Gordon Forbes (21 February 1934 – 9 December 2020) was a South African 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 and author. Forbes won the singles title of the South African Championships in 1959 and 1961 and was runner-up in 1955, 1962, 1963 and 1964. He won the Tuscaloosa Grass Court Invitational in 1962, defeating Rod Laver in the final. During the 1950s and 1960s, he was the doubles partner of countryman

Abe Segal Alan Abraham Segal (23 October 1930 – 4 April 2016) was a South African tennis 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 Forb ...

. They were considered one of the best doubles teams in the world.

Career

Forbes learnt to play tennis in his childhood on the family farm. At age 12, he played and won his first junior tournament in

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

. Forbes won the singles title of the South African Championships in 1959 and 1961 and was runner-up in 1955, 1962, 1963 and 1964. He won the Tuscaloosa Grass Court Invitational in 1962, defeating reigning U.S. No. 1 Whitney Reed in a marathon semifinal, and World No. 1 Rod Laver in a close four set final. 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 14 ties in the period 1955 to 1963 and compiled a record of 20 wins and 11 losses.

Later life

After retiring from tennis, Forbes wrote three books about his experiences as a player, his contemporaries in the sport and other tennis topics. He died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

on 9 December 2020, at age 86, during the

COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa The COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa was part of the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). On 5 March 2020, Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize had confirme ...

Grand Slam finals

Doubles (1 runner-up)

Mixed doubles (1 title)

Bibliography

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References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Forbes, Gordon South African male tennis players French Championships (tennis) champions Tennis players from Cape Town 1934 births 2020 deaths Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles Tennis writers White South African people Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa People from Burgersdorp 20th-century South African sportsmen Tennis players from the Eastern Cape