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World Championship Tennis
World Championship Tennis (WCT) was one of the principal organizing bodies of men's professional tennis headquartered at the WCT Lakeway World of Tennis facility, Austin, Texas, United States from 1968 to 1989. It administered the WCT Circuit a world wide tour of associated tennis tournaments that was a rival tour to the ITF Grand Prix Circuit both of which were replaced by the Association of Tennis Professionals ATP Tour in 1990. In 1968 (the first players signed a contract at the end of 1967). Players were ranked in a special WCT ranking according to their results in those tournaments. The WCT had an important impact on the commercial development of tennis. It instituted a Tennis score#Scoring a tiebreak game, tie-breaker system, experimented the "no-ad" scoring system on 40-40 (called at times "sudden death") and outfitted players with colored clothing, a radical idea at that time. WCT also strongly encouraged the audience to cheer for players, rather than politely applaud, as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket strung with a cord to strike a hollow rubber tennis ball, ball covered with felt over or around a net and into the opponent's tennis court, court. The object is to manoeuvre the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a valid return. If a player is unable to return the ball successfully, the opponent scores a Point (tennis), point. Playable at all levels of society and at all ages, tennis can be played by anyone who can hold a racket, including Wheelchair tennis, wheelchair users. The original forms of tennis developed in France during the late Middle Ages. The modern form of tennis originated in Birmingham, England, in the late 19th century as lawn tennis. It had close connections to various field (lawn) games such as croqu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pierre Barthès
Pierre Barthès (born 13 September 1941) is a retired French tennis player. Career Born in Béziers, Barthès was one of the Handsome Eight, a group of players signed by Lamar Hunt in 1968 for the newly formed professional World Championship Tennis (WCT) group. In 1974, he reached a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 54, though this is not a true indication, as he was one of the top 20 players in 1971 before the creation of the ATP ranking system, making the year-end Masters the same year. He was also a US Open doubles champion in 1970, partnering Nikola Pilić. Barthès won the 1963 Pau Championships defeating Pierre Darmon in the final. Barthès won the Paris Indoor Championships and the Coupe Albert Canet in 1963 defeating Darmon in the final. Barthès won the International Championships of Egypt in Cairo in 1964 on clay defeating Martin Mulligan, Ismail El Shafei, and Istvan Gulyas in the final. Barthès won the Altamira International Invitation in Car ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Tennis Federation
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national tennis associations. there are 211 national and six regional associations that make up the ITF's membership. The ITF's governance responsibilities include maintaining and enforcing the rules of tennis, regulating international team competitions, promoting the game, and preserving the sport's integrity via anti-doping and anti-corruption programs. The ITF partners with the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) to govern professional tennis. The ITF organizes annual team competitions for men (Davis Cup), women ( Billie Jean King Cup), and mixed teams ( Hopman Cup), as well as tennis and wheelchair tennis events at the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games on behalf of the International Olympic Committee. The ITF sanctions circuits th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fred Stolle
Frederick Sydney Stolle, Order of Australia, AO (8 October 1938 – 5 March 2025) was an Australian amateur world No. 1 tennis player and commentator. He was born in Hornsby, New South Wales, Australia. He was the father of former Australian Davis Cup player Sandon Stolle. Career Stolle is notable for being the only male player in history to have lost his first five Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam singles finals, all but one were to Roy Emerson, the fifth of which he led by two sets to love. However, Stolle went on to win two Grand Slam tournament singles titles, the 1965 French Championships – Men's singles, 1965 French Championships and the 1966 U.S. National Championships – Men's singles, 1966 US Championships. At Wimbledon and the Australian Championships he finished as runner-up in these tournaments and losing to compatriot Roy Emerson on no fewer than five occasions. ''World Tennis'' magazine ranked Stolle world No. 1 amateur in 1966. Stolle won ten Grand Slam doubles ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roy Emerson
Roy Stanley Emerson (born 3 November 1936) is an Australian former tennis player who won 12 Grand Slam singles titles and 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, for a total of 28 Grand Slam titles. All of his singles Grand Slam victories and 14 of his Grand Slam doubles victories were achieved before the open era began in 1968. He is the only male player to have completed a career Grand Slam (winning titles at all four Grand Slam events) in both singles and doubles, and the first of four male players to complete a double career Grand Slam in singles (later followed by Rod Laver, Novak Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal). His 28 major titles are the all-time record for a male player. He was ranked world No. 1 amateur in 1961 by Ned Potter, 1964 by Potter, Lance Tingay and an Ulrich Kaiser panel of 14 experts and 1965 by Tingay, Joseph McCauley, Sport za Rubezhom and an Ulrich Kaiser panel of 16 experts. Emerson was the first male player to win 12 singles majors. He held that record for 30 year ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andrés Gimeno
