Tennis/Catalogs/Famous players

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This is a supplement to the article about Tennis and to the articles about the individual players.

Under construction: this will be a list of famous players, in chronological order. Although other players will also be included, this list will, at a minimum, include all players who have ever been considered to be the World No. 1 player or Co-No. 1 for an entire year.

Name Biographical Technique Record
Event S D MD Wins
Tony Wilding
(Anthony Frederick Wilding)

Nationality: NZ

Birth: October 31, 1883, Christchurch, New Zealand
Death: May 9, 1915, near Neuve Chapelle, Pas de Calais, France

Right handed
Class: Amateur only
Strength:Hit his drives with great pace and overspin; defense and baseline play

Grand Slam  6  5    11
Davis Cup  15-6  6-3  6 teams wins
World #1 player  1913
National #1 player  {{{national rank years}}}
Trivia: Joined the Royal Marines in World War I, rose to Captain; along with the American Joe Hunt, probably the most prominent tennis player ever killed on active service
Maurice McLoughlin
(Maurice Evans McLoughlin)

Info: Red or The California Comet

Nationality: American

Birth: January 7, 1890, Carson City, Nevada
Death: December 10, 1957, Hermosa Beach, California

Right handed
Class: Amateur only
Strength:"Cannonball" serve; overhead smash; volleying
Weakness:Retired at 29, perhaps worn out from his violent on-court exertions
Grand Slam  2  3    5
Davis Cup  9-4  3-4  4 teams wins
World #1 player  1914
National #1 player  {{{national rank years}}}
Trivia: The first of the great serve-and-volley attackers
Richard Williams
(R. Norris Williams)

Info: Known variously as Richard, Dick, and R. Norris

Nationality: American

Birth: January 29, 1891, Geneva, Switzerland
Death: June 2, 1968, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania

Right handed
Class: Amateur only
Strength:Took ball on the rise using the Continental grip, going for winners on every shot; unbeatable when his game was "on"
Weakness:Extremely erratic, could lose to much inferior players
Grand Slam  2  3  1  6
Davis Cup  6-3  4-0  6 teams wins
World #1 player  Was the U.S.A. No. 1 in 1916, when there were no world rankings because of World War I
National #1 player  {{{national rank years}}}
Trivia: Was a Titanic survivor, nearly had his legs amputated after being rescued from the near-freezing waters.
Bill Tilden
(William Tatem Tilden, Jr., changed to William Tatem Tilden II in the 1910s)

Info: Big Bill Tilden

Nationality: American

Birth: February 10, 1893, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Death: June 5, 1953, Los Angeles, California

Right handed
Class:
Strength:"Cannonball" serve; all-court game; speed and court coverage; intelligence and analytic ability to change strategy and tactics during matches
Weakness:Initially, his backhand; possibly his overhead smash
Grand Slam  10  6  5  21
Davis Cup  25-5  9-2  11 teams wins
World #1 player  1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1931, second most to Pancho Gonzales
National #1 player  {{{national rank years}}}
Trivia: Amateur until December 31, 1930; beat Karel Koželuh before 14,000 in his professional debut at Madison Square Garden on February 18, 1931; thereafter toured for many years against other top professionals. Served two periods of incarceration near Los Angeles for morals charges involving underage males
Davis Cup info: On 7 consecutive winning teams, 1920 through 1926, still a record
Bill Johnston
(William M. Johnston)

Info: Little Bill Johnston

Nationality: American

Birth: November 2, 1894, San Francisco, California
Death: May 1, 1946, San Francisco, California

Right handed
Class: Amateur only; retired from competition in 1927
Strength:Topspin forehand drive hit shoulder-high with a Western grip; volleying from the service line
Weakness:Backhand, which he hit with the same face of the racquet as his forehand; occasional physical fraility
Grand Slam  3  3  1  7
Davis Cup  14-3  4-0  8 teams wins
World #1 player  1919
National #1 player  {{{national rank years}}}
Trivia: Died of tuberculosis at age 51
Davis Cup info: On 7 consecutive winning teams, 1920 through 1926, still a record
Gerald Patterson
(Gerald Leighton Patterson)

Info: Sometimes called The Human Catapul in Australia because of his hard serve

Nationality: Australian

Birth: December 17, 1895, Melbourne, Australia
Death: June 13, 1967, Melbourne, Australia

Right handed
Class: Amateur only
Strength:Very hard serve, both flat and twist; smash; volleying; forehand

Grand Slam  3  5  1  9
Davis Cup  21-10  11-4  6 teams wins
World #1 player  1919
National #1 player  {{{national rank years}}}
Trivia: Won the Military Cross with Australian army in World War I; nephew of diva Dame Nellie Melba
Jacques Brugnon
(Jacques Brugnon)

Info: Called Toto; was also one of the iconic French Four Musketeers tennis players

Nationality: French

Birth: May 11, 1895, Paris, France
Death: March 20, 1978, Paris, France

Right handed
Class: Amateur only as a player; for a while was a teaching professional in California
Strength:Doubles -- was the doubles specialist of the Musketeers; "A player of rare stroke variety and delicacy of touch." [1]

