Wimbledon Tennis Tournament

Subterms

    More stories

    • 138 Shares199 Views

      in Tennis

      Bob Falkenburg, Tennis Hall of Famer Turned Entrepreneur, Dies at 95

      by

      He won at Wimbledon in 1948 and took some doubles titles before decamping to Brazil and founding a fast-food chain.Bob Falkenburg, the Tennis Hall of Famer who captured the 1948 Wimbledon singles championship in a thrilling fifth-set comeback and also won a pair of Grand Slam men’s doubles titles, then forged a second career as a businessman who introduced fast food outlets to South America, died on Thursday at his home in Santa Ynez, Calif. He was 95.His death was confirmed to The Associated Press by his daughter Claudia.Falkenburg was ranked among the nation’s top 10 tennis players at age 17 and remained in that elite category for the next five years.His signature achievement came at Wimbledon in 1948, when he was down three match points facing John Bromwich of Australia. Relying on powerful backhands and a strong serve, he came back to win his only major singles championship. A year later, Falkenburg won the first two sets facing Bromwich in the Wimbledon quarterfinals, but Bromwich won the last three.Falkenburg teamed with Don McNeill as men’s doubles champions at the U.S. Nationals at Forest Hills in 1944 and with Jack Kramer in the Wimbledon doubles in 1947.The International Tennis Hall of Fame, which inducted Falkenburg in 1974, called him “a thinking man’s player, one who took calculated risks when others might play it safe.”“He was confident that his big booming serve wouldn’t fail him and that his forays to net would lead to winners,” it said.Falkenburg’s brother, Tom, and his sister, Jinx Falkenburg, competed in the U.S. Nationals. But Jinx was best known for her career in show business. She was a model and movie actress, then joined with her husband and manager, Tex McCrary, on the popular radio and early TV breakfast chat program “Tex and Jinx.”Falkenburg entered his last Grand Slam tournament in 1955 after moving to Brazil with his wife, Lourdes Mayrink Veiga Machado, a Brazilian native, whom he married in 1947. He played for Brazil in the 1954 and 1955 Davis Cups.According to the Tennis Hall of Fame, Falkenburg once remembered how on one of his trips from the United States to Brazil he was “distressed that I couldn’t get a decent hamburger or milkshake.”He founded South America’s first fast food and ice cream outlets in 1952 in the Copacabana neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, calling them Bob’s. His mini-chain consisted of about a dozen outlets when the Falkenburgs, having moved back to Southern California in 1970, sold Bob’s to Nestlé’s Libby operation in 1974. Bob’s has had several ownerships since then and has expanded to more than 1,000 outlets in Brazil and beyond South America as well.Robert Falkenburg was born on Jan. 29, 1926, in Manhattan and grew up in Los Angeles. His father, Eugene, an engineer, and his mother, Marguerite (Crooks) Falkenburg, played in amateur tennis events, and Bob began wielding a racket at private clubs when he was 10 years old.He won a junior tennis tournament to the Bel-Air Country Club in 1937 and, while at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, won the U.S. Interscholastic singles title in 1942; he also teamed with his brother to win the doubles title that year. He was later a fine amateur golfer and won the Brazilian amateur championship three times.After serving in the Army Air Forces during World War II, Falkenburg won the 1946 intercollegiate singles and double championships while at the University of Southern California.In addition to his wife and daughter, he is survived by his son, Robert, four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, according to The A.P. Both Tex and Jinx (her birth name was Eugenia; her mother provided her nickname) died in 2003.Describing Falkenburg’s stunning final-set comeback at Wimbledon in 1948, The New York Times reported that “Wimbledon championship fans have seen far better tennis than today’s match, but they’ve rarely witnessed a more exciting one.”As for Falkenburg’s serve that ended the match, 7-5, The Times related how “there was one clear loud pop.”“Bromwich stood flatfooted as the service ace whizzed by him,” The Times wrote. “When a few minutes later, the Duchess of Kent up in the Royal Box presented the coveted trophy to Falkenburg, he looked as surprised as he was pleased.” More