Andrés Gimeno Tolaguera (3 August 1937 – 9 October 2019) was a Spanish tennis player. His greatest achievement came in 1972, when he won the French Open and became the oldest first-time Grand Slam champion in the Open era at 34 years of age. Early years Andrés came from a family which loved tennis, and his father Esteban supported his efforts to play the game. Esteban had been a good tennis player and he became Andres' coach. They practiced at Real Club de Tenis Barcelona. At an early age Andres started to become a really good tennis player, winning some important tournaments in his region. At age sixteen, he won the U-18 Championship of Spain. In 1954, he won the Championship of Spain in the doubles category playing with Juan Manuel Couder. At the same time, he stopped studying to focus on his tennis career. He was not only a successful tennis player in Spain, but also represented his country throughout Europe. He played in the Galea's Cup, the European Championship U21, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pancho Gonzáles
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 Championships in 1948 and 1949, and 13 Professional majors. He also won three Tournament of Champions professional events in 1957, 1958, and 1959. Gonzales was ranked as the amateur world No. 1 in 1948 by Ned Potter and in 1949 by Potter and John Olliff. Gonzales was a prominent professional champion in the 1950s and 1960s, winning world professional championship tours between 1954 and 1961; he was the world number one ranked male tennis player professional between 1952 and 1961. Gonzales was a determined competitor with a fierce temper. He was often at odds with officials and promoters. However, he was a fan favorite who drew many spectators. Career Amateur Gonzales was given a 51-cent racquet by his mother when he was 12 years old. He received tennis analysis from his friend, Chu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Kramer
John Albert Kramer (August 1, 1921 – September 12, 2009) was an American tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s, and a pioneer promoter who helped drive the sport towards professionalism at the elite level. Kramer also ushered in the serve-and-volley era in tennis, a playing style with which he won three Grand Slam tournaments (the U.S. Championships in 1946 and 1947, Wimbledon in 1947). He also led the U.S. Davis Cup tennis team to victory in the 1946 and 1947 Davis Cup finals. Kramer won the U.S. Pro Championship at Forest Hills in 1948 and the Wembley Pro Championships in 1949. He won world professional championship 2-man tours in 1948 (against Bobby Riggs), 1949/50 (against Pancho Gonzales), 1950/51 (against Pancho Segura), and 1953 (against Frank Sedgman). Kramer was ranked world no. 1 amateur player for 1946 by Pierre Gillou, Harry Hopman and Ned Potter. He was ranked world no. 1 amateur player for 1947 by John Olliff, Pierre Gillou and Ned Potter. In 1948 he was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Tennis League
National Tennis League (NTL) was a tour for professional male tennis players established in 1967 by George MacCall. In 1970 it was sold to the World Championship Tennis (WCT), a competing professional tennis league run by Lamar Hunt. History The National Tennis League (NTL) was formed by former U.S. Davis Cup captain George MacCall in 1967, as a governing body to an American professional tennis tour. MacCall signed several players to contracts, including Arthur Ashe, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson and Stan Smith. The NTL followed in the wake of MacCall's departure from the existing International Professional Tennis Association (IPTA), which had been created by promoter Wallace Dill in 1966, and preceded the creation of World Championship Tennis (WCT), formed by Lamar Hunt and David Dixon The NTL differed from the IPTA and from WCT in being the first to sign women to professional contracts in addition to men. In 1968 Billie Jean King became the first woman of the Open Era to sign a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Ashe
Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. (July 10, 1943 – February 6, 1993) was an American professional tennis player. He won three Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, Grand Slam titles in singles and two in doubles. Ashe was the first Black player selected to the United States Davis Cup team, and the only Black man ever to win the singles titles at Wimbledon Championships, Wimbledon, the US Open (tennis), US Open, and the Australian Open. He retired in 1980. Ashe was ranked World number 1 ranked male tennis players, world No. 1 by Rex Bellamy, Bud Collins, Judith Elian, Lance Tingay, ''World Tennis'' and ''Tennis Magazine'' (U.S.) in 1975. That year, Ashe was awarded the 'Martini and Rossi' Award, voted for by a panel of journalists, and the ATP Player of the Year award. In the ATP rankings, ATP computer rankings, he peaked at world No. 2 in May 1976. Ashe is believed to have acquired HIV from a blood transfusion he received during heart bypass surgery in 1983. He publicly announced his il ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Okker
Thomas Samuel Okker (born 22 February 1944), nicknamed "the Flying Dutchman", is a Dutch former tennis player who was active from the mid-1960s until 1980. He won the 1973 French Open Doubles, the 1976 US Open Doubles, and two gold medals at the 1965 Maccabiah Games in Israel. He was ranked among the world's top-ten singles players for seven consecutive years, 1968–74, reaching a career high of world No. 3 in 1974. He also was ranked world No. 1 in doubles in 1979. Early life Okker was born in Amsterdam, is Jewish on his father's side, and identifies as Jewish. Okker's father was imprisoned by the Nazis during World War II, but managed to go into hiding by assuming the papers and identity of another man. Tennis career He played his first tournament at Wolfsburg, West Germany, on clay in 1963. Okker was the Dutch champion from 1964 through 1968. In 1968, his first year as a registered professional, he won in singles and in doubles (with Marty Riessen) at the Rome Masters, Ital ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raymond Moore (tennis)
Raymond J. "Ray" Moore (born 24 August 1946) is a former professional tennis player from South Africa. In June 1966 he won the East Gloucestershire Championships at Cheltenham on grass, defeating Tom Okker and Dick Crealy in the final two rounds. In May 1969, Moore won the West Berlin Open Championships, defeating Arthur Ashe and Cliff Drysdale in close five-set matches. During his career he won eight doubles titles in the Open Era alone, finishing runner-up an additional 12 times in Open Era doubles. Moore participated in 12 Davis Cup ties for South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ... from 1967 to 1977, including the 1974 South African victory, posting a 12–10 record in singles and posting an 0–1 mark in doubles. In 1981, Moore teamed with Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