Grand Slam  10  2    12
Davis Cup  4-2  22-9  11 teams wins
World #1 player  
National #1 player  {{{national rank years}}}
Trivia: Oldest and smallest of the Musketeers; nearly made the finals of the 1926 Wimbledon championship, having 5 match points in the semi-finals against Bob Kinney without winning any of them
Davis Cup info: On 6 consecutive winning teams, from 1927 through 1932, but actually played in only 4 of them
Jean Borotra
(Jean Robert Borotra)

Info: Called The Bounding Basque (le Basque bondissant in French); was also one of the iconic French Four Musketeers tennis players

Nationality: French

Birth: August 13, 1898, Domaine du Pouy, in the Basque Pyrenees country near Biarritz, France
Death: July 17, 1994, Arbonne, France

Right handed
Class: Amateur only
Strength:Attacking game and volleying; skillful gamesmanship; a great indoor player who won the French indoor title 12 times, the British 11, and the U.S. 4

Grand Slam  4  9  3  16
Davis Cup  19-12  17-6  17 teams wins
World #1 player  
National #1 player  {{{national rank years}}}
Trivia: Always wore a blue beret during his matches; intensely disliked by Bill Tilden, the consummate showman, master of gamesmanship, and show-off — Tilden considered Borotra to be a show-off "a charlatan, the greatest faker in tennis history";[2] "Borotra [Tilden wrote] was what passes for 'typically' French. That is to say, he had all the charm, warmth, glamour and insincerity which is Paris." [3]
Davis Cup info: On 6 consecutive winning teams, from 1927 through 1932;
Henri Cochet
(Henri Jean Cochet)

Info: Called The Ballboy of Lyons, was also one of the iconic French Four Musketeers tennis players

Nationality: French

Birth: December 14, 1901, Lyons, France
Death: April 1, 1987, St. Germain-en-Laye, France

Right handed
Class: Amateur until 1934; had an undistinguished professional career; reinstated as an amateur in 1945
Strength:Taking the ball on the rise to make volleys and half-volleys; overhead; successful shots from apparently impossible positions; winning matches that apparently had been lost
Weakness:"A weak serve, he seldom bothered to lob, and he had a backhand which Tilden characterized as 'a little too cramped and defensive.' "[4]
Grand Slam  7  5  3  15
Davis Cup  34-8  10-6  11 teams wins
World #1 player  1928, 1929
National #1 player  {{{national rank years}}}
Trivia: The only one of the Four Musketeers who turned professional
René Lacoste
(Jean René Lacoste)

Info: Called The Crocodile, mostly in France, or The Alligator, mostly in the United States; there are differing explanations for the origin of his nickname; was also one of the iconic French Four Musketeers tennis players

Nationality: French

Birth: July 2, 1904, Paris, France
Death: October 12, 1996, St. Jean-de-Luz, France

Right handed
Class: Amateur only
Strength:Relentless backcourt returning; passing shots and lobs
Weakness:Fragile health; retired in 1929 at age 25
Grand Slam  7  3    10
Davis Cup  32-8  8-3  6 teams wins
World #1 player  1926, 1927
National #1 player  {{{national rank years}}}
Trivia: For many years his polo shirts with the crocodile logo on the breast have been sold worldwide; developed the first successful metal racket, the Wilson T2000, used by Jimmy Connors; his daughter, Catherine Lacoste, won the U.S. Open gold title in 1967
Ellsworth Vines
(Henry Ellsworth Vines, Jr.)

Info: Called Elly

Nationality: American

Birth: September 29, 1911, Los Angeles, California
Death: March 17, 1994

Right handed
Class: Amateur until 1933, then a touring professional through 1939
Strength:Tremendously hard serve and forehand, both hit flat with no spin, "murderous" overhead, good volleying
Weakness:Very erratic, played with no margin of safety when hitting shots
Grand Slam  3  2  1  6
Davis Cup  13-3  0  2 teams wins
World #1 player  1932, 1935, 1936, 1937
National #1 player  {{{national rank years}}}
Trivia: Lost interest in tennis and at 28 became a professional golfer; won one professional golf tournament and reached the semi-finals of the 1951 PGA championship.

References

  1. Wallis Myers, quoted in Total Tennis, The Ultimate Tennis Encyclopedia, edited by Bud Collins, Sport Classic Books, Toronto, 2003, page 650
  2. Big Bill Tilden, The Triumphs and the Tragedy - Frank DeFord, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1976, page 139
  3. Big Bill Tilden, The Triumphs and the Tragedy - Frank DeFord, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1976, page 139
  4. Big Bill Tilden, The Triumphs and the Tragedy - Frank DeFord, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1976, page 142

Sources

  • Big Bill Tilden, The Triumphs and the Tragedy - Frank DeFord, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1976, ISBN 0-671-22254-6
  • Total Tennis, The Ultimate Tennis Encyclopedia, edited by Bud Collins, Sport Classic Books, Toronto, 2003