Kurt Nielsen (19 November 1930 – 11 June 2011) was a Danish tennis player. He was born in Copenhagen, and was the first Danish tennis player ever to have played in a men's singles final in a
Grand Slam tournament.
Nielsen reached the singles 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 ...
in 1953 (beating
Ken Rosewall
Kenneth Robert Rosewall (born 2 November 1934) is an Australian former World number one male tennis player rankings, world No. 1 professional tennis player. Rosewall won 147 singles titles, including 23 majors: a record 15 Major professional te ...
and
Jaroslav Drobný, then losing to
Vic Seixas
Elias Victor Seixas Jr. ( ;
''Los Angeles Times''.
)
and 1955 (beating Rosewall, then losing to
Tony Trabert). Both times he reached the final, he was unseeded. Before this, he won the boys' singles at Wimbledon in 1947 (defeating
Sven Davidson
Sven Viktor Davidson (13 July 1928 – 28 May 2008) was a Sweden, Swedish tennis player who became the first Swede to win a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam title when he won the French Championships in 1957 French Championships – Men's singles ...
). Besides his successes at Wimbledon, he won the boys' singles at the French Open and reached the quarterfinals in the
U.S. Championships in 1953.
With
Althea Gibson, Nielsen won the U.S. Open mixed doubles in 1957, thereby becoming the first Dane to have won a Grand Slam event. During his long career, he won around 30 international titles, played 96
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 for Denmark (with a 53–43 record), and holds the record of having won the most Danish national tennis championships (50). Nielsen turned professional in 1960 and played on the pro circuit.
After ending his active career, Nielsen held numerous honourable positions in leading international tennis associations as well as served as the supervisor and referee at many Grand Slam events. He was a commentator on the Danish version of the TV channel Eurosport until late 2006.
Nielsen was the grandfather of Danish tennis player
Frederik Løchte Nielsen.
F. Løchte tættere på Wimbledon
, tv2.dk 20. juni 2007 His grandson, at the 2012 Wimbledon men's doubles event, became the second Dane to win a Grand Slam tournament.
Grand Slam finals
Singles: (2 runner-ups)
Mixed doubles: (1 title, 1 runner-up)
Singles performance timeline
The following lists main draw appearances for Grand Slam and pre-Open Era Professional Major tournaments only.
Note: 1 First round bye
References
External links
*
*
*
* Kurt Nielsen and Torben Ulrich (in dark sweater) play Tony Trabert and Vic Seixas
Elias Victor Seixas Jr. ( ;
''Los Angeles Times''.
at Kjøbenhavns Boldklub
Kjøbenhavns Boldklub (known simply as KB) was a Danish professional multi-sports club based in Copenhagen. The club was founded on 26 April 1876 on the grassy fields in outer Copenhagen which later became Fælledparken.
Tennis has been played s ...
, Frederiksberg, Denmark in 1954
Link to video stream.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nielsen, Kurt
1930 births
2011 deaths
Danish male tennis players
French Championships junior (tennis) champions
Tennis players from Copenhagen
United States National champions (tennis)
Wimbledon junior champions
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles
Professional tennis players before the Open Era
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' singles
20th-century Danish sportsmen