Mark Cox (born 5 July 1943) is a former

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 from England, who played professional and amateur tennis in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He was ranked as high as world No. 13 on the ATP rankings (achieving that ranking in August 1977). Cox was educated at Wyggeston Grammar School in Leicester and Millfield School in Somerset. Cox obtained an economics undergraduate degree from the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

(

Downing College Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge and currently has around 650 students. Founded in 1800, it was the only college to be added to Cambridge University between 1596 and 1869, and is often described as the olde ...

), where he was a member of the

Cambridge University Lawn Tennis Club Cambridge University Lawn Tennis Club was founded in 1881, seven years before the Lawn Tennis Association of Great Britain was founded. Although it is called a 'club', it is actually the lawn tennis association of the whole of the University of Ca ...

Career

He played his first tournament on 3 November 1958 at the Torquay Indoor. During his career, he won twenty singles titles and three doubles titles spanning both the pre-Open Era and

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 sp ...

, reached the quarterfinals at the U.S. National Championships (in 1966), and the final at the event in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

(in 1977). He also played for Great Britain's

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...

team, and was on the team that reached the 1978 final against the United States. He has also gone down in tennis history as the first amateur player to beat a professional. In May 1968, at the

British Hard Court Championships The British Hard Court Championships is a defunct Grand Prix tennis and WTA Tour affiliated tennis tournament played from 1968 to 1983 and 1995 to 1999. The inaugural edition of the tournament was held in 1924 in Torquay, moving to the West Hant ...

at Bournemouth, he beat the American

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 ...

in five sets in two and a quarter hours. Cox also achieved big upset wins over No. 1 seed,

Rod Laver Rodney George Laver (born 9 August 1938) is an Australian former tennis player. Laver was the world number 1 ranked professional in some sources in 1964, in all sources from 1965 to 1969 and in some sources in 1970, spanning four years befor ...

, at the 1971 Australian Open, and over No. 2 seed,

Ken Rosewall Kenneth Robert Rosewall (born 2 November 1934) is an Australian former world top-ranking amateur and professional tennis player. He won a record 23 Majors in singles, including eight Grand Slam singles titles and, before the Open Era, a record ...

, at the 1972 US Open.''

Times Daily The ''TimesDaily'' is the daily newspaper for Florence, Alabama. ''The TimesDaily'' covers a four-county region in Alabama including Lauderdale, Colbert, Franklin, and Lawrence counties, as well as portions of southern Tennessee and northeast ...

'' (Florence, S.C.)
"The 'Giant Killer': Mark Cox Upsets Rosewall In U.S. Open Tennis Play"

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

, 3 September 1972, p. 16. Retrieved on 15 July 2013. Cox defeated future world No. 1

Jimmy Connors James Scott Connors (born September 2, 1952) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He held the top Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ranking for a then-record 160 consecutive weeks from 1974 to 1977 and a career total of 268 ...

in his debut Grand Slam match at the 1970 US Open. He retired from playing in 1981. After his final title in 1977 it would take another 17 years for a British player to win a top level tour title (Jeremy Bates at Seoul in 1994). To date he is the last English born male to win a top level UK tournament on grass (Eastbourne in 1973). During his latter playing years and after his retirement, Cox has worked as a coach, and also as a television commentator for the BBC.

Personal life

Cox is a Patron of a charity "CRY" (

Cardiac Risk in the Young Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) is a humanitarian charitable organisation helping to raise awareness of young sudden cardiac death (YSCD, SCD), including sudden arrhythmic death syndrome (SADS, SDS). CRY was established in May 1995 by Alison C ...

) and an ambassador for the Win Tennis Academy at Bisham. He lives with his wife Susie in London.

Career finals

Singles: 35 (21 titles, 14 runner-ups)

Doubles: 11 (3 titles, 8 runner-ups)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cox, Mark 1943 births Living people Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge English sports broadcasters English male tennis players People educated at Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys People educated at Millfield Sportspeople from Leicester Tennis commentators British male tennis players Tennis people from Leicestershire