Bob Giltinan
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Robert Gary Giltinan OAM (born 4 July 1949) is an Australian former professional
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 who was a grass court specialist. He won one singles title and two doubles titles over a twelve-year career spanning the introduction of the open era in 1968 to 1979. He reached a career-high ranking of World No. 16. Giltinan is a direct relative of notable Australian entrepreneur James Joseph Giltinan (
J J Giltinan James Joseph Giltinan (1866–1950) was an Australian entrepreneur who helped to introduce the sport of rugby league football to Australia. The J. J. Giltinan Shield, which is awarded annually to the National Rugby League minor premiers, was na ...
), who helped found the sport of
rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...
football in Australia, and also what is now effectively the world championships for 18 ft skiff class yachts, the
JJ Giltinan International Trophy The JJ Giltinan International Trophy is considered the world's premier 18 foot dinghy, 18-foot skiff open championship, the eponymous brainchild of noted Australian sports entrepreneur J. J. Giltinan. Early days – 1930s and 1940s In the early ...
, contested each year on Sydney Harbour.


Tennis career

Beginning his tennis career in the 1960s, it was halted for two years when he completed National Service with the
Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia. It is a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army ...
during the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
. He won one singles title at
Surbiton Surbiton is a suburban neighbourhood in South West London, within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (RBK). It is next to the River Thames, southwest of Charing Cross. Surbiton was in the Historic counties of England, historic county of ...
in 1974, defeating
Syd Ball Syd Ball (born 24 January 1950) is an Australian former professional tennis player. Ball enjoyed most of his tennis success while playing doubles. During his career, he won seven doubles titles and finished runner-up an additional 14 times. Pa ...
in straight sets, and reached the final of
Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay * Newport (Vietnam), a United States Army and Army of t ...
in 1973, falling to Roger Taylor of Great Britain 8–9 6–8. Giltinan was a member of the winning 1973 and 1977 Australian
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 ...
squads. He also represented the
Cleveland Nets Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania stat ...
in
World Team Tennis World TeamTennis (WTT) was a mixed-gender professional tennis league played with a team format in the United States, which was founded in 1973. The league's season normally took place in the summer months. Players from the ATP and WTA would ...
during the 1970s, partnering
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 ...
,
Marty Riessen Marty Riessen (born December 4, 1941) is an American former amateur and professional tennis player active from the 1960s to the 1980s. He was ranked as high as No. 11 in the world in singles on the ATP rankings in September 1974, though was rank ...
and
Martina Navratilova Martina Navratilova (, ; ; born October18, 1956) is a Czech-American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, singles for 332 weeks (List of WTA number ...
. During the team's only season as the Cleveland-Pittsburgh Nets in 1977, he was the radio play-by-play voice on
WWWE WWWE may refer to: * WWWE (AM), a radio station (1310 AM) licensed to serve Decatur, Georgia, United States * WJZA (AM), a radio station (1100 AM) licensed to serve Hapeville, Georgia, which held the call sign WWWE from 1996 to 2023 * WTAM WTA ...
instead of being an active player. Giltinan is best known for his run into the singles semi-finals of the 1977 Australian Open as a qualifier, where he would lose to John Lloyd of Great Britain. This run matches the best performance of any male qualifier in a Grand Slam. His other notable singles Grand Slam performance was his loss to John Alexander in four sets in the quarter-finals of the 1973 Australian Open. Giltinan's best Grand Slam doubles forays include a three set loss with
Syd Ball Syd Ball (born 24 January 1950) is an Australian former professional tennis player. Ball enjoyed most of his tennis success while playing doubles. During his career, he won seven doubles titles and finished runner-up an additional 14 times. Pa ...
to
Ross Case Ross Case (born 1 November 1951) is an Australian former tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 14. With Geoff Masters, he won two Grand Slam doubles titles: in 1974 at the Australian Open and in 1977 at Wimbledon. He wa ...
and
Geoff Masters Geoff Masters (born 19 September 1950) is an Australian former tennis player. He was part of doubles winning pairs in the US Open, Australian Open & Wimbledon tournaments during the 1970s, currently Masters is a commentator for international te ...
in the 1973 Australian Open final, after defeating the far more famous pairing of
Roche F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche (), is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational corporation, multinational holding healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, ...
/ Newcombe 6–4, 5–7, 12–10 in the semi-finals. He and
Syd Ball Syd Ball (born 24 January 1950) is an Australian former professional tennis player. Ball enjoyed most of his tennis success while playing doubles. During his career, he won seven doubles titles and finished runner-up an additional 14 times. Pa ...
also reached the 1970 Australian Open semi-finals, falling to John Alexander and
Phil Dent Philip Clive Dent (born 14 February 1950) is a former professional tennis player. Dent's high water mark as a pro singles player was reaching the Australian Open final in 1974, which he lost to Jimmy Connors in four sets. Dent was also the men ...
11–9 3–6, 4–6, 2–6. Giltinan won 2 doubles titles in his career. In 1978, he and
Colin Dibley Colin Dibley (born 19 September 1944) is a former tennis player from Australia. Dibley once held the title for the fastest serve in the world at 148 m.p.h. During his professional career, he also won four singles and seventeen doubles titles. ...
defeated
Marcelo Lara Marcelo Lara (born October 5, 1947) is a former professional 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 ...
and
Eliot Teltscher Eliot Teltscher (born March 15, 1959) is a retired professional American tennis player. He won the 1983 French Open Mixed Doubles. His highest ranking in singles was No. 6 in the world and in doubles was No. 38 in the world. Tennis career Earl ...
at the 1978
Columbus Open The Columbus Open, also known as the Buckeye Tennis Championships or Buckeye Open, is a defunct affiliated men's tennis tournament played from 1970 to 1984 in Columbus, Ohio, in the United States. The inaugural edition in 1970 was an invitationa ...
in straight sets. Unlike his other titles, this was on clay. In 1979, Giltinan and
Phil Dent Philip Clive Dent (born 14 February 1950) is a former professional tennis player. Dent's high water mark as a pro singles player was reaching the Australian Open final in 1974, which he lost to Jimmy Connors in four sets. Dent was also the men ...
defeated
Ion Țiriac Ion Țiriac (; born 9 May 1939), also known as the "Brașov Bulldozer", is a Romanian businessman and former professional tennis and ice hockey player. He has been president of the Romanian Tennis Federation. A former singles top 10 player o ...
and
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 ...
in the final of
Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...
. Also notable is their defeat of
Mark Edmondson Mark Edmondson (born 28 June 1954 in Gosford, New South Wales) is a retired Australian professional tennis player. Edmondson won the 1976 Australian Open while ranked 212th in the world, and remains the lowest-ranked winner of a Grand Slam ...
and John Marks in the semi-finals. Aside from the finals at the Australian Open, Giltinan reached one other doubles final. In 1978, he and
Colin Dibley Colin Dibley (born 19 September 1944) is a former tennis player from Australia. Dibley once held the title for the fastest serve in the world at 148 m.p.h. During his professional career, he also won four singles and seventeen doubles titles. ...
were defeated by
Tim Gullikson Timothy Ernest Gullikson (September 8, 1951 – May 3, 1996) was a tennis player and coach who was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin and grew up in Onalaska, Wisconsin in the United States. Gullikson was Pete Sampras' coach from 1992 to 1995. Tennis ...
and
Tom Gullikson Tom Gullikson (born September 8, 1951) is a tennis coach and former professional tennis player born in La Crosse, Wisconsin and raised in Onalaska, Wisconsin in the United States. Career During his career as a player, Gullikson won 15 ATP recogn ...
at Newport.


