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