Ronald "Ronnie" Edward Holmberg (born January 27, 1938) is a former American

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 competed during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He was ranked world No. 7 in 1959 and was ranked in the U.S. Top 10 for nine years. He is currently one of the

USTA The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national Sport governing body, governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and devel ...

's select "Master Professionals" and devotes most of his time coaching, participating and directing charity events and clinics and other tennis related projects.

Summary

College

Holmberg won his first tournament at age 12 and won three out of the four possible U.S. National Boys' titles in 1953. He won the Junior Wimbledon title in 1956. He graduated from

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

where he was a three time

All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...

and won the SEC singles twice and doubles championship three times and the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

doubles championship twice.

Tennis career

Holmberg won the Junior Wimbledon title in 1956 defeating

Rod Laver Rodney George Laver (born 9 August 1938) is an Australian former professional tennis player. Laver was ranked as the World number 1 ranked male tennis players, world number 1 professional player indisputably for five years from 1965 to 1969, ...

in the final. In 1957, he won the Eastern Clay Court Championships defeating

Tony Vincent Tony Vincent is an American actor, songwriter, and singer based in New York City and Nashville. Early career Vincent was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His professional career began while attending Belmont University in Nashville, Tennesse ...

. Holmberg played in several Blue Gray events when it was an individual competition. He won the singles championship in 1959 and captured back-to-back Blue Gray doubles titles in 1957 and 1958. Holmberg reached the 1959 U.S. National Championships (the US Open) Men's Singles semifinals, defeating

Dick Savitt Richard Savitt (March 4, 1927 – January 6, 2023) was an American tennis player. In 1951, at the age of 24, he won both the Australian and Wimbledon men's singles championships. Savitt was mostly ranked world No. 2 the same year behind fellow ...

in five sets,

Butch Buchholz Earl Henry "Butch" Buchholz, Jr. (born September 16, 1940) is a former professional tennis player from the United States who was one of the game's top players in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Tennis career Juniors Buchholz was an outstanding ...

in five sets, and Laver in four sets in the quarterfinals, then lost to

Alex Olmedo Alejandro "Alex" Olmedo Rodríguez (March 24, 1936December 9, 2020) was a tennis player from Peru with American citizenship. He was listed by the USTA as a "foreign" player for 1958, but as a U.S. player for 1959. He helped win the Davis Cup f ...

. He reached the quarterfinals at the 1961

French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...

where he lost to Laver. In December 1962, Holmberg won the Bluebonnet Invitation indoor in Houston, defeating

Cliff Richey George Clifford Richey Jr. (born December 31, 1946) is an American former amateur and professional tennis player who was active during the 1960s and 1970s. Richey achieved a highest singles ranking of World No. 6 and reached at least the quarter ...

in the quarterfinals and

Frank Froehling Frank Arthur Froehling III (May 19, 1942 – January 23, 2020) was an American tennis player. During his college career at Trinity University Froehling recorded 46–5 in singles matches and won nine singles titles. He was runner-up at U.S. ...

in the final. In March 1964, Holmberg won the Altamira International Invitation in Caracas, Venezuela, respectively defeating

Nikola Pilić Nikola "Niki" Pilić (born 27 August 1939) is a Croatian former professional tennis player who competed for SFR Yugoslavia. He was one of the Handsome Eight. Pilić was ranked world No. 6 in January 1968 and world No. 7 for 1967 by Lance Tin ...

, Rafael Osuna, Manuel Santana, and then

Roy Emerson Roy Stanley Emerson (born 3 November 1936) is an Australian former tennis player who won 12 Grand Slam singles titles and 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, for a total of 28 Grand Slam titles. All of his singles Grand Slam victories and 14 of his ...

in the final. In August 1965, Holmberg won the

Canadian International Championships Canada Open or Canadian Open may refer to: * Canadian Open (golf), the Canadian Open of golf *Canadian Women's Open, a women's professional golf tournament managed by the Royal Canadian Golf Association *Canadian Open (tennis), the Canadian Open of ...

, defeating Billy Lenoir in the semifinals and Lester Sack in the final. Holmberg won the New York International tournament in August 1968, defeating Tom Gorman and Joaquín Loyo-Mayo. The same month, he won the Southampton Invitation tournament on grass in Long Island, New York, defeating

Jaime Fillol Jaime José Fillol Durán (born 3 June 1946), known professionally as Jaime Fillol Sr., is a retired professional tennis player from Chile, who played in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Fillol was ranked as high as world No. 14 in singles on the ...

, Ray Moore, and Gene Scott.

Rankings

Holmberg was ranked world No. 8 for 1959 by Ned Potter, No. 4 in the U.S. in 1959 and ranked in the top 10 of U.S. Men's singles for nine years. He was selected to be a playing member of the U.S.

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...

Team four times. He won numerous international doubles titles with many prominent players such as Barry MacKay (in

), Pancho Gonzalez,

John Newcombe John David Newcombe AO OBE (born 23 May 1944) is an Australian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in both men's singles and men's doubles. Newcombe won a combined 26 major titles: seven in singles, a former ...

Tony Roche Anthony Dalton Roche Order of Australia, AO Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 17 May 1945) is an Australian former professional tennis player. A native of Tarcutta, Roche played junior tennis in the New South Wales regional city of Wagga ...