Later life

On 28 July 2000, Giltinan was awarded the
Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, off ...
for service as a "Previous player, coach and manager of elite players. Has been NSW state coach and national selector". He was also awarded the
Australian Defence Medal The Australian Defence Medal is an Australian military decoration which recognises current and former Australian Defence Force personnel who completed an initial enlistment period, or four years' service. It was established on 20 March 2006; how ...
. In September 2008, Giltinan stood as an independent candidate for B Ward (Comprising
Manly Vale Manly Vale is a suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 17 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Northern Beaches Council, in the Northern Beaches region ...
, Seaforth,
Freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...
and
Curl Curl Curl Curl is a suburb of northern Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia, north-east of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area of Northern Beaches Council. It is part of the ...
) of
Warringah Council Warringah Council was a Local government areas of New South Wales, local government area in the Northern Beaches (Sydney), northern beaches region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It was proclaimed on 7 March 1906 as the W ...
for a four-year term and was elected on 13 September 2008 with 21.2% of the ward vote (the highest of the nine tickets). He was re-elected to B Ward at the 2012 local government elections on 8 September 2012 with 25.1% of the vote (the second-highest of six tickets), after which he was elected
Deputy Mayor The deputy mayor (also known as vice mayor and assistant mayor) is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official that is present in many local governments. Duties and functions Many elected deputy mayors are members of the loca ...
for a single term (2012–2013). With the amalgamation of Warringah Council into
Northern Beaches Council The Northern Beaches Council is a local government areas of New South Wales, local government area located in the Northern Beaches region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The council was formed on 12 May 2016 after the a ...
on 12 May 2016, Giltinan ceased being a Councillor but was appointed by Administrator Dick Persson to serve on one of the advisory committees set up from former Councillors to advise the new Council. In 2017, Giltinan announced his independent ticket for the Curl Curl Ward of Northern Beaches Council. At the first elections for the council on 9 September 2017, Giltinan's ticket, the only non-registered political party ticket, received 12% of the vote in Curl Curl Ward (the lowest of the five ward tickets) and was not elected. On 10 June 2019, Giltinan was awarded the
Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of then ...
(OAM) for "service to tennis, and to the community of the Northern Beaches". On 14 September 2024, Giltinan stood alongside Vincent De Luca OAM and Tammy Cook as independent candidates for Narrabeen Ward of
Northern Beaches Council The Northern Beaches Council is a local government areas of New South Wales, local government area located in the Northern Beaches region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The council was formed on 12 May 2016 after the a ...
. Vincent De Luca OAM (lead candidate) and Giltinan were elected for a four year term with 53.5% of the ward vote (the highest of the three tickets).


Career titles


Singles (1)


Doubles (2)


Honours and awards


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Giltinan, Bob Australian male tennis players Independent politicians in Australia New South Wales local councillors Deputy mayors of places in Australia Tennis players from Sydney Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal 1949 births Living people Sportsmen from New South Wales 20th-century Australian sportsmen