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Alan Abraham Segal (23 October 1930 – 4 April 2016) was a South African
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 st ...
player.


Early life and career

He was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and was Jewish. During the 1950s and 1960s, he was the doubles partner of Gordon Forbes. Together, they were considered one of the better doubles teams in the world. He was critical of South Africa's policy of
apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English:  , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...
.
Alex Metreveli Alexander Irakliyevich Metreveli ( ka, ალექსანდრე მეტრეველი, tr, ; ; born 2 November 1944) is a retired Soviet tennis player of Georgian background. Personal info Metreveli is an honorary citizen of Aust ...
and István Gulyás both refused to compete in the 1964 Wimbledon against Segal, a white South African, because of apartheid. In response, black tennis player
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 ...
said he would play Segal any time because he did not think politics had a place in sports. Weeks later, Segal played Ashe in Illinois, beating him. This prompted the
International Lawn 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 nati ...
to pass a resolution prohibiting racial discrimination and withdrawing from a tournament except for "health or bereavement" reasons. In 1951, he won the singles title at the Irish Open, defeating Guy Jackson in the final in straight sets. He played for the South African
Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...
team in 19 ties in the years 1955, 1957, 1959, and 1961 to 1965, and he compiled a record of 24 wins and 14 losses. After retiring from tennis, Segal took up painting. In 2008 he published a memoir titled ''Hey Big Boy!''. Segal died of cancer on 4 April 2016 at the age of 85.


Grand Slam finals


Doubles (2 runner-ups)


See also

* List of select Jewish tennis players


References


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Segal, Abe 1930 births 2016 deaths South African Jews South African male tennis players Tennis players from Johannesburg Jewish tennis players Deaths from cancer in South Africa 20th-century South African sportsmen