Dear Friends,

I’m delighted to announce that Paul Goldstein ’94 will be this year’s Commencement speaker.

A native of Rockville, Maryland, Paul had a legendary youth tennis career before and during his years at Sidwell Friends. He captured an unprecedented three consecutive US national championships: Boys’ 16 in 1992, Boys’ 18 in 1993, Boys’ 18 in 1994 and was ranked among the top-10 juniors in the world.

“My journey at Sidwell Friends began in the third grade, and while the campus has evolved since I first stepped onto the Lower School campus, the essence of the experience remains unchanged,” Paul says. “I spent those formative years navigating the challenges of academics and the rigors of athletics, but when I look back, it isn’t the match score or exam grades that stand out most vividly. Instead, it is the enduring strength of the relationships forged within these walls. The friends I made here are the same people I turn to today; they remain my deepest and most meaningful connections, serving as a living testament to the school's unique ability to bind us together.”

Paul enrolled at Stanford in the fall of 1994 and made an immediate impact on a storied program that had won 12 NCAA championships. But his years at Stanford were exceptional ones for the team as he led the Cardinal to a 104-6 overall record while becoming the first player in NCAA history to compete as a starting member of four consecutive national championship teams. During his senior campaign, the team completed the most dominant season in the history of collegiate tennis, outscoring its opponents 173-3 over the course of an undefeated season. Paul was named an All-American in each of his four years and capped his career with a Pac-10 Player of the Year honor in 1998.

After receiving his BA in human biology from Stanford in 1998, Paul began a professional tennis career, eventually reaching a world ranking of No. 58 in singles and No. 40 in doubles. He was a US Open doubles semifinalist in 2005. Paul boasts career singles wins over many notable players, but none more so than Novak Djokovic. Paul defeated Djokovic in the first round of the 2006 Australian Open and remains the last player to defeat Djokovic in the first round of a Grand Slam tournament. For the majority of his professional career, Paul was the highest ranked player in the world with a college degree.

As a sign of the respect he earned among his peers, Paul was elected to serve a two-year term on the 10-member ATP Player Council, representing the interests of more than 1,000 professional tennis players.

Following his retirement from playing professional tennis, Paul served in sales and business development roles at Bloom Energy, a Silicon Valley-based clean energy fuel cell company from 2008-2014.

Paul was named Stanford’s head men’s tennis coach before the 2014-15 season. In his 12 seasons, he has amassed more than 200 wins—second most in the program's history. 

The first-ever two-time recipient of the ITA’s Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sportsmanship and Leadership Award (1997, 1998), Paul was also recognized as the ITA’s Rafael Osuna Sportsmanship Award recipient in 1997. Paul was inducted into the ITA Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame in May 2013.

Paul lives in Menlo Park, California with his wife and fellow Stanford alum, Abbie, and their three children: Sadie, Maggie, and Charlie.

In friendship,

Bryan Garman
Head of School