Clay Thompson

Clarence Alley "Clay" Thompson IV (born May 4, 1992) is an American former professional tennis player.

Thompson captured his first national ball (bronze), by taking 3rd place in the 2007 USTA Winter SuperNationals in the Boys’ 16s division.

In 2007, his freshman year at Crossroads, Thompson led the Roadrunners to their first Boys’ Tennis CIF Championship in school history.

Thompson then completed his collection of national balls with a silver and gold ball at the 2008 Easter Bowl, losing to Jack Sock 6–4, 3–6, 7–6 (4) in the singles final and claiming the doubles title only hours later.

Thompson also claimed the CIF Boys’ Singles Championship in 2009, becoming Crossroads School's first individual boys’ tennis state champion.

It was around this time that Thompson's talent was noticed and he was offered a contract to graduate high school early, forgo college and go straight onto the professional tour.

Citing his desire for a proper education, a career after tennis and also the social element of finishing his senior year of Crossroads, Thompson declined.

Later on that year he committed to play for the UCLA Bruins.

Thompson had an immediate impact for the UCLA Bruins, slotting in at #3 singles his freshman year, where he led the team in dual match wins at 23–10.

He collected his first All-Pac 10 Player of the Week award when he clinched the 3-3 deciding match at Baylor University, and continued with several more accolades that year, including multiple Muscle Milk Student-Athlete of the Week honors.

Thompson kicked off his sophomore campaign as the #2 singles player, behind 5th year senior Nicolas Meister.

Thompson was born in Venice, CA, and attended 6-12th grade at Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences in Santa Monica, CA.

He was a top-ranked national junior and ended his high school career as the #3 recruit in the country, choosing to play for Billy Martin at UCLA.

He checked in at a high of #35 in the ITA singles rankings and was an integral part of the Bruins’ Final Four appearance at the 2012 NCAA Tournament and Pac-12 championship run.

Clay loves to tell a story about his sophomore year:

“My sophomore year, I was slotted in at the #2 position in the beginning of the year.

Meister played #1 and we were very deep across the board.

We had a shot of winning the title that year, but one major obstacle stood in our way, Steve Johnson and USC.

Don’t think I need to go into detail about how good Stevie was, but to put it bluntly he was unbeatable in college tennis.

"As USC was our biggest competition in pursuit of an NCAA and Pac-12 title, we had to figure out a way to beat them. Playing #2 for USC was Raymond Sarmiento, someone who has owned me for my entire life since playing in the 8 and unders. Raymond was unbeatable for me, he had such a mental advantage, probably having beaten me upwards of 15/16 times with me never getting a victory. I played him in our first match against USC and lost, Nick lost to Stevie and we lost the match. Billy Martin wanted to change something, so he put me at #1 and Nick at #2 for the next match, I lost to Stevie in ~40 minutes but Nick beat Raymond and we won the match. Furious, Peter Smith protested the lineup and stated that in no world am I the number 1 player for UCLA and we only did it to stack and give Nick the best chance to beat Raymond. The Pac-12 committee decided that Peter was right and moved me back to #2 for our Pac-12 championships.

My pride had been wounded and as I took the court against Raymond in Ojai, CA in front of hundreds of fans, I felt something different that day.

I beat Raymond in straight sets for the first time in my life and in Vitas Gerulaitis fashion, said at the net, “No one beats Clay Thompson 17 times in a row.”"

Coming into Thompson’s junior year, the Bruins were heavily favored to be a national championship contender.

Following a minor back injury, Thompson began the year at #5 singles and finished the season with a 22-4 overall singles record The Bruins had a strong year, winning both the PAC-12 regular season and tournament before going all the way to the NCAA Finals where they lost to Virginia, after having match points during the very famous “net touch” - when UCLA captain Adrien Puget thought he had won the championship for the Bruins before having the point called back due to his touching of the net with his foot.

After this year as a whole, Thompson matured significantly.

Dealing with his injury, Clay shared, “Taking that much time off really opened my eyes,” Thompson said.

“I realized how much tennis had done for me, put into perspective how privileged I am through this sport, and made me really honor it a lot more, and really take it seriously.”

Thompson's change in mindset inspired him to work harder than before over the summer.

He began the summer by traveling to France with teammate, Adrien Puget, where he competed in three ITF tournaments.

After returning from this trip, teammate Marcos Giron noted a difference in Thompson's demeanor.

“I was practicing with (Clay) way more over this past summer, and I could see that there was something different about him,” said Giron.

During his tenure at UCLA, Thompson earned a BFA in creative writing with a minor in Film/TV, and during the entirety of his 2014 senior season, was the #1 ranked NCAA tennis player.

Thompson holds a 119–35 record, one of the highest number of wins for a UCLA player in the school's history.

Thompson enjoyed a brief career on the ATP Tour, reaching a high singles ranking of #408 in the world, during which he amassed a cult following as a charismatic and fun player to watch.

Thompson also participates in various charity events and has been a positive influence in the Los Angeles tennis community.

Following his own playing career, Thompson returned to professional tennis as the coach for fellow Crossroads alumnus Nicole Gibbs.

Beginning in 2016, Thompson has been involved with a number of companies as an investor, advisor, and consultant.

Notable companies include Snapchat, Jaunt, K-Swiss, and Tennacity.

In June 2020, Thompson announced that he was co-founding and leading MProoV, a self-improvement platform and marketplace.

From age 13–18, Thompson was a perennial “Top 5” national player in both singles and doubles.