|
Major Professional Tennis Tournaments Before The Open Era
Before the advent of the Open era of tennis competitions in April 1968, only amateurs were allowed to compete in established tournaments, including the four majors. There was no prize money and players were compensated for travel expenses only. However many top tennis players turned professional to play legally for prize money in the years before the open era. They played in separate professional events, mostly on tours involving head-to-head competition, but also in professional tournaments as the biggest events on the pro tour. Professional tournaments, in particular the professional majors, usually only had a men's draw. Professional majors In addition to the head-to-head tours, there were also major pro events, where the world's top professional male players often played. These tournaments held with a certain tradition and longevity. According to Ellsworth Vines, "the Wembley tournament in London..., the U.S. professional championship, and to some extent the tournament in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tennis Open Era
The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Birmingham, England now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today as a separate sport with more complex rules. Most rules of (lawn) tennis derive from this precursor and it is reasonable to see both sports as variations of the same game. Most historians believe that tennis was originated in the monastic cloisters in northern France in the 12th century, but the ball was then struck with the palm of the hand; hence, the name jeu de paume ("game of the palm"). It was not until the 16th century that Racket (sports equipment), rackets came into use, and the game began to be called "tennis." It was popular in England and France, and Henry VIII of England was a big fan of the game, now referred to as real tennis. Many original tennis courts remain, including courts at Oxford, Cambridge, Falkland Palace in Fife where Mary Queen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martin Plaa
Martin Plaa (12 March 1901 – 29 March 1978) was a professional tennis player from France who had success as a pro in the early 1930s. Plaa worked for some years in the late 1920s (timing uncertain) as the then very successful French Davis Cup team coach. During the 1930s Plaa competed on the professional tour, amongst the world elite. Among his achievements are the 1931 French Pro singles title, defeating countryman Robert Ramillon. Plaa also reached the finals in 1932 and 1934, but was defeated by Ramillon and Tilden respectively. In 1932 he won the singles title at the World professional championships in Berlin, where he defeated both Tilden and Hans Nüsslein Hans "Hanne" Nüsslein (; 31 March 1910 – 28 June 1991) was a German tennis player and coach and former World professional number 1 tennis player who won four professional Majors singles titles during his career. Biography Nüsslein was bo .... As a pro, Plaa was ranked as high as World No. 1 by his riva ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pancho Segura
Francisco Olegario Segura (June 20, 1921 – November 18, 2017), better known as Pancho "Segoo" Segura, was a leading tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s, both as an amateur and as a professional. He was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, but moved to the United States in the late 1930s. Throughout his amateur career he was listed by the USTA as a "foreign" player resident in the U.S. As a professional player, he was referred to as the "Ecuadorian champ who now lives in New York City". After acquiring U.S. citizenship in 1991 at the age of seventy, Segura was a citizen of both countries, although he never represented the U.S. in tennis competition. He is the only player to have won the Cleveland/Forest Hills US Pro and International Pro titles on three different surfaces (which he did consecutively from 1950–1952). He won the inaugural professional Tournament of Champions at Sydney in 1957. He won the L. A. Masters tournament in 1958. In 1950, 1951, and 1952, as a profession ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Kramer
John Albert Kramer (August 1, 1921 – September 12, 2009) was an American tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s. He won three Grand Slam tournaments (the U.S. Championships in 1946 and 1947, Wimbledon in 1947). He led the U.S. Davis Cup tennis team to victory in the 1946 and 1947 Davis Cup finals. Kramer won the U.S. Pro Championship at Forest Hills in 1948 and the Wembley Pro Championships in 1949. He won world professional championship 2-man tours in 1948 (against Riggs), 1949/50 (against Gonzales), 1950/51 (against Segura), and 1953 (against Sedgman). He was ranked world No. 1 amateur player for 1946 by Pierre Gillou, Harry Hopman and Ned Potter. He was ranked World No. 1 amateur player for 1947 by John Olliff, Pierre Gillou and Ned Potter. In 1948 he was ranked the U.S. No. 1 professional in the USPLTA contemporary rankings for U.S. pro tennis play. Some recent tennis writers have considered Kramer to be the World No. 1 player from 1946 to 1953, spanning his last amateur ye ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bobby Riggs
Robert Larimore Riggs (February 25, 1918 – October 25, 1995) was an American tennis champion who was the World No. 1 amateur in 1939 and World No. 1 professional in 1946 and 1947. He played his first professional tennis match on December 26, 1941. As a 21-year-old amateur in 1939, Riggs won the singles title at Wimbledon, the U.S. National Championships (now U.S. Open), and was runner-up at the French Championships. He was U.S. champion again in 1941, after a runner-up finish the year before. At the 1939 Wimbledon Championships he also won the Men's Doubles and the Mixed Doubles. After retirement from his pro career, Riggs became well known as a hustler and gambler. He organized numerous exhibition challenges, inviting active and retired tennis pros to participate. In 1973, at age 55, he held two such events, first against the #1-ranked woman player Margaret Smith Court, which he won easily, and then against the then current women's champion Billie Jean King, which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Welby Van Horn