, Bob Mark and

Arthur Ashe Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. (July 10, 1943 – February 6, 1993) was an American professional tennis player. He won three Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, Grand Slam titles in singles and two in doubles. Ashe was the first Black player selected ...

. Holmberg and Ashe were ranked No. 3 in the U.S.

Post playing career

After retiring from professional competition in 1971, he became head coach of tennis and squash at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point. Holmberg continued to be involved in teaching tennis, and he is widely recognized as one of the game's outstanding coaches. He was a member of ''Tennis Magazines Instruction Advisory Board, which consisted of the top playing and teaching pros in the game for its duration of 19 years.

Recognition

He was inducted into the Intercollegiate Tennis Hall-of-Fame, the

Eastern Tennis Hall-of-Fame, Louisiana Tennis Hall-of-Fame and the

Southern Tennis Hall-of-Fame his eighth Hall of Fame He was a recipient of the

“Lifetime Achievement Award” in 1997 for his all-around accomplishment in both playing and teaching and the

George Seewagen Award in 1999 for excellence in playing and service to the game.

Career highlights

* Junior Wimbledon Singles champion in 1956 * Intercollegiate highlights while at Tulane University: :*

(first team) (1957, 1958, 1959) :*

Doubles champion with Crawford Henry (1957, 1959) :* SEC Singles champion (1958, 1959), :* SEC Doubles champion with Crawford Henry (1957, 1959), with Lester Sack (1958) * U.S. National Championships (the US Open) Men's Singles semifinalist(#4) (1959) * U.S. National Championships (the US Open) Men's Singles quarterfinalist (1961) * French Championships (the

) Men's Singles quarterfinalist (1961) * U.S. National Indoor Doubles Championships, Champion 1961 with Chris Crawford, finalist 1962 with Whitney Reed * Played in several Blue Gray events when it was an individual competition. In 1959, won the singles championship. In 1957 and 1958, captured back-to-back Blue Gray doubles titles. * Selected as a playing member to the U.S.

Team four times * Rogers Cup: 1965 Canadian Championships Singles champion * Rogers Cup: 1965 Canadian Championships Doubles champion with Lester Sack * Rogers Cup: 1969 Canadian Open Doubles champion with

Los Angeles Open The Genesis Invitational is a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour in Southern California, first played in 1926 as the Los Angeles Open. Other previous names include Genesis Open, Northern Trust Open and Nissan Open. Played annually in ...

: 1969 Doubles champion with Pancho Gonzalez * Ranked in the U.S. "Top Ten" nine times ( 1957 : No 6, 1959 : No 4, 1960 : No 7, 1961 : No 7, 1964 : No 6, 1965 : No 9, 1966 : No 6, 1967 : No 6, 1968 : No 6 )

Junior Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1

Awards and honors

* Inducted into the USTA Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame in 1990 * Inducted into the Intercollegiate Tennis Hall of Fame in 1993 * Recipient of the

“Lifetime Achievement Award” in 1997 for his all-around accomplishment in both playing and teaching * Received the

George Seewagen Award in 1999 for excellence in playing and service to the game * Inducted into the Louisiana Tennis Hall of Fame in 2006 * Chairman of the

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

Tennis Patrons Foundation * Member of the

select "Master Professionals" * Inducted into the 2007 Blue Gray National Tennis Classic Hall of Fame * Inducted into the

Southern Tennis Hall of Fame in 2011 * Inducted into the Brooklyn Hall of Fame in 2012 * Inducted into the Tulane Athletic Hall of Fame in 1980 * Inducted into Who’s Who at Tulane University in 1960 * Inducted into the Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School Hall of Fame in 1991 * Inducted into

Catholic High School Athletic Association The Catholic High School Athletic Association or CHSAA is a high school athletic association made up of Catholic high schools based in New York City, Long Island, Westchester and Buffalo. It is the largest Catholic high school athletic league ...

(CHSAA) Sports Hall of Fame

Books and magazines

* As a member of the “Instruction Advisory Board" of Tennis Magazine for nineteen years he was featured in the "Classic Instruction Series from Tennis Magazine" which included the following three books: "Tennis Strokes & Strategies", "Tennis: How to Play, How to Win", and "Teach Yourself Tennis!"

Articles

* Life Magazine "A Tennis Future in Kids" * New York Magazine "How to Play Tennis with Rod Laver and Other Hot-Shots" * Sports Illustrated "Scorecard" * Sports Illustrated "An Absence Of Homebreds" * Sports Illustrated "...these Faces In The Crowd..." * Sports Illustrated "Great Scott! Gene Won Another One" * Sports Illustrated "Tennis without Trabert" * nola.com "Ron Holmberg selected to Southern Tennis Association Hall of Fame" * City Park Tennis Club of New Orleans "2011 Interview with Ron Holmberg"

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Holmberg, Ronald American male tennis players People from Fort Greene, Brooklyn Tennis players from New Orleans People from Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York Sportspeople from Orange County, New York American tennis commentators Tennis players from New York (state) Wimbledon junior champions 1938 births Living people Tulane University alumni Tulane Green Wave men's tennis players Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' singles Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School alumni 20th-century American sportsmen