Robert Lutz (born August 29, 1947) is an American former amateur and 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 cov ...

player of the 1960s and 1970s. He and his longtime partner

Stan Smith Stanley Roger Smith (born December 14, 1946) is an American former professional tennis player. Smith is best known to non-tennis players as the namesake of a popular brand of tennis shoes. A world No. 1 player and two-time major singles cha ...

were one of the best

doubles Men's doubles, Women's doubles or Mixed doubles are sports having two players per side, including; * Beach volleyball * Doubles badminton * Doubles curling * Footvolley * Doubles pickleball * Doubles squash * Doubles table tennis * Doubles te ...

teams of all time.

Bud Collins Arthur Worth "Bud" Collins Jr. (June 17, 1929 – March 4, 2016) was an American journalist and television sportscaster, best known for his tennis commentary. Collins was married to photographer Anita Ruthling Klaussen. Education Collins was ...

ranked Lutz as world No. 7 in singles in 1972. Between 1967 and 1977, he was ranked among the top-10 American players eight times, with his highest ranking being No. 5 in both 1968 and 1970.

Career

Lutz won the 1967 NCAA singles title and, partnering with

, won the NCAA doubles crown in 1967 and 1968. 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 1966. During his career he won 11 singles titles, the most important being the

U.S. Pro Tennis Championships The U.S. Pro Tennis Championships (for a period from 1951 to 1962 billed as the Cleveland International Pro or Cleveland World Pro Tennis Championships) was the oldest professional tennis tournament played until its final year of 1999 and is consi ...

in 1972 and the

Paris Masters The Paris Masters is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players held in Paris, France. It is played indoors at the AccorHotels Arena, in the neighborhood of Bercy. The event is part of the ATP Tour Masters 1000 on the Association ...

in 1978, and reached 15 other singles finals, including

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 w ...

in 1974. He also won 43 doubles titles, 37 of which were won partnering Stan Smith, and reached 30 other doubles finals. With Smith he formed the only team to win the doubles title at U.S. Championships on four different surfaces (clay, grass, hard and indoor). His doubles titles include the US Open in 1980, 1978, 1974, and 1968, the

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Ope ...

in 1970 and Cincinnati in 1969. In addition, he played on five winning

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 organi ...

teams between 1968 and 1981 and had a 14–2 record playing doubles. Lutz was nominated for the ITF Tennis Hall of Fame thanks to these achievements.

Honors and personal life

He was inducted into the Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame in 1984. Lutz, a 1971

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 ...

graduate, was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2009. He has been living in

San Clemente San Clemente (; Spanish for " St. Clement") is a city in Orange County, California. Located in the Orange Coast region of the South Coast of California, San Clemente's population was 64,293 in at the 2020 census. Situated roughly midway between ...

since 1973 with his wife, Sharon, and their two daughters, Samantha and Allison.

Career finals

Singles

Doubles

Grand Slam finals

Doubles

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lutz, Bob 1947 births Living people American people of German descent American male tennis players Australian Open (tennis) champions US Open (tennis) champions USC Trojans men's tennis players Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles University of Southern California alumni Tennis people from California