Lance Tingay (15 July 1915 – 10 March 1990) was a British sports journalist, historian, and author of several

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 cov ...

books. For many years his annual ranking of top tennis players was "the only one that counted" before

ATP rankings The Pepperstone ATP rankings are the merit-based method used by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for determining the qualification for entry as well as the seeding of players in all singles and doubles tournaments. The first rankings ...

were introduced in 1973.

Career

Tingay began his journalistic career with the ''Exchange Telegraph'' news agency. During World War II, he served in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

. Tingay was the tennis correspondent for ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' from 1952 until his retirement in 1981. He wrote several books on tennis, including ''One Hundred Years of Wimbledon'', the official volume marking the centenary of the

Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London, since 1877 and is pla ...

, and ''Royalty and Lawn Tennis''. As a tennis historian, he compiled the data for the tennis yearbook ''

World of Tennis ''World of Tennis'' was the International Tennis Federation's (ITF) official tennis annual until it was replaced by The ITF Year. It was published annually beginning in 1969 and became an official ITF publication in 1981. ''World of Tennis'' was ...

'' from 1970 until his death in 1990. During several decades before the introduction of official computerized rankings he published his annual ''World Rankings'' of the top 10 players. In 1982, he 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 1985, he self-published an anthology of the works of English novelist

Anthony Trollope Anthony Trollope (; 24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882) was an English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era. Among his best-known works is a series of novels collectively known as the '' Chronicles of Barsetshire'', which revolves ar ...

. He received the

Allison Danzig Allison "Al" Danzig (February 27, 1898 – January, 27 1987) was an American sportswriter who specialized in writing about tennis, but also covered college football, squash, many Olympic Games, and rowing. Danzig was the only American sportswr ...

award for distinguished tennis writing in 1968 and was an honorary member of the

All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, also known as the All England Club, based at Church Road, Wimbledon, London, England, is a private members' club. It is best known as the venue for the Wimbledon Championships, the only Grand Slam ...

Bibliography

* ''History of Lawn Tennis in Pictures'' (1973) * ''Tennis: A Pictorial History'' (1977) * ''One Hundred Years of Wimbledon'' (1977) * ''Royalty and Lawn Tennis'' (1977) * ''The Guinness Book of Tennis Facts and Feats'' (1983) * ''The Trollope collector : a record of writings by and books about Anthony Trollope'' (1985)

References

1915 births 1990 deaths British sports journalists Tennis writers International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees Royal Air Force personnel of World War II {{UK-tennis-bio-stub