    • 113 Shares99 Views

      in Tennis

      Roger Federer to Miss Australian Open and Maybe Wimbledon

      by

      Recovering from his fourth knee operation, Federer, at 40, has no illusions about winning a 21st major title. He wants to return for different reasons.TURIN, Italy — With top-ranked Novak Djokovic and most of the world’s other top men’s tennis players gathered here for the ATP Finals, the absentee Roger Federer gave an update.It was far from reassuring for all those eager to see him return to the tour.In an interview that appeared in French in a Swiss newspaper, La Tribune de Genève, Federer, 40, ruled out playing in next year’s Australian Open, which is set to begin on Jan. 17 and is the first Grand Slam tournament of the season.More unexpectedly, he also all but ruled out Wimbledon, which begins in late June.“The truth is that I would be incredibly surprised to play Wimbledon,” he said.For now, Federer, one of the greatest players in tennis history, continues to recover from his fourth and most complicated knee operation, which he indicated required surgery on both the meniscus and articular cartilage in his right knee. He said his tentative plan was to return to competition at some stage in the Northern Hemisphere summer next year, which could mean a comeback on North American hardcourts. But that timetable is far from a sure thing. For now, he said, doctors have told him he can begin running in January but probably not return to full tennis training until “March or April.”“We can sum up my ambitions this way: I want to find out one more time what I’m capable of as a professional tennis player,” he said. “I am fighting for that, and I’m very motivated. I feel the support of my team and my family. We’d all like for me to be able to say farewell on my terms and on a tennis court.”Federer, still ranked 16th, has played only 19 tour matches in the last two seasons and not at all since losing, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-0, in July to Hubert Hurkacz in the quarterfinals of this year’s Wimbledon. Federer’s right knee was troubling him during that match, as it had been for much of the grass-court season, but the lopsided score of the final set was particularly deflating. Federer has developed a deep connection with the All England Club, where he has won eight Wimbledon singles titles, a men’s record.Federer left Wimbledon’s Centre Court after losing his quarterfinal match to Hubert Hurkacz in July.Pool via REUTERS/Edward WhitakerHe said in the Tribune de Genève interview that he hoped to give his fans a better memory.“The simplest thing would almost be to say: ‘That’s it. I gave a lot, received a lot, let’s stop it all,’” he said. “But to give everything to come back one more time is also my way of thanking the fans. They deserve better than the image I left during the grass-court season this year.”Federer speculated that he might not be able to return until 2023 from this operation, which he said was more serious than his previous knee operations.“If you push the reasoning further, it doesn’t make much difference whether I return in 2022 or not until 2023,” he said. “At 40 or 41, it’s the same. The question is whether I can keep pushing myself hard day after day. Today, my heart says yes. So I’m going step by step. It’s another challenge like I’ve faced many times in my career, sometimes without the public realizing it. And even if I know very well that the end is near, I want to try to play some more big matches. It won’t be easy but we’re going to try.”Despite his smooth game, Federer has played through plenty of discomfort through the years: dealing with lower back problems from his early 20s and with recurring knee pain in the second half of his career. There is, of course, the possibility that he continues with his rehabilitation and concludes that a comeback is impossible. Doctors who have not treated Federer have suggested that the long recovery period indicates that this latest operation was an attempt to regenerate articular cartilage in his right knee, perhaps with microfracture surgery.“Basically, there are two types of knee cartilage: the meniscus is one, and the articular cartilage is the other,” said Bill Mallon, an American orthopedic surgeon and former professional golfer. “Articular cartilage is the covering of the bone that allows almost friction-free movement of the knee joint. Articular cartilage has very little blood supply, so it regenerates very poorly, if at all. And its ability to regenerate is completely age dependent. The younger you are the more chance you have of that cartilage regenerating.”Federer remains tied for the men’s record of 20 Grand Slam singles titles with his longtime rivals Rafael Nadal and Djokovic. Nadal, who has been out of action since August because of a recurring foot problem, has announced that he intends to return to the tour in January. But Nadal, 35, and Djokovic, 34, are significantly younger than Federer, and the other men taking part in the elite ATP Finals are even younger, all in their early to mid-20s.“Obviously Roger is an icon of our sport, and people around the world love him,” Djokovic said on Wednesday after qualifying for the semifinals in Turin with a 6-3, 6-2 round-robin victory over Andrey Rublev. “They love watching him play, love seeing him around.” Djokovic added, “I’m sure he doesn’t want to end his career this way.”Federer withdrew from the French Open in June after a grueling third-round win.Pete Kiehart for The New York TimesNicholas DiNubile, an American orthopedic surgeon who specializes in knee surgery, said it would be challenging to return to the tour after articular cartilage surgery.Federer said he had surgery this time not only so he could resume his tennis career, but so he could also live a more active life in the years ahead, playing sports with his children and friends. But Federer, an optimist by nature, is not yet prepared to aim for retirement. He wants more of what only elite competition can provide.“If I am committing myself fully to my rehabilitation, it means there’s a chance I can come back,” he said. “If I am doing strengthening, bike, pool and balance exercises, and if I was working my upper body when I was on crutches, it’s because I believe. Will I come back for a short run, or something bigger? Nobody knows. Not the doctors. Not me. But I am fighting for that.“Let’s be clear: My life is not going to fall apart if I don’t play another Grand Slam final. But it would be the ultimate dream. And in fact, I still believe. I still believe in these kinds of miracles. I’ve experienced them. Sports history writes them sometimes. I’m realistic. It would be an enormous miracle. But in sport, miracles exist.” More

