| Country (sports) |  United States |
|---|---|
| Born | (1933-03-02)2 March 1933 |
| Died | 27 July 2019(2019-07-27) (aged 86) |
| Int. Tennis HoF | 2021(member page) |
| Coaching career | |
Dennis Douglas Van der Meer (2 March 1933 – 27 July 2019) was aSouth West African born, Americantennis administrator, instructor and coach.[1][2]
Van der Meer was born inSouth West Africa as Dennis Douglas van der Merwe, the fourth child of Maria Dorothea van der Merwe (née Hagen) and Isak Jacobus van der Merwe, a minister of religion.[3] He received his schooling atJan van Riebeeck High School inCape Town, South Africa, and in 1950 played for the Western Province junior tennis team. He later also played for the senior Western Province team.[4]
At the age of nineteen, Van der Meer took part in theSouth African Davis Cup trials but was unsuccessful. He then decided to focus on coaching and started working in theJohannesburg area, where he soon made a name for himself.
In 1961 Van der Meer emigrated to the United States where he settled in California and taught at the Berkeley Tennis Club. It was at this time that Dennis changed his surname from Van der Merwe to Van der Meer. In the early 1970s he went to South Carolina where he bought property on Hilton Head Island in order to set up a tennis academy and founded the Van Der Meer TennisUniversity in 1973, the Professional Tennis Registry in 1976, and the Professional Tennis Registry Foundation in 1978.[5]
At the academy he coached numerous players, from junior level to professional. His coaching included assisting bothMargaret Court andBillie Jean King during the "Battle of the Sexes" withBobby Riggs.[2] He also regularly acted as the coach forAmanda Coetzer and under his guidance, Coetzer reached third place in theWTA rankings.[6]
As president of the USPTR, Van der Meer traveled extensively around the world, holding training workshops for coaches under his TennisUniversity business, then certifying them into the USPTR using USPTR testers.
Van der Meer has written several books on tennis coaching, including: