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Robert Rhyne Williams (born March 22, 1991) is a former American tennis player and current tennis coach. He played his last ATP match in 2018, and is coaching fellow collegiate player Dominik Koepfer, and Zachary Svajda.
Williams first played on the professional circuit in 2006, but turned full-time professional in July 2011. Williams is the nephew of Mike De Palmer, former ATP pro (Top 35 in Singles, Top 20 in Doubles) who coached Boris Becker from 1994 to 1999. He is the grandson of Mike DePalmer Sr, a coach at University of Tennessee (from 1981 to 1994). His grandfather is a member of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Hall of Fame and is the co-founder of the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy. His career-high ranking was world no. 114.
Rhyne is the grandson of Mike DePalmer Sr., a long time coach at UT (from 1981–94). His grandfather, a member of the ITA Hall of Fame, co-founded the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy. The academy was created to train little Michelle.
Rhyne also played baseball and basketball during his childhood and once considered choosing baseball over tennis.
Rhyne was last coached by his cousin, Christopher Williams. He trained at the USTA headquarter in Boca Raton and shared an apartment with his best friend and former vol teammate, Tennys Sandgren. He enjoys playing golf and fishing during free time. His favorite quote is "Failure to prepare is preparing to fail".
After having back surgery, Williams took up coaching in 2018 at the University of Tennessee, he then began coaching Dominik Koepfer, then in 2022 he was recruited by fellow American Zachary Svajda.
In 2020, he married fellow tennis player Olivia Rogowska.
Junior Achievements in Singles
2008 US Open Junior Tennis Championships Quarterfinalist
2007 Easter Bowl Champion
2007 USTA International Spring Championships Finalist
2006 Jerry Simmons ITF Junior Circuit – South Carolina Champion
Junior Achievements in Doubles
2007 Yucatán World Cup Doubles Champion with Ričardas Berankis
2007 USTA International Spring Championships Finalist with Ryan Lipman
2006 Jerry Simmons ITF Junior Circuit – College Station, Texas Champion with Devin Britton
2006 Costa Rica Bowl Champion with Blake Davis
2005 Chanda Rubin American Junior Tennis Classic – Georgia Finalist with Devin Britton
Rhyne won the USA F16 in Pittsburgh in 2007 at the age of 16 years and 3 months, which made him the youngest U.S. male to win an ITF Men's Circuit event in the United States (however, stats for this are held since 1998). After winning the title, he focused on the pro circuit and didn't play any junior event in 2008 until the US Open Junior Tennis Championships (last junior tournament of his career).
Past coaches include Michelle DePalmer-Williams, Mike DePalmer Sr., Mike DePalmer Jr., Dustin Taylor, Andres Pedroso, Martin Van Daalen.
Since claiming his 1st futures title in 2007, Williams couldn't handle the pressure of turning pro and decided to go to college, "I guess the main reason I went to school was to mature," he recalls. "It gave me a chance to get away from the pressure. I was thinking about it and I started to kind of hating tennis for a while, and I wanted to get away from the pro tennis deal. So I went to school, matured, and started enjoying tennis again."
With his family history, Williams was a sensible fit to the Tennessee program. His grandfather, Mike DePalmer Sr., is the most successful head coach in Volunteer history, and his mother and uncle were both All-Americans in Knoxville. He started out his career with a splash, earning 2010 Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year honors and helping the team to the NCAA finals. He became one of the top singles players in the country as a sophomore in 2010–11. He defeated Steve Johnson of the University of Southern California in the finals of the 2010 USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships to become the third Tennessee player in program history to win the event. The victory boosted Williams to No. 1 nationally in the ITA singles rankings the following January. Williams played at the No. 1 and 2 singles positions during the team season and played doubles with fellow Tennessee native Tennys Sandgren. He concluded his college career by reaching the final of the 2011 NCAA Singles Championship, this time losing to Johnson in three sets.
| {class=wikitable style=font-size:97% !Legend |
| Grand Slam Tournaments (0–0) |
| ATP World Tour Finals (0–0) |
| ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0) |
| ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–0) |
| ATP World Tour 250 Series (0–1) |
| Hard (0–0) |
| Clay (0–0) |
| Grass (0–1) |
| Carpet (0–0) |
| Loss | 0–1 | Jul 2013 | Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, United States | 250 Series | Grass | Tim Smyczek | Nicolas Mahut Édouard Roger-Vasselin | 7–6(7–4), 2–6, 5–10 |
| Grand Slam tournaments | ||||||
| Australian Open | A | 1R | 1R | Q1 | 0–2 | |
| French Open | A | 1R | A | A | 0–1 | |
| Wimbledon | A | Q3 | Q2 | 0–0 | ||
| US Open | 1R | 1R | Q2 | 0–2 | ||
| ATP World Tour Masters 1000 | ||||||
| Indian Wells Masters | 1R | Q1 | 1R | 0–2 | ||
| Miami Masters | A | 1R | Q1 | 0–1 | ||
| Monte Carlo Masters | A | A | A | 0–0 | ||
| Rome Masters | A | A | A | 0–0 | ||
| Madrid Masters | A | A | A | 0–0 | ||
| Canada Masters | A | A | A | 0–0 | ||
| Cincinnati Masters | A | A | A | 0–0 | ||
| Paris Masters | A | A | A | 0–0 | ||
| Career statistics | ||||||
| Tournaments played | 2 | 11 | 4 | 0 !17 | ||
| Year-end ranking | 190 | 130 | 221 | ! | ||
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