    • 138 Shares99 Views

      in Tennis

      Budge Patty, Elegant Tennis Champion of the 1950s, Dies at 97

      by

      Known for his style as much as his forehand volley, he was one of only three Americans to win the French and Wimbledon men’s singles in the same year.Budge Patty, one of only three Americans to win the French and Wimbledon men’s singles tennis championships in the same year and a glamorous figure on the international tennis scene of the 1950s, died on Monday in Lausanne, Switzerland. He was 97.The International Tennis Hall of Fame announced his death, in a hospital, on Friday. He had lived in Europe for more than 70 years and at his death resided in Lausanne.Patty honed his skills as a teenager at the Los Angeles Tennis Club and won the United States junior championship in 1941 and ’42. But he settled in Paris after World War II and played mostly on the Continent and in Britain.He was ranked No. 1 in the world in 1950, when he defeated Jaroslav Drobny, the Czech defector, in five sets to win the French championships, then needed only four sets to defeat Frank Sedgman of Australia in the Wimbledon final. Don Budge, in 1938, and Tony Trabert, in 1955, are the only other American men to have won the singles titles at both of those Grand Slam tournaments in one year. (Trabert died in February at 90.)Known for an outstanding all-around game but especially for a strong forehand volley, Patty was usually in the top 10 in the world rankings between 1947 and 1957 and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I., in 1977.But he played sporadically in the United States Nationals at Forest Hills, Queens, never advancing beyond the quarterfinals in singles, and he did not compete in the Australian championships.Patty with Frank Sedgman of Australia after defeating him in the men’s finals at Wimbledon in 1950. His “perfect manners and exquisite tennis style made him a Wimbledon idol for 15 years,” one author wrote. Associated PressPatty was almost invariably described as handsome, elegant and a fashionable dresser. In late July 1950, anticipating Patty’s appearance at Forest Hills in a quest for a third major triumph that year, Allison Danzig, the longtime tennis writer of The New York Times, noted how Gussie Moran had created a sensation wearing a short skirt and lace-trimmed underwear at Wimbledon. “Now men’s tennis has its glamour boy,” he wrote.“Budge Patty has had them swooning on the French Riviera these past few years,” Danzig continued, adding, “It wasn’t fair, that anyone so tall and handsome, with that je ne sais quoi which defies translation but compels capitulation, should spend all of his time on the Continent when he had a good home in California.”But any fans at Forest Hills inclined to swoon over Patty were disappointed. He hurt his ankle playing doubles at Newport in mid-August and was unable to compete in the United States Nationals later that summer.John Edward Patty was born on Feb. 11, 1924, in Fort Smith, Ark. His family moved to the Los Angeles area when he was young.According to the Hall of Fame, he got his nickname when a brother, considering him lazy, called him Budge to make the point that he often failed to do just that.After winning two junior championships, Patty entered the Army Air Forces during World War II. He captured the singles championship at a tournament held for Allied servicemen on the French Riviera in September 1945. Three years later, he made Paris his home.He had a French-born grandmother and an Austrian grandfather, and once remarked how “even as a child I knew I’d like Europe.”Budge attended the 2016 French Open in Paris with his wife, Maria, whom he married in 1961.Henri Szwarc/Sipa, via Associated PressPatty teamed with Pauline Betz to win the 1946 mixed doubles in the French championships and then lost to Frank Parker in the 1949 French singles final before capturing it the following year.He played in every French and Wimbledon tournament from 1946 to 1960. “Budge Patty’s perfect manners and exquisite tennis style made him a Wimbledon idol for 15 years,” E. Digby Baltzell wrote in his book “Sporting Gentlemen” (1995).His most memorable match was a marathon duel with Drobny in the third round of the 1953 Wimbledon championships.Lasting nearly four and a half hours over five sets and 93 games, it ended past 9 p.m. in the fading light when Patty succumbed after squandering six match points.“I could hardly see a thing, and I was so tired I barely knew where I was,” he told the British newspaper The Telegraph in 2000, recalling the final moments.At age 33, Patty teamed with 43-year-old Gardnar Mulloy to win the 1957 Wimbledon men’s doubles championship, stunning the Australians Lew Hoad and Neale Fraser, who were in their early 20s.Remaining an amateur for his entire career, Patty won 46 singles championships.He married Maria Marcina Sfezzo, the daughter of a Brazilian engineering magnate, in 1961. She survives him along with two daughters, Christine and Elaine Patty.In an interview with The Times in 1958, Patty, at the time playing four or five months a year while working for a Paris travel agency and enjoying life in Europe, said he did not expect to compete into his 40s.World-class players who did so had never “smoked, drank or gone to bed later than 10 o’clock,” he said. “Me, I’ve preferred to enjoy life.”But 50 years after his double triumph in Grand Slam tournaments, Patty bristled at how he had been depicted in the sports pages.“Tennis players then are like tennis players now,” he told The Telegraph in 2000. “If they see someone wearing a tie, they think he’s strange. It was like, ‘Wow, Budge is wearing a tailored jacket — he must be a secret agent.’ It was ridiculous. I never took any notice.”Alex Traub contributed reporting. More

