John-Patrick Smith

John-Patrick Tracey "JP" Smith (born 24 January 1989) is an Australian professional tennis player who competes on the ATP Tour, specializing in doubles.

Other male athletes from Tennessee to earn this honor at the time included baseball star Todd Helton (1995) and football wide receiver Larry Seivers (1977).

In April, Smith won the US F11, defeating Pedro Zerbini 6–2, 6–0 in the final.

A month after his college career ended, Smith became the first Vol since Peyton Manning in 1998 to be voted SEC Athlete of the Year by conference athletic directors.

He attended the University of Tennessee from 2007 through 2011 where he was a four-time All-American and made it to the college No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles.

Knoxville became Smith's home away from home when he enrolled at the University of Tennessee in August 2007.

It was on those campus' hardcourts that he became one of the most prolific athletes in Tennessee and Intercollegiate Tennis Association history.

Coached by Sam Winterbotham and American former tennis star Chris Woodruff, Smith became a mainstay in the college top 10 in singles and doubles while helping the Volunteers to their best four-year period in program history.

Smith played No. 1 in the singles and doubles lineups nearly his entire career.

Smith enjoyed his best season as a junior in 2009–10.

He swept the singles and doubles titles at the 2009 ITA All-American Championships, one of college tennis' "Grand Slams."

In addition to being ranked No. 1 in singles, he also held the No. 1 ITA national doubles ranking during portions of the 2009, 2010 and 2011 seasons.

He was part of the ITA National Doubles Team of the Year with Davey Sandgren in 2009 and Boris Conkic in 2011.

He was voted the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year in 2010 and 2011 as a junior and senior.

As a team, Tennessee won the conference title both those years and reached the NCAA final in 2010.

Smith eventually became the Vols' career combined wins leader with 298 (152 singles wins, 146 doubles wins).

He was consistently among the top tennis players year in, year out.

He finished his career as the second player in college tennis history to earn singles and doubles ITA All-America honors all four years of his career, joining eventual world No. 1 doubles player Rick Leach of Southern California.

His superb play during the fall's individual tournament season helped eventual propel Smith to the No. 1 national singles ranking on 17 April 2010.

He reached the NCAA finals in doubles with Sandgren in 2010 and 2011.

One of Smith's major career accomplishments at Tennessee came off the court entirely.

He earned his undergraduate degree in economics in May 2011.

He was an academic award winner for the Vols, year in, year out.

He earned an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and was a three-time ITA Academic Scholar Athlete.

In July 2012, Smith won the Winnetka Challenger against Ričardas Berankis 3–6, 6–3, 7–6 in the final.

This was his first Challenger title, which he also had to qualify.

In 2013, Smith competed mostly on the Challenger Tour.

His first title came on 25 August at the Canada F6, where he defeated Ante Pavić 3–6, 6–4, 6–3 in the final

Smith also enjoyed a successful week in Tiburon; with his quarterfinal finish he vaulted 15 spots to a new career-high ranking of No.208.

Smith made the second round of qualifying before losing to Denis Kudla in straight sets.

He qualified for Indian Wells but lost in round one to Robin Haase.

Smith made the final of the Taipei Challenger, losing to Gilles Müller 3–6, 3–6.

This increased his ranking to a career high of No. 181.

He lost in the first round of Wimbledon qualifying to Farrukh Dustov.

In the two Traralgon ATP Challenger events, Smith lost in the semifinal to Bradley Klahn in 1 and in the quarterfinal to Ben Mitchell in 2.

Smith ended 2014 with a ranking of 201.

Smith reached his highest ATP singles ranking of No. 108 on 28 September 2015, and his highest ATP doubles ranking of No. 52 on 11 September 2017.

In December, Smith narrowly missed out on a wildcard into the 2015 Australian Open, losing in the final of the Australian play off to Jordan Thompson 1–6, 3–6, 6–1, 7–6, 7–9.

In 2019, he reached the final of the Australian Open mixed doubles alongside fellow Aussie Astra Sharma.

Smith married long-time girlfriend Lauren Zuckerman in December of 2023.