Richard Dennis Ralston (July 27, 1942 – December 6, 2020) was an American professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

player whose active career spanned the 1960s and 1970s. As a young player, he was coached by tennis pro

Pancho Gonzales Ricardo Alonso "Pancho" González (May 9, 1928 – July 3, 1995), known sometimes as Richard Gonzales, was an American tennis player. He won 15 major singles titles, including two U.S. National Singles Championships in 1948 and 1949, and 13 P ...

. He attended the University of Southern California (USC) and won NCAA championships under its coach George Toley. He and partner Bill Bond captured the NCAA doubles title in 1964. He was the highest-ranked American player at the end of three consecutive years in the 1960s; Lance Tingay of ''The Daily Telegraph'' ranked him as high as world No. 5 in 1966 (Ralston was ranked world no. 3 by the magazine ''Reading Eagle'' in 1963)."Emerson, Ralston Win Net Tests", ''Reading Eagle'', 2 September 1963. His best result at a Grand Slam singles event came in 1966 when he was seeded sixth and reached the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

of the Wimbledon Championships, which he lost to fourth-seeded

Manuel Santana Manuel Santana Martínez (10 May 1938 – 11 December 2021), also known as Manolo Santana, was a Spanish tennis player. He was ranked as amateur world No. 1 in 1965 by Ned Potter and in 1966 by Lance TingayHandsome Eight, the initial group of players signed to the professional

World Championship Tennis World Championship Tennis (WCT) was a tour for professional male tennis players established in 1968 (the first players signed a contract at the end of 1967) and lasted until the emergence of the ATP Tour in 1990. A number of tennis tournaments aro ...

tour. He won 27 national doubles and singles titles, including five grand-slam doubles crowns. Ralston, a Davis Cup winner with the US Davis Cup team in

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

, continued to serve in the team as a coach from 1968 to 1971 and as a captain from 1972 to 1975, winning the title in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

over

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

. Ralston was the men's coach at

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , ...

between 1981–89 and 1991-93 (split when he helped Noah in 1989–90), being named the NCAA Coach of the Year in 1983, when SMU finished second nationally. Dennis Ralston

Ralston was inducted into the

International Tennis Hall of Fame The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, grass tennis courts, an indo ...

in 1987. In 2016, he was inducted into the Texas Tennis Hall of Fame.

Grand Slam finals

Singles, 1 final (1 runner-up)

Doubles, 9 finals (5 titles, 4 runners-up)

Mixed doubles, 4 finals (4 runners-up)

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline

Singles

Note: The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ralston, Dennis American male tennis players French Championships (tennis) champions Sportspeople from Bakersfield, California International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees Tennis people from California USC Trojans men's tennis players United States National champions (tennis) Wimbledon champions (pre-Open Era) 1942 births 2020 deaths Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles Professional tennis players before the Open Era Deaths from cancer in the United States