    • 100 Shares149 Views

      in Tennis

      A Relaxed Ash Barty Is Still No. 1

      by

      She stepped away from the game and came back stronger, winning four tournaments this year, including Wimbledon.In a year when mental health has often been a headline in sports, it is fitting that Ash Barty of Australia is the No. 1 women’s player in the world. Barty had the self-awareness to walk away from tennis for more than a year in 2014 to seek a more normal existence (though she also took up professional cricket).In 2019, when she stumbled at Wimbledon, losing in the fourth round, she took a few weeks to return home and rejuvenate. And after staying off the tour for nearly a year during the pandemic, she has won four titles this year, including Wimbledon.Barty discussed her approach to tennis and life as she prepared for the United States Open. The following interview has been edited and condensed.Are you someone who has always gone your own way?I grew up with values from my mom and dad that you make the right decisions for the right reasons, and they are not dependent on tennis. When I do that, regardless of what that means for my tennis, I’m a happy person. Certainly, you can’t please everyone, but that’s all I need to do.Do you get frustrated when people attack Naomi Osaka or Simone Biles for making decisions based on their mental health?I haven’t followed those stories too closely, but based on the headlines, I hope that they are making the right decisions for the right reasons. It shouldn’t matter to Simone and Naomi what the rest of the world thinks.Barty serving to Angelique Kerber during the semifinals of the Western & Southern Open on Aug. 21 in Mason, Ohio. She went on to win the tournament.Matthew Stockman/Getty ImagesIn 2019, after reaching No. 1, you fell at Wimbledon, took three weeks off and then fell in the second round of your next tournament. Did you feel pressure as the new No. 1?It was really exciting — this was something I’d worked towards. It certainly didn’t add any pressure, if anything it took it off because I had absolutely nothing to prove to anyone.After Wimbledon, it was really important for me to go home and take stock. I arrived in the U.S. knowing I was probably not going to be playing my best tennis in some of those tournaments. But I had a solid end of the year. [Barty reached the finals of the China Open and won the year-end WTA Finals.]This year, was it easy to find your footing right away?I just take each week as it comes. Each match is an opportunity to do the best that I can on that given day. Whether that’s a win or loss is quite irrelevant. It’s more about going out there with the right attitude regardless of the result.As an athlete you need to be able to separate and not place your self-worth on those wins and losses — that’s certainly a false way to determine whether you’ve had a successful career. It’s more about the way you go about it and how much you enjoy that journey.Were you confident before Wimbledon or worried about lingering injuries?I always trust in my tennis. If I play well, I’ll be very hard to beat. But at Wimbledon, my team and I had no idea how my body was going to respond, so we were on edge. I would wake up each morning to see if I felt all right. Getting through the tournament physically was massive, so I was able to relax and play some of my best tennis when it mattered most.The U.S. Open has proved your biggest challenge. You’ve never gotten past the fourth round. Is there a specific challenge to playing there for you?I love playing in New York, and I love the conditions. Making the fourth round a couple of years in a row is not terrible — being in the second week of a Slam is where you want to be — and I’ve lost to some quality opponents. We just keep chipping away. I just go there and try to put my best foot forward. More

