Louis Straight Clark (February 10, 1925 – February 10, 1995) was an American
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...
player in the mid-20th century. He was born in
Des Moines
Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moine ...
,
Iowa
Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...
. He played college tennis at the
University of Southern California
, mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it"
, religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist
, established =
, accreditation = WSCUC
, type = Private research university
, academic_affiliations =
, endowment = $8. ...
.
A member of the US
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the orga ...
team, he was 5–0 in matches in 1953 and 1954 (and the latter year, a member of the winning team).
Clark won the singles title in
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino i ...
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. (; pronounced SAY-shus; born August 30, 1923) . In 1952 he won the Western India Tennis Championships in Bombay against
Władysław Skonecki
Wladyslaw Skonecki (13 July 1920 – 12 June 1983) was a Polish tennis player.
Career
Skonecki was born in Tomsk, in the Soviet Union on 13 July 1920. He played his first tournament in 1945 at the Polish National Championships.
His career hig ...
.
In 1954, he won the singles title at the tournament in
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...
, 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, upsetting the team of future International Hall of Famers
Ken Rosewall
Kenneth Robert Rosewall (born 2 November 1934) is an Australian former world top-ranking amateur and professional tennis player. He won a record 23 Majors in singles, including eight Grand Slam singles titles and, before the Open Era, a record ...
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 Wimbled ...
in the quarterfinals. Clark and Burrows also reached the quarterfinals at the
French National Championships,
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus ( legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
and
Wimbledon.
References
External links
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American male tennis players
Sportspeople from Des Moines, Iowa
Tennis people from Iowa
1925 births
1995 deaths
{{US-tennis-bio-stub