Scott Barron

Scott Barron was the #1 tennis player in Irish rankings in 1996-98 and 2000. He started playing tennis at about six years of age, and though he played rugby on the wing for his secondary school, St. Michael’s College, Dublin, he chose to concentrate on tennis. His first Davis Cup match was in a qualifier against Morocco in Casablanca in July 1993, beating Mehdi Tahiri, 7-6 6-3, but Ireland lost 2-3. At the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996 the Irish doubles pairing of Barron and Owen Casey received a most unkind draw, being paired against number two seeds, Canadian pair Grant Connell and Daniel Nestor. The Irish duo were beaten, 6-4 6-4. One of Barron’s most memorable matches was against Britain’s Greg Rusedski, then world-ranked #38, in the European team championship in December 1995 in Dublin. Though losing, 7-5 6-2, in three successive games in the first set Barron dropped only one point.

Barron achieved a career-best singles ranking of 263 in the world in March 2001. Barron played in the singles qualifying rounds of both the Australian Open and Wimbledon Championships in 2001, but he never reached the first-round proper of a Grand Slam tournament.