    • 175 Shares99 Views

      in Tennis

      Shirley Fry Irvin, Tennis Star of the ’40s and ’50s, Is Dead at 94

      by

      The fastest player of her day, she played down her own ability but admitted, “Billie Jean King said I was her idol.”Shirley Fry Irvin, a tennis player who in the pre-Open era swept the singles and doubles titles in the four Grand Slam tournaments, died on Tuesday in Naples, Fla. She was 94. Her death was announced by the International Tennis Hall of Fame, where she was inducted in 1970.At a time when the players were amateurs, the rackets were made of wood and the championship surfaces were mostly grass, Irvin (who was known in her playing days as Shirley Fry) won the French title (on clay) in 1951, the Wimbledon and United States titles in 1956 and the Australian title in 1957. She then retired from tennis to raise a family.She was one of only 10 women to win the singles titles at all four of those championships.She also won 12 women’s doubles championships in those four tournaments, the first 11 partnered with Doris Hart and the 12th with Althea Gibson. In the annual Wightman Cup competition between the United States and Britain, she played six years, winning 10 of her 12 matches. At 5-foot-5 and 125 pounds, she was the fastest player of her day. But she apparently did not think much of her talents.“Billie Jean King said I was her idol,” she told The Orlando Sentinel in 2000. “That flatters me, because I really wasn’t that good of a player. I wasn’t a natural. I had athletic ability, I could run and I could concentrate. I excelled in running and concentration. I had no serve.”Hart, her frequent doubles partner, admired Irvin’s tenacity. “Shirley was one of the best runners I ever saw play,” she said in 2000. “She ran everything down.”Shirley June Fry was born on June 30, 1927, in Akron, Ohio. She was an athletic child, trying hockey, badminton, baseball, archery, ice skating, swimming and running as well as tennis. In 1999, she told The Akron Beacon Journal, “I wanted to play football, but once we got into junior high school it became the boys and the girls.”Irvin waves her hat in 2004 as 50 Hall of Famers are introduced during ceremonies celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I. She was inducted in 1970.Victoria Arocho/Associated PressTennis won out. At a Hall of Fame event in Newport, R.I., in 2004, she told the broadcaster and columnist Bud Collins that she had begun traveling alone to tournaments all over the nation when she was 10.“My parents would put me on a bus in Akron and off I’d go,” she said. “Usually, someone met me at the other end, but I would go to Travelers Aid if there was a problem. It built self-reliance, and it was fun.”When she was 11, she told The New York Times, “I traveled by train to a tournament in Philadelphia, and then, at my father’s suggestion, went on to New York. I took a train to Penn Station and then the subway to Forest Hills, where he had made a reservation for me at the Forest Hills Inn. Then I walked all the way to the New York World’s Fair.”In 1941, at 14, she played in the United States amateur championship, the youngest person to compete there until Kathy Horvath (who was a month younger) in 1979. In 1942, she became the youngest United States amateur quarterfinalist. For 13 consecutive years (1944-56), she ranked in the United States Top 10. She was No. 1 in 1956.She found time to earn a degree in human relations from Rollins College in Florida in 1949. After the 1954 season, she retired from tennis because of a nagging elbow injury and got a job as a clerk at The St. Petersburg Times in Florida, where she made about 75 cents an hour. As that newspaper recalled in 1989, “One of her first duties as copy girl was sending the story of her own retirement down to the composing room.”After a few months of recreational tennis, she entered two Florida tournaments in 1955 and won both, in one of which she beat Hart in the final. That summer, she quit her job and returned to full-time tennis.The next year provided her crowning glory at Wimbledon, where she beat Gibson in the quarterfinals, Louise Brough in the semifinals and Angela Buxton of England in a 50-minute final.