Steve Krulevitz


Steve Krulevitz is a retired American-Israeli right-handed tennis player. His highest singles ranking was No. 42. He competed on the Professional Grand Prix Tennis Circuit for over ten years.

Early life

Steve "Lightning" Krulevitz was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, with dual American-Israeli citizenship, and is Jewish.

Early career

Lightning won the MSA Singles four times and was named to the United States Junior Davis Cup Team. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology from UCLA and was named All-American in 1973.

Professional career

Lightning was among the top 100 players in the world for nine consecutive years. He has participated in 9 Wimbledons, 13 US Opens, 8 French Opens and 2 Australian Opens. He was also an Israeli Davis Cup player from 1978–1980. His career singles titles include Travemunde, Germany and Chichester, England. His career doubles titles include Stowe in 1979, Sarasota in 1979, and Brussels in 1980. He made it to the 3rd round of Wimbledon and the French Open in 1976, and to the 3rd round of the Australian Open in 1979. He won the Gold Medal for the United States at the 1977 Maccabiah Games in Tel Aviv, Israel. In May 1981 Lightning won the Chichester, Great Britain Tournament. In May 1982 he lost in the finals of the Tampere Open, in Finland. Lightning was inducted into the USTA Mid-Atlantic Tennis Hall of Fame in 1993.

Coaching

Lightning's students include Gilad Bloom, Jaime Yzaga, Tom Shimada. Reed Cordish, Patrick Osuna, Derrick "Dodger" Thompson, Jeffrey Chen, Nick "Buttshit" Boucher, and Vince Spadea. He is the varsity tennis head coach at Gilman School, where he led the team to a 12th-place finish at the high school national championships in Kentucky, and a 16th-place finish at the 2016 National Invitational Boys High School Team Tennis Tournament, located in Newport Beach, CA. He also has led the team to six consecutive titles in the MIAA. Lightning holds a weekly summer tennis camp at Gilman school.

Davis Cup

Lightning played #1 for Israel's Davis Cup Team and coached that Davis Cup team as well. Lightning was 4–5 in Davis Cup competition for Israel from 1978–80.