Sidney Welby Van Horn (September 8, 1920 - September 17, 2014) was an American professional tennis player and tennis coach. As a 19-year-old player, Van Horn reached the finals of the 1939 U.S. Champiomnships beating John Bromwich only to lose to Bobby Riggs in just 56 minutes (6–4, 6–2, 6–4). One of the high points of his career was a 6–0, 6–2, 6–1 defeat of the great Bill Tilden at a match between U.S. and British Empire service teams at Wimbledon in July 1945, supposedly the worst losses of Tilden's career — Tilden, however, was 52 years old at the time while Van Horn was 25. Van Horn also won the United States Pro Championship in 1945. He was ranked as high as World No. 5 in the professional ranks (the ''Professional Players Association'', instated by Bill Tilden) in 1946. Gordon Lowe ranked Van Horn as World No. 9 for 1939 in his amateur rankings.United States Lawn Tennis Association (1972). ''Official Encyclopedia of Tennis'' (First Edition), p. 425. He ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bruce Barnes (tennis Player)
Bruce Parkhouse Barnes (November 24, 1909 – March 12, 1990) was a high-ranking professional American tennis player of the 1930s. Biography Barnes was born in Dallas, Texas. As a professional, he won the 1933 world men's doubles championship with Bill Tilden, and lost the finals of the 1937 United States Professional Championship to Karel Koželuh and the 1938 finals to Fred Perry. In 1943, with the ranks of players severely depleted by World War II, he won the championship by beating John Nogrady. He was ranked World No. 7 in Ray Bowers' pro rankings for both 1938 and 1942 (and in the amateur-pro combined rankings for the latter).Bowers, Ray (2007)"Forgotten Victories: A History of Pro Tennis 1926-1945, Chapter XII: AMERICA, 1942" ''Tennis Server: Between the Lines'', 19 March 2007. Barnes attended Austin High School. As a collegiate player at the University of Texas, Austin he won the NCAA doubles championship in 1931 partnering Karl Kamrath. He lost the single ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don Budge
John Donald Budge (June 13, 1915 – January 26, 2000) was an American tennis player. He is most famous as the first tennis player — male or female, and still the only American male — to win the Grand Slam, and to win all four Grand Slam events consecutively overall. Budge was the second man to complete the career Grand Slam after Fred Perry, and remains the youngest to achieve the feat. He won ten majors, of which six were Grand Slam events (consecutively, a men's record) and four Pro Slams, the latter achieved on three different surfaces. Budge is considered to have one of the best backhands in the history of tennis, with most observers rating it better than that of later player Ken Rosewall. Budge is also the only man to have achieved the Triple Crown (winning singles, men's doubles and mixed doubles at the same tournament) on three separate occasions ( Wimbledon in 1937 and 1938, and the US Championships in 1938), and the only man to have achieved it twice in one y ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fred Perry
Frederick John Perry (18 May 1909 – 2 February 1995) was a British tennis and table tennis player and former world No. 1 from England who won 10 Majors including eight Grand Slam tournaments and two Pro Slams single titles, as well as six Major doubles titles. Perry won three consecutive Wimbledon Championships from 1934 to 1936 and was World Amateur number one tennis player during those three years. Prior to Andy Murray in 2013, Perry was the last British player to win the men's Wimbledon championship, in 1936, and the last British player to win a men's singles Grand Slam title, until Andy Murray won the 2012 US Open. Perry remains the last English player to win a men's singles Grand Slam title. Perry was the first player to win a " Career Grand Slam", winning all four singles titles, which he completed at the age of 26 at the 1935 French Championships. He remains the only British player ever to achieve this. Perry's first love was table tennis and he was World Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henri Cochet
Henri Jean Cochet (; 14 December 1901 – 1 April 1987) was a French tennis player. He was a world No. 1 ranked player, and a member of the famous " Four Musketeers" from France who dominated tennis in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Born in Villeurbanne, Rhône, Cochet won a total 22 Majors including seven Grand Slam singles, five doubles and three mixed doubles. In addition he won three singles, two doubles and one mixed doubles ILTF majors. He also won one professional Major in singles. During his major career he won singles and doubles titles on three different surfaces: clay, grass and wood. He was ranked as world No. 1 player for four consecutive years, 1928 through 1931 by A. Wallis Myers. Cochet turned professional in 1933, but after a less than stellar pro career he was reinstated as an amateur after the end of World War II in 1945. The Four Musketeers were inducted simultaneously into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island in 1976. Coc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Whalen
Joe Whalen (1916–1992) was an American tennis player in the 1930s who won a number of championships; he was originally from Millinocket, Maine, but grew up in Miami, Florida. His most significant championship win was the 1936 United States Pro Championship. He beat Charles Wood in the final. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army and was awarded the Purple Heart. Afterwards, he promoted professional tennis, and served as a teaching pro at a number of clubs. He founded and ran a tennis court construction company in Jacksonville, Florida until his retirement. See also * Professional Tennis Championships Before the advent of the Open era of tennis competitions in April 1968, only amateurs were allowed to compete in established tournaments, including the four majors. There was no prize money and players were compensated for travel expenses only. Ho ... External links Whalen Tennis*Joe Whalen* History of the Pro Tennis Wars * References 1916 births 1992 deaths ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