“I play better when it doesn’t matter if I win or lose,” she told The New York Times about her victory at Wimbledon, which came on her ninth try. “After eight attempts at Wimbledon, I didn’t think I was going to win.” Her subsequent United States championship was her first at Forest Hills in 16 tries.Shirley Fry in 1951 in a semifinal match against Louise Brough at Wimbledon. She won, but lost in the finals to Doris Hart.Central Press/Hulton Archive, via Getty ImagesShe won the Australian title in 1957 and then retired again. That year she married Karl Irvin, an American advertising executive whom she had met when he was working in Australia and served as an umpire for some of her matches there.“During one match,” she told The Times, “I became furious over several of his calls and asked that he be removed and that he not work any more of my matches. Shortly after that, we were married and had four children within the space of five years.”Her husband died in 1976. She is survived by their children, Mark, Scott, Lori and Karen, and 12 grandchildren.Irvin lived in West Hartford, Conn., for 35 years before moving to Florida. She taught tennis for three decades, played in senior tournaments and, at 58, won the United States clay-court championship for women 55 and older. When her knees gave out at 62, she stopped playing tennis in favor of golf, which had become her favorite sport.She loved golf, but she was not that good at it, generally shooting higher than 100.“It’s a little embarrassing,” she said in 2000. “You say, ‘She won the Wimbledon tennis tournament?’ Then you see me playing golf and say, ‘How could she?’”Frank Litsky, a longtime sportswriter for The Times, died in 2018. Peter Keepnews contributed reporting. More

    • 113 Shares159 Views

      in Tennis

      Chasing a Grand Slam: It’s Rarer Than You Think

      by

      Novak Djokovic has claimed this year’s Australian and French Opens and Wimbledon. Only the U.S. Open is left to be won. But no man has achieved a Grand Slam since 1969, and no woman since 1988.Most fans know about the tennis Grand Slam: winning the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open in the same calendar year. More

    • 138 Shares159 Views

      in Tennis

      Winning Junior Wimbledon Is ‘Crazy’, but It’s Still ‘Just the Juniors’

      by

      This year’s boys’ final, which featured two American teenagers, represented a surprising success for U.S. tennis as the sport desperately seeks another top men’s player.WIMBLEDON, England — As Novak Djokovic and Matteo Berrettini played the first set of the Wimbledon men’s singles final Sunday afternoon on Centre Court, two young Americans were wrapping up the boys’ singles final, 100 yards and also a world away. More

    • 100 Shares159 Views

      in Tennis

      Novak Djokovic Wins Wimbledon, U.S. Open is Next

      by

      Djokovic, now with 20 career Grand Slam titles, suggested that the three-way tie with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal could be broken at the U.S. Open.WIMBLEDON, England — The Big Three now have 20 apiece.It is a development that would have seemed unlikely to Novak Djokovic as he made his way onto the tour in the aughts with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal racking up Grand Slam singles titles. More