Louis Straight Clark (February 10, 1925 – February 10, 1995) was an American
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 in the mid-20th century. Clark was once ranked world No. 4 in men's singles. He was ranked the No. 5 American player by the USTA for 1953.
He was born in
Des Moines
Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...
,
Iowa
Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...
. He played college tennis at the
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
.
A member of the US
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, he was 5–0 in matches in 1953 and 1954 (and the latter year, a member of the winning team).
Clark won five tournaments in the 1951 season, including the singles title in
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo ( ; ; or colloquially ; , ; ) is an official administrative area of Monaco, specifically the Ward (country subdivision), ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Informally, the name also refers to ...
in 1951 after a five-set win in the final against compatriot
Fred Kovaleski. That same year he defeated
Whitney Reed to reach the final of the Pennsylvania State tennis championship, only to fall to future Hall of Famer
Vic Seixas
Elias Victor Seixas Jr. ( ;
''Los Angeles Times''.
. In 1952 he won the Western India Tennis Championships in Bombay against
Władysław Skonecki.
In 1954, he won the singles title at the tournament in
Cincinnati Masters
The Cincinnati Open (also known as the Cincinnati Masters) is an annual professional tennis event held in Cincinnati, United States. Due to previous sponsorship, it has also been known as: the Thriftway ATP Championships, the Great American I ...
, defeating
Sammy Giammalva, Sr., in the final in three straight sets.
He reached the final at the
Newport Casino Invitational in 1954, only to lose to
in five sets, in a match that lasted more than four hours.
When he teamed with fellow American
Hal Burrows, the pair became one of the top doubles teams of their time. They reached the finals of the U.S. Clay Court Championship, and the semifinals of the
U.S. Nationals
United States nationality law details the conditions in which a person holds United States nationality. In the United States, nationality is typically obtained through provisions in the U.S. Constitution, various laws, and international agree ...
, upsetting the team of future International Hall of Famers
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
Lew Hoad
Lewis Alan Hoad (23 November 1934 – 3 July 1994) was an Australian tennis player whose career ran from 1950 to 1973. Hoad won four Major singles tournaments as an amateur (the Australian Championships, French Championships and two Wimbledons ...
in the quarterfinals. Clark and Burrows also reached the quarterfinals at the
French National Championships,
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
and
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 ...
.
References
External links
*
*
*
American male tennis players
Tennis players from Des Moines, Iowa
1925 births
1995 deaths
20th-century American sportsmen
{{US-tennis-bio-stub