Clive Eric Wilderspin, (3 April 1930 – 13 November 2021) was an Australian former

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player who was active from the late 1940s until the mid-1950s.

Tennis career

Wilderspin began playing at age nine and joined Hensman Park club when he was 11. Until 1946 he was coached by his father Eric, an engineer by profession. He was ranked No. 1 in Western Australia from 1946 to 1963. In 1949, Wilderspin won the Australian Boys' Singles and Doubles championships and was the dominant player in the Western Australian team that won the Linton Cup for the junior interstate competition. Wilderspin's best singles result at a Grand Slam tournament was reaching the quarterfinal round at the 1953 Australian Championships, in which he lost to Ian Ayre in four sets. That year Wilderspin was part of the Australian team that toured internationally and participated in the Grand Slam tournaments. At the 1953 French Championships he reached the second round in the singles where he was beaten by

Staffan Stockenberg Staffan Oscar Stockenberg (14 September 1931 – 20 May 2019) was a Swedish tennis player. Tennis career As a junior, Stockenberg achieved significant successes and won two consecutive junior singles titles at the Wimbledon Championships, in 1 ...

. In the doubles event he teamed up with Mervyn Rose to finish as runner-ups after losing the final to teenagers

Ken Rosewall Kenneth Robert Rosewall (born 2 November 1934) is an Australian former World number one male tennis player rankings, world No. 1 professional tennis player. Rosewall won 147 singles titles, including 23 majors: a record 15 Major professional te ...

and

Lew Hoad Lewis Alan Hoad (23 November 1934 – 3 July 1994) was an Australian tennis player whose career ran from 1950 to 1973. Hoad won four Major singles tournaments as an amateur (the Australian Championships, French Championships and two Wimbledons ...

. He was beaten in the third round of the 1953 Wimbledon Championships in three sets by his countryman Ayre. At the U.S. National Championships he defeated Atsushi Miyagi in the first round of the singles event but lost in the second in four sets to Art Larsen. Wilderspin and Hoad won the doubles title at the Dutch Championships in July 1953, defeating

Enrique Morea Enrique Jorge Morea (11 April 1924 – 15 March 2017) was an Argentine tennis player. Morea reached the singles semifinals of the French Championships in 1953, beating Mervyn Rose and Gardnar Mulloy and then losing to Ken Rosewall. At th ...

and Hans van Swol in the final in four sets. In 1954, Wilderspin partnered Neale Fraser in the doubles event of the

Australian Championships The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events every year, held be ...

. They reached the final in which they were beaten in three straight sets by their compatriots Rex Hartwig and Mervyn Rose. Wilderspin was named Australian Tennis Veteran of the Year in 1979. He was inducted into the Western Australian Hall of Champions in 1988. Wilderspin was awarded a

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of then ...

(OAM) in the

2021 Australia Day Honours The 2021 Australia Day Honours are appointments Australian honours system, to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by Australian citizens. The list was announced on 26 January 2021 by the Governor General of Australia, Da ...

for "service to tennis."

Grand Slam finals

Doubles: (2 runner-ups)

Personal life

On 11 September 1954 he married Enid Bott in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilderspin, Clive 1930 births Australian male tennis players 2021 deaths Tennis players from Perth, Western Australia Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' singles Australian Championships (tennis) junior champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' doubles Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Sportsmen from Western Australia 20th-century Australian sportsmen