Raúl Ramírez (born 20 June 1953) is a Mexican retired professional tennis player. He was active during the 1970s and 1980s. Ramírez was the first player to finish first in both singles and doubles Grand Prix point standings, accomplishing the feat in 1976. He attended and played tennis at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

in Los Angeles.USC Men's Tennis – On The Pro Tour
, USCTrojans.com, Accessed 8 July 2008.

Personal life

Ramírez was born in Ensenada, Baja California. In 1981, he married the Venezuelan-born former

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stre ...

Maritza Sayalero Maritza Sayalero Fernández (born February 16, 1961, in Caracas) is a Venezuelan designer, model, businesswoman and beauty queen. In 1979 she was crowned both Miss Venezuela and Miss Universe, the first woman from Venezuela to win this title. She ...

. The couple lives in Ensenada and has three children: Rebecca (born 1982), Raúl (born 1984), and Daniel Francisco (1989).

Career

Ramirez was ranked as high as World No. 4 (achieving this ranking on 7 November 1976) and he is one of the all-time leading doubles winners, having spent 62 weeks ranked World No. 1 in doubles, beginning 12 April 1976. He won 19 singles titles, including titles at the

ATP Masters Series The ATP Masters 1000 tournaments (previously known as ATP Masters Series) is an annual series of nine tennis tournaments featuring the top-ranked players on the ATP Tour. The series' events have been held in Europe and North America since the ...

events in

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(1975) and

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

(1978). He won 60 doubles titles, including Wimbledon (1976), the French Open (1975 & '77), and at ATP Masters Series events 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 ...

(1978),

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

(1976, ’77 & ’81),

(1979),

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

(1977), and

(1974, ’75, ’76 & ’77). He won the

WCT World Doubles The Masters Doubles WCT is a defunct WCT Tour affiliated men's tennis doubles tournament played from 1973 to 1986. It was held in various locations and was played on indoor carpet courts. Finals See also * WCT Finals The WCT Finals was a me ...

twice in 1975 and 1980. He won the men's singles in the

Ojai Tennis Tournament The Ojai Tennis Tournament, often shortened to The Ojai, is an annual tennis tournament in Ventura County, California, headquartered at Libbey Park in downtown Ojai, about north of Los Angeles. The event, first held in 1896, is the oldest and l ...

in 1971.http://ojaitourney.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Past_Champions-070513.pdf He played tournaments of the two world tennis circuits played at the time, the

Grand Prix tennis circuit The Grand Prix tennis circuit was a professional tennis tour for male players that existed from 1970 to 1989. The Grand Prix and World Championship Tennis (WCT) were the two predecessors to the current tour for male players, the ATP Tour, with t ...

and the

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 ...

(WCT). These circuits were predecessors of the

Association of Tennis Professionals The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is the governing body of the men's professional tennis circuits – the ATP Tour, the ATP Challenger Tour and the ATP Champions Tour. It was formed in September 1972 by Donald Dell, Jack Kramer, a ...

Tour (

ATP Tour The ATP Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The second-tier tour is the ATP Challenger Tour and the third-tier is the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour. The equivalent women's organ ...

). In 1975 he won the Grand Prix, the present day equivalent of the Race.

ATP career finals

Singles: 40 (19 titles, 21 runner-ups)

Doubles: 101 (60 titles, 41 runners-up)

Grand Slam tournament finals

Doubles finals, 7 (3 titles, 4 runners-up)

Mixed doubles final, 1 (runner-up)

Grand slam tournament timelines

Singles

Doubles

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramirez, Raul 1953 births Living people Mexican male tennis players Sportspeople from Baja California People from Ensenada, Baja California University of Southern California alumni Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles French Open champions Wimbledon champions ATP number 1 ranked doubles tennis players