William Neil Scanlon (November 13, 1956 – June 2, 2021) was a

tennis player 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 ...

from the United States, who won seven singles and two doubles titles during his 13-year professional career. The right-hander reached his career-high ATP singles ranking of World No. 9 in January 1984. He is also known for having upset top-seeded

John McEnroe John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...

in the fourth round at the 1983 US Open.

Career

After winning the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Singles championships in 1976 as a sophomore for Trinity University (upsetting UCLA's Peter Fleming), Scanlon turned pro and, in his first

Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural ''Grands Prix'') most commonly refers to: * Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition ** List of Formula One Grands Prix, an auto-racing championship *** Monaco Grand Prix, the most prestigious ...

event, defeated world #7

Harold Solomon Harold Solomon (born September 17, 1952) is an American former professional tennis player who played during the 1970s and 1980s. He achieved a career-high world ranking of No. 5 in singles in 1980, and of No. 4 in doubles in 1976. Over the cours ...

to reach the quarter-finals. His first ever ATP singles ranking was No. 154. Later that summer, Scanlon defeated world no. 4

Adriano Panatta Adriano Panatta (born 9 July 1950) is an Italian former professional tennis player. He won the French Open in 1976 French Open – Men's singles, 1976, becoming the first Italian man in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major ...

at the US Open and, with two wins over former world #1

Ilie Năstase Ilie Theodoriu Năstase (; born 19 July 1946) is a Romanian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the inaugural world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 40 weeks. Năstase is one of ten play ...

in early 1977, climbed the rankings to No. 23 by March 1977. After a frustrating season in 1978, Scanlon rebounded in his final tournament of the year to take the title in

Maui Maui (; Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ) is the second largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2). It is the List of islands of the United States by area, 17th-largest in the United States. Maui is one of ...

with wins over

, Harold Solomon, and Peter Fleming. In 1979 he reached the quarter-finals of

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

(losing to

Jimmy Connors James Scott Connors (born September 2, 1952) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 2 ...

) before successfully defending his title in Maui, again beating Fleming in the final. Scanlon peaked in 1983 when he reached the semi-finals of the US Open. He defeated

Henrik Sundström Henrik Sundström (born 29 February 1964) is a former professional male tennis player from Sweden. He is nicknamed Henke. Sundström was at his best on clay and achieved his strongest results on this surface, with his solid and heavy topspin gr ...

, Chris Lewis,

Pat Cash Patrick Hart Cash (born 27 May 1965) is an Australian former professional tennis player and coach. He reached a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 4 in May 1988 and a career-high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 6 in August 1988. Upo ...

, John McEnroe, and Mark Dickson, before losing to

. In 1985 Scanlon underwent two knee surgeries, missing most of the season. He continued to compete through 1989, winning only one more singles title, the 1986

Hall of Fame Championships The Hall of Fame Open is an international tennis tournament that has been held every year in July since 1976 at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, the original location of the U.S. National Championships. It was known ...

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...

. During his career, Scanlon would log wins over eight players who had been or would be ranked #1 in the world, namely

Stan Smith Stanley Roger Smith (born December 14, 1946) is an American former professional tennis player. A world No. 1 player and two-time major singles champion (at the 1971 US Open and 1972 Wimbledon Championships), Smith also paired with Bob Lutz t ...

(twice),

Björn Borg Björn Rune Borg (; born 6 June 1956) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 109 weeks. Borg won 66 singles titles during his caree ...

(three times),

Ivan Lendl Ivan Lendl (; born March 7, 1960) is a Czech-American former professional tennis player and coach. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, he was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis ...

Mats Wilander Mats Arne Olof Wilander (; born 22 August 1964) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...

Boris Becker Boris Franz Becker (; born 22 November 1967) is a German former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Becker won 49 c ...

, and

Andre Agassi Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 101 ...

. Scanlon's other notable victories over top players included wins over

Guillermo Vilas Guillermo Vilas (; born 17 August 1952) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. He was the world No. 1 of the Grand Prix tennis circuit, Grand Prix seasons in 1974, 1975 and 1977. He won 62 singles titles and 16 doubles titles during ...

