FOLLOW @MALWASHINGTON ON TWITTER

So far, the Black Tennis Month project has been a definite labor of love - I've very much enjoyed putting these profiles together, and I've gotten great feedback from the people who have checked it out. Hopefully, these entries have been enjoyable for both fans and non-fans alike; a trip down memory lane for some, a chance to learn something new for others.

Normally, I've been presenting my posts without much of an agenda - I've simply been picking a player to highlight, detailing a bit of their story, and that's that. However, with this profile, I definitely have an agenda (cleverly and wittingly concealed in the title of this post). More on that later, though - let's get into today's Black Tennis Month entry.

MaliVai (pronounced Mal-uh-vee-uh) Washington was born on June 20th, 1969 in Glen Cove, NY. Information on how his early years and how he picked up the game seems to be a bit sparse, other than the fact that it appears that he began playing the sport at the age of five. (He also has a younger sister, Mashona, who played on the WTA tour for a brief period.) What he is best known for in his pre-professional career is for the two years he spent at the University of Michigan, in 1988 and 1989. He helped lead Michigan to the Big Ten Conference Championship in 1988, and by the end of his sophomore season in 1989, he was the #1 ranked collegiate player in the entire NCAA. This success encouraged Mal to try his hand at the big leagues, and he decided to forgo his last two years of college to turn professional.

Though Mal didn't rack up sheer amounts of trophies the way some of the other entries in this list did, he still had a successful professional career. His earliest notable result came in August of 1990, when, as a player ranked 103rd and having only one top-30 win in his career up to that point, he stunned Ivan Lendl, 6-2, 6-3, in the second round of a tournament in New Haven. Had Lendl won the match, it would have allowed him to reclaim the #1 ranking he'd lost to Stefan Edberg the previous week. Washington and Lendl also faced each other in the second round of Wimbledon in 1991, where Washington took a two sets to love lead, before Lendl ultimately came back to triumph in five sets. 1992 was the best sustained season of Mal's pro career; he reached six tour finals and was the victor in two of them. He peaked just outside of the world's top ten in the rankings, hitting #11 not long after reaching the round of 16 at the U.S. Open, where he lost to Michael Chang in five sets.

In spite of his 1992 successes, however, Mal is best known for his deepest run to Grand Slam glory at the game's biggest tournament - his run to the finals of the 1996 edition of Wimbledon. Prior to that year's Wimbledon, Mal's best result at a major had been a quarterfinal finish at the 1994 Australian Open, and he had never been past the second round at Wimbledon in six previous attempts. Yet Mal caught fire at the right time that year. Ranked 20th that year, he was unseeded (he would have been seeded in today's climate), and not considered among the favorites for the title. Aided by a series of upsets in other sections of the draw, Washington defeated the #9 seed, Thomas Enqvist, in straight sets in the second round, and made his way to the quarterfinals, where he saved two match points to defeat Alex Radulescu in five sets. Waiting for him in the semifinals was the #13 seed Todd Martin, already a mainstay in the later rounds of majors at that point in his career, and a heavy favorite to win. Martin took a 5-1 lead in the fifth set of the contest and served for the match on two occasions, coming within two points of winning, but Washington was able to fight back and eventually claimed the match, 10-8. Martin later admitted to getting tight at the finish line, but either way, coming back from 1-5 down is no joke, especially considering that he still had to hold serve to stay in the match at 4-5, after recovering both breaks. ANY tiny letup there and the match could have easily gone the other way, so credit where credit is due.

Waiting in the final for Washington was Richard Krajicek (pronounced "Cry-check" for the unfamiliar), who had overcome the three-time defending champion (and eventual seven-time champ) Pete Sampras in the quarterfinals, and was riding a hot serving streak. (And speaking of streaking - this final is best known for a streaker who galloped across Centre Court before the match started. Hey, I HAD to mention it.) Eventually, the magic ran out; Krajicek's powerful serves and groundstrokes were too much for Mal to handle, and he lost, 6-3, 6-4, 6-3. Still, with the result, he became the first male of black descent to reach the finals of a major since Yannick Noah's Roland Garros title in 1983, and the only other black man besides Arthur Ashe to reach the final of tennis' most hallowed ground. To date, he is the last black American male player to reach the finals of any of the four Grand Slams.

Sadly, Mal was not able to capitalize on this momentum, despite his run to the final pushing his ranking up to #12, only one spot off of his career high. In fact, his run to the finals at Wimbledon ended up being the last time he played at the tournament (which, in hindsight, is not a bad way to go out). A seemingly minor knee injury suffered in a Davis Cup match in early 1997 ended up developing into a serious problem, and it curtailed the rest of his career, leading to his eventual retirement in 1999.

HERE'S where I get into my agenda. Since his retirement, Mal worked as a commentator and online writer for ESPN in the early 2000s, and eventually turned his focus towards real estate, going back to the University of Michigan to get his degree and now owns a successful business in Florida. My beef? I happened to discover his Twitter feed not too long ago and was stunned to learn that this man has less than a thousand followers on Twitter - as I write this, he has 889. You've got to be kidding me. THIS MAN WAS A WIMBLEDON GODDAMN FINALIST! How could his profile have slipped THAT low? Do you know how many idiotic Twitter accounts there are that have thousands upon thousands of followers? Perhaps more importantly, do you know how many successful tour players never even sniffed a Wimbledon final? For all of his successes as a black American tennis player a few years later, James Blake never even got past the third round at Wimbledon. Mats Wilander, winner of seven majors in the 1980s, never went past the quarters. Tim Henman, Britain's greatest hope before Andy Murray? Stopped in four semifinals. I could continue to name players and go on and on, but I think making the finals of Wimbledon is a pretty big deal - he can at LEAST get to a thousand followers, come on. He doesn't seem to tweet much, but by all accounts seems to be a pretty thoughtful dude - give him a follow! Here's a convenient link for you. Let's see if I can get him to a thousand followers. Hell, if I get 11 people to follow him, I'll consider this a major life accomplishment.

FOLLOW @MALWASHINGTON ON TWITTER!