Wimbledon in 1993-94 and 1996.
When he retired from Davis Cup competition in September 1997, Connell held the all-time record of 22 wins in singles and doubles. In his final competitive appearance, he won his doubles match with partner Daniel Nestor with a memorable ace to win the match.