Tennis/Catalogs/Famous players

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.

• Tony Wilding
  • Legal name: Anthony Frederick Wilding
  • Date of birth: October 31, 1883, Christchurch, New Zealand
  • Date of death: May 9, 1915, near Neuve Chapelle, Pas de Calais, France
  • Nationality: New Zealander
  • Handedness: right
  • Amateur or professional: Amateur only
  • Most prominent strengths: Hit his drives with great pace and overspin; defense and baseline play
  • Most prominent weaknesses:
  • 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
  • World No. 1 player or Co-No. 1: 1 time, 1913
  • Davis Cup: 6 years; on 4 winning teams; 15-6 in singles, 6-3 in doubles
  • Grand Slam tournament victories: 11 victories in singles (6) and doubles (5)
• Maurice McLoughlin
  • Legal name: Maurice Evans McLoughlin, called Red or The California Comet
  • Date of birth: January 7, 1890, Carson City, Nevada
  • Date of death: December 10, 1957, Hermosa Beach, California
  • Nationality: American
  • Handedness: Right
  • Amateur or professional: Amateur only
  • Most prominent strengths: "Cannonball" serve; overhead smash; volleying
  • Most prominent weaknesses: Retired at 29, perhaps worn out from his violent on-court exertions
  • Trivia: The first of the great serve-and-volley attackers
  • World No. 1 player or Co-No. 1: 1 time, 1914
  • Davis Cup: 4 years; on 1 winning team; 9-4 in singles, 3-4 in doubles
  • Grand Slam tournament victories: 5 victories in singles (2) and doubles (3)
• Richard Williams
  • Legal name: R. Norris Williams; he was known variously as Richard, Dick, and R. Norris
  • Date of birth: January 29, 1891, Geneva, Switzerland
  • Date of death: June 2, 1968, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
  • Nationality: American
  • Handedness: Right
  • Amateur or professional: Amateur only
  • Most prominent strengths: Took ball on the rise using the Continental grip, going for winners on every shot; unbeatable when his game was "on"
  • Most prominent weaknesses: Extremely erratic, could lose to much inferior players
  • Trivia: Was a Titanic survivor, nearly had his legs amputated after being rescued from the near-freezing waters
  • World No. 1 player or Co-No. 1: Was the U.S.A. No. 1 in 1916, when there were no world rankings because of World War I
  • Davis Cup: 6 years; on 5 winning teams; 6-3 in singles, 4-0 in doubles
  • Grand Slam tournament victories: 6 victories in singles (2), doubles (3), and mixed doubles (1)
• Big Bill Tilden
  • Legal name: William Tatem Tilden, Jr., changed to William Tatem Tilden II in the 1910s
  • Date of birth: February 10, 1893, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  • Date of death: June 5, 1953, Los Angeles, California
  • Nationality: American
  • Handedness: Right
  • Amateur or professional: 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
  • Most prominent strengths: "Cannonball" serve; all-court game; speed and court coverage; intelligence and analytic ability to change strategy and tactics during matches
  • Most prominent weaknesses: Initially, his backhand; possibly his overhead smash
  • Trivia: Served two periods of incarceration near Los Angeles for morals charges involving underage males
  • World No. 1 player or Co-No. 1: 7 times, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1931
  • Davis Cup: 11 years; 25-5 in singles, 9-2 in doubles; on 7 consecutive winning teams, 1920 through 1926, still a record
  • Grand Slam tournament victories: 21 victories in singles (10), doubles (6), and mixed doubles (5)
• Little Bill Johnston
  • Legal name: William M. Johnston
  • Date of birth: November 2, 1894, San Francisco, California
  • Date of death: May 1, 1946, San Francisco, California
  • Nationality: American
  • Handedness: Right
  • Amateur or professional: Amateur only; retired from competition in 1927
  • Most prominent strengths: Topspin forehand drive hit shoulder-high with a Western grip; volleying from the service line
  • Most prominent weaknesses: Backhand, which he hit with the same face of the racquet as his forehand; occasional physical fraility
  • Trivia: Died of tuberculosis at age 51
  • World No. 1 player or Co-No. 1: 1 time, 1919, with Gerald Patterson
