Ricardo Balbiers is a former

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 active in the 1940s and 1950s. Balbiers played

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

in his youth and didn't pick up tennis until the age of 13, when his sister needed someone to compete against. In 1947 he came to the United States as the reigning Chilean national champion and joined the collegiate team at

Rollins College Rollins College is a Liberal arts college, private liberal arts college in Winter Park, Florida. It was founded in November 1885 and has about 30 undergraduate majors and several master's programs. Florida's fourth oldest post-secondary institut ...

. He was runner-up to Herbert Flam for the 1950 NCAA singles title. On tour, Balbiers twice reached the singles third round of the

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 ...

. He was seeded 16th for the 1949 French Championships and made it through to the round of 16, losing to the champion that year Frank Parker. Balbiers won the 1950 Florida State Championships on clay, defeating

Tony Vincent Tony Vincent is an American actor, songwriter, and singer based in New York City and Nashville. Early career Vincent was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His professional career began while attending Belmont University in Nashville, Tennesse ...

in the final in three straight sets. Balbiers played

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 ...

for Chile in 1949, 1952 and 1954, winning seven singles and two doubles rubbers. Two daughters, Alina and Jeannine, both played professional tennis. Elder daughter Alina competed for Mexico in the Federation Cup and married tennis player Luis Baraldi. Jeannine is better known for her collegiate career with Arizona State and married Paul Sullivan, who was also a tennis player.

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Balbiers, Ricardo Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Chilean male tennis players Rollins Tars athletes College men's tennis players in the United States Chilean expatriate tennis players in the United States Place of birth missing (living people)

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