(career high No. 2) and

Vitas Gerulaitis Vytautas "Vitas" Kevin Gerulaitis (July 26, 1954 – September 17, 1994) was an American professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 3 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in 1978. Gerulaitis won the men's si ...

(career high #3), as well as

(career high No. 4),

(career high No. 4), and

(career high No. 5).

Golden set

Scanlon achieved a golden set against Marcos Hocevar of Brazil in the first round of the WCT Gold Coast Classic at

Delray Beach, Florida Delray Beach is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population of Delray Beach as of April 1, 2020, was 66,846 according to the 2020 United States census, 2020 United States Census. Located in the Miami metropolitan area, De ...

on February 22, 1983. Scanlon won the match, 6–2, 6–0. A golden set is a player winning a set without losing a single point. The feat is recorded in the

Guinness Book of World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

. Only

Tine Scheuer-Larsen Tine Scheuer-Larsen (born 13 March 1966) is a retired tennis player from Denmark. She became Danish Champion in singles in 1981 age 15 as the youngest Danish player ever at the time. She also became the highest ranked Danish female player on 29 S ...

Yaroslava Shvedova Yaroslava Vyacheslavovna Shvedova (; born 12 September 1987) is a Kazakhstani former professional tennis player. Before 2008, she represented her country of birth, Russia. She won one singles title and 13 doubles titles on the WTA Tour, plus o ...

, and

Julian Reister Julian Reister (; born 2 April 1986) is a German retired professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 83, achieved in November 2013. Reister reached the quarterfinals of Buenos Aires in 2013 as a qualifier. Career 20 ...

have since repeated the feat.

Activities and distinctions

Scanlon was inducted into the Intercollegiate Tennis Hall of Fame and the Texas Tennis Hall of Fame. His Golden Set achievement is represented in the

International Tennis Hall of Fame The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, 13 grass tennis courts, an ...

. He served on the ATP Board of Directors during his professional career and also founded the Dallas Youth Foundation in 1984 to provide sports activities to Dallas area youth featuring professional tennis players,

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

, Texas Rangers,

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Divisi ...

, and Olympic athletes. He also served on the board of the Southern California Tennis Association and the

USTA The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national Sport governing body, governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and devel ...

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 ...

committee. He was chairman of the

Carl Reiner Carl Reiner (March 20, 1922 – June 29, 2020) was an American actor, author, comedian, director and screenwriter whose career spanned seven decades. He was the List of awards and nominations received by Carl Reiner, recipient of many awards and ...

Celebrity Pro-Am and was co-founder of the Beverly Hills Invitational Charity Event.

Post-tennis career

Scanlon was a professional investment advisor from 1992 on. He was founder and principal of Advantage Capital Advisors LLC, a registered investment advisor in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. He was formerly the senior partner of The Scanlon Group, a top wealth management team at UBS Financial in Los Angeles.

Author

In 2014, Scanlon authored "Zen Tennis - Playing in the Zone" with co-author Dr. Joe Parent. Parent is a renowned PGA Tour mental game coach, and author of "Zen Golf". Scanlon also authored the book ''Bad News for McEnroe: Blood, Sweat, and Backhands with John, Jimmy, Ilie, Ivan, Bjorn, and Vitas'' in 2004 as a tribute to the era during which he participated on the ATP International Tour. The book focuses on the high-profile personalities of the sport during that era, their rivalries, their celebrity, and the growth of the sport's popularity.

Personal life

Scanlon and his wife, Stephanie, lived in Bel Air, California, and Park City, Utah. Bill Scanlon died of cancer on June 2, 2021, at the age of 64.

Career finals

Singles: 14 (6 titles, 8 runners-up)

Doubles: 8 (6 titles, 2 runner-ups)

Records

* These records were attained in the

Open Era The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Edgbaston, Warwickshire, England, now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today a ...

of tennis.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Scanlon, Bill 1956 births 2021 deaths American male tennis players Tennis players from Dallas Trinity Tigers men's tennis players 20th-century American sportsmen