  • Davis Cup: 8 years; 14-3 in singles, 4-0 in doubles; on 7 consecutive winning teams, 1920 through 1926, still a record
  • Grand Slam tournament victories: 7 victories in singles (3), doubles (3), and mixed doubles (1)
• Gerald Patterson
  • Legal name: Gerald Leighton Patterson, sometimes called The Human Catapul in Australia because of his hard serve
  • Date of birth: December 17, 1895, Melbourne, Australia
  • Date of death: June 13, 1967, Melbourne, Australia
  • Nationality: Australian
  • Handedness: Right
  • Amateur or professional: Amateur only
  • Most prominent strengths: Very hard serve, both flat and twist; smash; volleying; forehand
  • Most prominent weaknesses:
  • Trivia: Won the Military Cross with Australian army in World War I; nephew of diva Dame Nellie Melba
  • World No. 1 player or Co-No. 1: 1 time, 1919, with Bill Johnston
  • Davis Cup: 6 years; on 1 winning team; 21-10 in singles, 11-4 in doubles
  • Grand Slam tournament victories: 9 victories in singles (3), doubles (5), and mixed doubles (1)
• Karel Koželuh
• Jean Borotra
  • Legal name: Jean Robert Borotra ; called The Bounding Basque (le Basque bondissant in French); was also one of the iconic French Four Musketeers tennis players
  • Date of birth: August 13, 1898, Domaine du Pouy, in the Basque Pyrenees country near Biarritz, France
  • Date of death: July 17, 1994, Arbonne, France
  • Nationality: French
  • Handedness: Right
  • Amateur or professional: Amateur only
  • Most prominent strengths: 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
  • Most prominent weaknesses:
  • 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"; "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."
  • World No. 1 player or Co-No. 1:
  • Davis Cup: 17 years, still the record; on 6 consecutive winning teams, from 1927 through 1932; 19-12 in singles, 17-6 in doubles
  • Grand Slam tournament victories: 16 victories in singles (4), doubles (9), and mixed doubles (3)
• Ray Casey
• Henri Cochet
  • Legal name: Henri Jean Cochet, called The Ballboy of Lyons, was also one of the iconic French Four Musketeers tennis players
  • Date of birth: December 14, 1901, Lyons, France
  • Date of death: April 1, 1987, St. Germain-en-Laye, France
  • Nationality: French
  • Handedness: Right
  • Amateur or professional: Amateur until 1934; had an undistinguished professional career; reinstated as an amateur in 1945
  • Most prominent strengths: 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
  • Most prominent weaknesses: "A weak serve, he seldom bothered to lob, and he had a backhand which Tilden characterized as 'a little too cramped and defensive.' "
  • Trivia: The only one of the Four Musketeers who turned professional
  • World No. 1 player or Co-No. 1: 2 times, 1928, 1929
  • Davis Cup: 11 years; on 6 consecutive winning teams, from 1927 through 1932; 34-8 in singles, 10-6 in doubles
  • Grand Slam tournament victories: 15 victories in singles (7), doubles (5), and mixed doubles (3)
• René Lacoste
  • Legal name: Jean René Lacoste, 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
  • Date of birth: July 2, 1904, Paris, France
  • Date of death: October 12, 1996, St. Jean-de-Luz, France
  • Nationality: French
  • Handedness: Right
  • Amateur or professional: Amateur only
  • Most prominent strengths: Relentless backcourt returning; passing shots and lobs
  • Most prominent weaknesses: Fragile health; retired in 1929 at age 25
  • 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
  • World No. 1 player or Co-No. 1: 2 times, 1926, 1927
  • Davis Cup: 6 years; on 2 winning teams; 32-8 in singles, 8-3 in doubles
  • Grand Slam tournament victories: 10 victories in singles (7) and doubles (3)
• Ellsworth Vines
• Fred Perry
• Don Budge
• Bobby Riggs
• Frank Kovacs
• Pancho Segura
• Jack Kramer
• Frank Sedgman
• Pancho Gonzales
• Ken Rosewall
• Lew Hoad
• Boris Becker
• Rod Laver
• Arthur Ashe
• Jimmy Connors
• Björn Borg
• John McEnroe
• Pete Sampras
• Andre Agassi
• Juan Carlos Ferrero
• Lleyton Hewitt
• James Blake
• Roger Federer
• Rafael Nadal

Sources

• Big Bill Tilden, The Triumphs and the Tragedy - Frank DeFord, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1976, ISBN 0-671-22254-6