Paul Gerken (born March 15, 1950) 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 each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player from the

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Early life and career

Gerken was born in New York but his family moved to Norwalk,

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

a year after his birth. When he was only 14 he was the top ranked junior in

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

for the 16-year-old age division. In 1968 he was called up to the American junior Davis Cup team. He was the third ranked junior in the country at the time. He was runner-up to Dick Stockton at the

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18s in 1968. A student at Norwalk High School, he won the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference singles championship in 1967 and 1968.

College years

Gerken attended

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

on a tennis scholarship and while there was an

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college player. He later transferred to Trinity University, in

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, where he played beside Dick Stockton and

Brian Gottfried Brian Edward Gottfried (born January 27, 1952) is an American retired tennis player who won 25 singles titles and 54 doubles titles during his professional career. He was the runner-up in singles at the 1977 French Open – Men's singles, 1977 F ...

. Gerken was also an All-American at Trinity University and was a member of the team which won the NCAA Championship in 1972. He also reached the NCAA doubles final that year.

Professional career

Gerken competed in the main singles draw at the US Open every year from 1968 to 1975, as well as in 1977.ATP World Tour Profile
/ref> He appeared three times in both the

French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...

and

Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly called Wimbledon, is a tennis tournament organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Association annually in Wimbledon, London. It is chronologically the ...

. His best performance in a Grand Slam tournament came at the 1973 French Open, where he had wins over Eric Deblicker,

Torben Ulrich Torben Ulrich (4 October 1928 – 20 December 2023) was a Danish writer, musician, filmmaker, and professional tennis player. He was the father of Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich. Biography Ulrich was born on 4 October 1928 in Copenhagen, the ...

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 ...

, before losing his fourth round match to Roger Taylor, in five sets. He never won a Grand Prix or WCT title during his career, but reached six finals, two in singles and four in doubles. Gerken had a winning record against

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 ...

, beating him twice, in 1973 and 1974, and losing just once. He also defeated

Ilie Năstase Ilie Theodoriu Năstase (; born 19 July 1946) is a Romanian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the inaugural world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 40 weeks. Năstase is one of ten play ...

at Salt Lake City in 1973,

John Newcombe John David Newcombe AO OBE (born 23 May 1944) is an Australian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in both men's singles and men's doubles. Newcombe won a combined 26 major titles: seven in singles, a former ...

at Hamburg the same year and

Arthur Ashe Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. (July 10, 1943 – February 6, 1993) was an American professional tennis player. He won three Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, Grand Slam titles in singles and two in doubles. Ashe was the first Black player selected ...

at a Tokyo WCT tournament in 1974. He had surgery in 1975 for a torn rotator cuff and as a result didn't feature at all in the 1976 tennis season. His comeback in 1977 was unsuccessful and he retired the following year.

Coaching

Gerken was the head tennis coach for the men's team at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

from 1979 to 1982. He continued to coach in the New England area until 2011.''The Hour''
"Yesterday’s stars: Gerken looks back at his Wimbledon days"
George Albano, July 8, 2016 Paul Gerken was also the Head Tennis Professional at the Westside Tennis Club in Forest Hills NY

Grand Prix/WCT career finals

Singles: 2 (0–2)

Doubles: 4 (0–4)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gerken, Paul 1950 births Living people American male tennis players Trinity Tigers men's tennis players Stanford Cardinal men's tennis players Tennis players from Connecticut Sportspeople from Norwalk, Connecticut Columbia Lions men's tennis coaches Norwalk High School (Connecticut) alumni American tennis coaches 20th-century American sportsmen