Sydney Levy (17 October 1922 – 22 November 2015) was a South African tennis player. He competed at Wimbledon, the

French Championships The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

, the U.S. Open, and

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 ...

, and won a silver medal at the

Maccabiah Games The Maccabiah Games (a.k.a. the World Maccabiah Games; he, משחקי המכביה, or משחקי המכביה העולמית; sometimes referred to as the "Jewish Olympics"), first held in 1932, are an international Jewish and Israeli multi-s ...

in Israel.

Biography

Levy attended the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

in South Africa, and won the university singles title in tennis in 1942. Levy competed in singles at the

1949 French Championships The 1949 French Championships (now known as the French Open) was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland-Garros in Paris, France. The tournament ran from 18 May until 29 May. It was the 53rd staging of the ...

in Paris. In Round 1 Levy defeated Belgian

Pierre Geelhand de Merxem Pierre Geelhand de Merxem (1910 – 1982) was a Belgian tennis player of the 1930s and 1940s. Geelhand was Belgium's national singles champion in 1938 and won a further 12 national titles in doubles. In 1946 he won through to the third round at ...

in straight sets, and in Round 2 he lost to

Marcel Bernard Marcel Bernard (; 18 May 1914 – 29 April 1994) was a French tennis player. He is best remembered for having won the French Championships in 1946 (reaching the semifinals a further three times). Bernard initially intended to play only in the dou ...

of France in four sets. Levy competed in Men Singles Tennis at the

1949 Wimbledon Championships The 1949 Wimbledon Championships took place on the outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Criquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The tournament was held from Monday 20 June until Saturday 2 July. It was the 63rd st ...

in England. In Round 1 he defeated

Esmail Sohikish Esmail Sohikish is a former tennis player from Iran. Career Sohikish competed at the 1949 Wimbledon Championships The 1949 Wimbledon Championships took place on the outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Criquet Club in Wim ...

of Iran, in Round 2 he defeated

Paul Rémy Paul Rémy (17 February 1923 – 14 March 2001) was a French No. 1 tennis player. He was active in the 1950s, playing in Wimbledon, the US Open, the French Open and the Davis Cup.

of France in five sets, and in Round 3 he was beaten by Vladimír Černík of

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. He also played in Gentlemen's Doubles in the competition, with

Nigel Cockburn Nigel M. Cockburn was a South African tennis player of Scottish descent. A native of Natal, Cockburn was active on tour in the 1940s and 1950s. While touring the British Isles in 1949 he made the fourth round at Wimbledon and won both the Irish Ch ...

of South Africa, losing in Round 1 to American

Budge Patty Edward John Patty (February 11, 1924 – October 4, 2021), better known as Budge Patty, was an American world no. 1 tennis player whose career spanned a period of 15 years after World War II. He won two Grand Slam singles titles in 1950. He wa ...

and South African

Eric Sturgess Eric William Sturgess (10 May 1920 – 14 January 2004) was a South African male tennis player and winner of six Grand Slam doubles titles. He also reached the singles final of a Grand Slam tournament three times but never won. Sturgess was ra ...

. Levy competed at the 1951 U.S. Open in New York City. In Round 1 Levy defeated American

Frank Shields Francis Xavier Alexander Shields Sr. (November 18, 1909 – August 19, 1975) was an American amateur tennis player of the 1920s and 1930s, and an actor known for '' Hoosier Schoolboy'' (1937). Tennis career Between 1928 and 1945 he was ranked ...

in straight sets, and in Round 2 he lost to American

Straight Clark Louis Straight Clark (February 10, 1925 – February 10, 1995) was an American tennis player in the mid-20th century. He was born in Des Moines, Iowa. He played college tennis at the University of Southern California. A member of the US Davi ...

in straight sets. He also competed in men's singles in the

1951 Wimbledon Championships The 1951 Wimbledon Championships took place on the outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The tournament was held from Monday 25 June until Saturday 7 July 1951. It was the 65 ...

, where he was defeated by

Jean Claude Molinari Jean-Claude Molinari (28 August 1931 – 22 April 1999) was a French former tennis player, originally amateur and later professional. At Wimbledon, he reached the quarter-finals of the men's singles in 1959. In the Davis Cup in 1954, he de ...

of France in five sets."Sydney Levy Men's Singles Grand Slams,"
ITF Tennis. Levy competed as well in men's singles in the

1951 French Championships The 1951 French Championships (now known as the French Open) was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland-Garros in Paris, France. The tournament ran from 23 May until 3 June. It was the 55th staging of the ...

. There, in Round 1 he defeated Marcello Del Bello of Italy in straight sets, and in Round 2 he was defeated by

Dick Savitt Richard Savitt (March 4, 1927 – January 6, 2023) was an American tennis player. In 1951, at the age of 24, he won both the Australian and Wimbledon men's singles championships. Savitt was mostly ranked world No. 2 the same year behind fellow ...

of the United States in five sets. At both the 1949

Welsh Championships The Welsh Championships (Welsh: Pencampwriaethau Cymru) its original name until 1970 was also known as the Championship of Wales (1951), the Welsh Open (Welsh: Cymraeg Agored) (1947–50) the Greenshields Welsh Championships and Greenshields Wel ...

and the 1949

Bristol Open The Bristol Open, originally known as the West of England Championships and the West of England Lawn Tennis Championships is a defunct tennis tournament that was originally hosted in Bath, Somerset, England, from 1881 till 1895. It was staged b ...

, Levy lost in the finals to

Felicisimo Ampon Felicisimo Ampon (October 27, 1920 – October 7, 1997) was a tennis player from the Philippines. He is considered to be the greatest Filipino tennis player in history, and at only 5 foot 3 inches tall, though closer to 4 ft 11, was once co ...

of the Philippines. At both the 1951 and 1952 South African Open, he lost in the finals to

of South Africa. Levy played Davis Cup for South Africa in 1951 against the Netherlands and Italy. Levy was Jewish, and competing at the

1953 Maccabiah Games Eight hundred ninety athletes representing 23 countries competed in the 1953 4th Maccabiah Games, held September 20 to 29, in 18 branches of sports. Israeli President Itzhak Ben-Zvi opened the Games at Ramat Gan Stadium in Tel Aviv District, in f ...

in Israel, he won a silver medal, losing in the finals to American

Grant Golden Grant Golden (August 21, 1929 – December 15, 2018 in Chicago, Illinois) was an American amateur tennis player in the 1940s and 1950s. Golden was ranked in the U.S. top 10 in singles in 1953, 1956, and 1957, and was ranked # 2 in the U ...

. Levy died in

Mount Vernon, New York Mount Vernon is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is an inner suburb of New York City, immediately to the north of the borough of the Bronx. As of the 2020 census, Mount Vernon had a population of 73,893, making it th ...

on November 22, 2015, at the age of 93.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Levy, Syd 1922 births 2015 deaths South African male tennis players Jewish South African sportspeople Jewish tennis players Maccabiah Games medalists in tennis Competitors at the 1953 Maccabiah Games Maccabiah Games silver medalists for South Africa South African Jews South Africa national tennis team players University of the Witwatersrand alumni

Biography

See also

References

External links