Richard Crealy (born 18 September 1944) is an Australian former

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...

player most notable for reaching the final of the

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. ...

in 1970, being a member of the 1970 Australian

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the orga ...

Team, and winning three Grand Slam titles in doubles.

Tennis career

Crealy was born in Sydney in 1944. In 1968 he achieved his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open with his fellow countryman and team mate Allan Stone in doubles. He also won the mixed doubles with

Billie Jean King Billie Jean King (née Moffitt; born November 22, 1943) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. King won 39 major titles: 12 in singles, 16 in women's doubles, and 11 in mixed doubles. King was a member of the victorious United State ...

. Crealy won the Men's Doubles at the 1974

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and v ...

with Onny Parun over Stan Smith and Bob Lutz. In 1970, Crealy had his most successful season, reaching No. 5 on the Grand Prix rankings. In this year, he reached the singles final at the Australian Open, where he lost to American player

Arthur Ashe Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. (July 10, 1943 – February 6, 1993) was an American professional tennis player who won three Grand Slam singles titles. He started to play tennis at six years old. He was the first black player selected to the Uni ...

, as well as the quarter-finals of the French Open. He also won the

Swedish Open Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used b ...

in Båstad and represented Australia in the

with a 4–2 singles record and 2–0 doubles record. In 1974, he won another Grand Slam Title in doubles, combining with New Zealander Onny Parun in the French Open. Crealy retired from the

ATP Tour The ATP Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The second-tier tour is the ATP Challenger Tour and the third-tier is the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour. The equivalent women's organisa ...

in 1978, but continued having success for many years on the Veteran's Tour, playing in many of the "Legends" tournaments at the Australian Open. He also still plays Pro-Ams, often supporting The Starlight Foundation in its annual tournament in Sydney. Dick Crealy is a Life Member of the Australian Davis Cup Foundation.

1969 US Open

There is some confusion over the 1969 US Open Championship title, which is held by Crealy and Allan Stone conjointly with Ken Rosewall and Fred Stolle. The era of Open Tennis commenced in 1968, and at that time Boston was the home of the US National Doubles championship. However, the agents of some contract professionals demanded guaranteed prize money which could not be covered by the tournament. Accordingly, contract professionals boycotted the tournament, with many playing instead at Forest Hills, which was won by Rosewall and Stolle. Crealy and Stone won the Doubles in Boston in 1969 as professionals, defeating Charlie Pasarell and Bill Bowrey. In 1971, the USTA and

Association of Tennis Professionals The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is the governing body of the men's professional tennis circuits – the ATP Tour, the ATP Challenger Tour and the ATP Champions Tour. It was formed in September 1972 by Donald Dell, Jack Kramer, and ...

decided to combine the winners of both tournaments to make the Grand Slam tournament. This was not an issue for the winners of 1968 as both tournaments were won by Smith and Lutz. Crealy and Stone were asked if they would agree to share the 1969 title with Rosewall and Stolle - they readily agreed, especially as the latter were two of the great Australian players and because "tennis was played with much goodwill in those days."

Grand Slam finals

Singles (1 runner-up)

Doubles (2 titles)

Mixed Doubles (1 title)

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline

Singles

Note: The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December.

Open era finals

Singles (2 titles, 2 runner-ups)

Doubles (8 titles, 12 runner-ups)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Crealy, Dick 1944 births Living people Australian Championships (tennis) champions Australian male tennis players French Open champions Tennis players from Sydney Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles 20th-century Australian people 21st-century Australian people