Dennis "Dinny" Pails (4 March 1921 – 22 November 1986) was an Australian

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 ...

champion. Pails was born in England, but moved to Australia in 1922 at age 1. Pails won the men's singles championship at the

Australian Championships The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events every year, held be ...

in 1947. Pails defeated

John Bromwich John Edward Bromwich (14 November 1918 – 21 October 1999) was an Australian tennis player who, along with fellow countryman Vivian McGrath, was one of the first great players to use a two-handed backhand. He was a natural left-hander, though ...

in the final in five sets, saving a match point in the process. Pails played eight

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 ...

matches between 1946 and 1947, winning three matches and losing five. Pails turned professional at the end of 1947. He played on the pro tour off and on for many years. Pails reached as high as world No. 6 in the 1947 amateur rankings, and Bud Collins ranked him the world No. 4 pro in 1948. According to the tour promoter

Jack Kramer John Albert Kramer (August 1, 1921 – September 12, 2009) was an American tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s, and a pioneer promoter who helped drive the sport towards professionalism at the elite level. Kramer also ushered in the serve-an ...

, Pails beat

Pancho Segura Francisco Olegario Segura Cano (June 20, 1921 – November 18, 2017), better known as Pancho "Segoo" Segura, was a leading tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s, both as an amateur and as a professional. He was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, ...

41 to 31 matches in the 1948 tour, "but that was when Sego was still learning how to play fast surfaces." Kramer beat Pails "55 times with 1 draw, but somehow we were able to forget that off the court." In November and December 1950, Pails won a four-man tour of New Zealand against

Pancho Gonzales Ricardo Alonso "Pancho" González (May 9, 1928 – July 3, 1995), known sometimes as Richard Gonzales, was an American tennis player. He won 15 major singles titles, including two U.S. National Championships in 1948 and 1949, and 13 Professi ...

Don Budge John Donald Budge (June 13, 1915 – January 26, 2000) was an American tennis player. He is most famous as the first tennis player — male or female — to win all four Grand Slam tournaments in one year and complete the Grand Slam. Budge was ...

, and Frank Parker.McCauley (2000) P.196

Grand Slam finals

Singles (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Doubles (1 runner-up)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pails, Dinny 1921 births 1986 deaths Australian Championships (tennis) champions Australian Championships (tennis) junior champions Australian male tennis players English emigrants to Australia Tennis players from Nottingham Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's singles Professional tennis players before the Open Era Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' singles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' doubles 20th-century Australian sportsmen