The U.S. Pro Tennis Championships (for a period from 1951 to 1962 billed as the Cleveland International Pro or Cleveland World Pro Tennis Championships ) was the oldest professional tennis tournament played until its final year of 1999 and is considered to have been a professional major from 1927–1967 until the advent of Open Era . In 1953, 1955, 1956, and 1960, the Cleveland World Pro had a women's draw, with Pauline Betz winning the first three of these, and defeating the reigning U.S. women's champion Doris Hart in the 1956 final. Althea Gibson defeated Pauline Betz in the 1960 women's final.
18-553: American's first prominent professional player, Vincent Richards , arranged what became the first U.S. Professionals by negotiating with Doc Kelton to have a tournament played at the Notlek Tennis Club, located at 119th Street and Riverside Drive in Manhattan, New York, on September 23–25, 1927. Richards, tour pro Howard Kinsey and teaching pros from the eastern U.S. comprised the field, with Richards defeating Kinsey in
36-676: A heart attack at Doctors Hospital in New York. Richards was banned from competing in the amateur Grand Slams when he joined the professional tennis circuit in 1927. Colin Gregory Doctor John Colin Gregory (28 July 1903 – 10 January 1959) was an amateur British tennis player , best remembered for winning the Australian Open in 1929. Gregory was born in 1903 in Beverley, Yorkshire,
54-641: Is third behind Venus Williams in first, and Serena Williams in second, with three overall medals, with Williams collecting four gold medals over multiple Olympics. Richards was a semifinalist at the French championships in 1926, where he beat Colin Gregory and Bela Von Kehrling , then lost to Henri Cochet . He was also a semifinalist at the U.S. championships in 1922 (losing to Bill Johnston), 1924 (losing to Tilden), 1925 (where he beat René Lacoste , then lost to Tilden) and 1926 (losing to Jean Borotra ). While there
72-649: The Second World War , Gregory was captain of the British Davis Cup team. Due to an accident Geoffrey Paish was unable to play in a 1952 match against Yugoslavia and the 49-year-old Gregory stepped in to win the doubles match with Tony Mottram . Gregory became chairman of the All-England Club at Wimbledon in 1955, where he died in 1959 in the changing rooms following a match. This biographical article relating to English tennis
90-574: The USPLTA authorized Kramer to hold the U.S. Pro Championships at the L.A. Tennis Club in California, Gonzales winning the event, and the Benrus Cup (emblematic of the U.S. Pro) was awarded to Gonzales. There are two U.S. Pro events listed here for both 1951 (Cleveland and Forest Hills) and for 1954 (Cleveland and L.A. Tennis Club). Gonzales won two U.S. Pro titles in 1954. Its final permanent home
108-634: The 1924 Olympics held in Paris, France. He realized this ambition by winning the gold medal for the United States in both singles and doubles, additionally collecting the silver medal in mixed doubles. Richards is one of two American male tennis players to win the gold medal in both singles and doubles (Beals Wright was the other), and he ranks second all-time with his three medals won in 1924 (second to Reginald Doherty of Great Britain, who won four Olympic tennis medals). Between both men and women, Richards
126-612: The Columbia University School of Journalism in 1922. Richards won the National Boys Outdoor Singles Tournament in 1917. He became a protégé of Bill Tilden after being defeated by the latter in a match, and he then teamed up with him to win the United States doubles championship in 1918 at the age of 15. He remains the youngest male to have ever won a major championship. Twenty-seven years later, in 1945, he and Tilden won
144-472: The United States Pro doubles title. While Bill Tilden teamed with Richards to win titles together, he was beaten by Richards in both singles and doubles, including for several major titles. During their long rivalry, they faced each other 102 times, with Richards holding a career record of 52–50 against Tilden. Richards retained his amateur status for 10 years because his ambition was to compete in
162-516: The end of the year against Czech player Karel Koželuh , another new professional. Richards only beat Koželuh five times in 20 matches. Richards won the United States Pro Championship in 1927, 1928, and 1930, beating Koželuh in the finals in both 1928 and 1930, and losing to him in the 1929 final. He lost the 1931 final to Tilden and won the U.S. Pro Championships for the last time in 1933, this time beating Frank Hunter in
180-1209: The final in straight sets, a victory which earned him $ 1,000 first-prize money. The tournament was held annually at various locations, including the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, New York City; the South Shore Tennis Club in Chicago; in Rye, New York; at the Terrace Club in Brooklyn; the Chicago Town and Tennis Club in Chicago; at the L.A. Tennis Club in Los Angeles; at various clubs around Cleveland, Ohio and Cleveland Arena in Cleveland. In 1951, two U.S. Pro events were held, one at Cleveland won by Frank Kovacs and another at Forest Hills won by Pancho Segura . In 1954,
198-465: The final of the Mason & Dixon Tournament at The Greenbrier resort, with Richards winning in five sets. Richards was one of the best singles players of the 1920s and played on several United States Davis Cup teams. In 1927 he was the first prominent male player to turn professional. In 1928, he was still generally considered to be one of the top 5 or 6 players in the world and played a brief tour at
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#1732782654957216-838: The final. He continued to play in the U.S. Pro championships in most years until 1946. Richards and Tilden won the doubles at the 1945 U.S. Pro championships. Richards was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island in 1961. After retiring from tennis, Richards joined the Dunlop Tire and Rubber Company as general manager of the sporting goods division and became vice president. In February 1924, he married Claremont Gushee in Greenwich, Connecticut, and they had three children. She died in 1950. On September 28, 1959, Richards died of
234-472: The son of Dr William Herbert and Constance Gregory. Like his father, he became a medical doctor but was also a successful amateur lawn tennis player in both doubles and singles. Gregory also played cricket, golf, rugby and squash. In the 1920s he played doubles with Ian Collins and they were runners up at the 1929 Wimbledon Championships . In 1929 he won the Australian singles championship. Following
252-427: Was a non-ATP exhibition event from 1990 through 1995. During the last stint of the tournament, from 1997 to 1999, it was again an ATP event and was played on hardcourts. Pancho Gonzales holds the record for most wins with nine, two of those wins in the multiple year of 1954. Notes: Source: Vincent Richards Vincent Richards (March 20, 1903 – September 28, 1959) was an American tennis player. He
270-543: Was active in the early decades of the 20th century, particularly known as being a superlative volleyer. He was ranked World No. 2 as an amateur in 1924 by A. Wallis Myers , and was ranked joint World No. 1 pro by Ray Bowers in 1927 and World No. 1 pro by Bowers in 1930. Born in Yonkers, New York, he attended the Jesuit Fordham Preparatory School , attended Fordham University and studied at
288-513: Was later played on Har-Tru clay courts and was initially an important tune-up event for the US Open . But when this Grand Slam tournament moved to hardcourts in 1978, the U.S. Professionals did not follow suit, electing instead to hold its tournament during the US clay court season in early summer instead of during its hitherto pre-Open Era (late summer) time slot. Remaining a clay event into the 1990s, it
306-541: Was no official ATP Tour in the 1920s, Richards was one of the pioneers in creating a version of a "world tennis tour", playing in the equivalent of all four grand slams during his career, additional major tournaments, and exhibition matches in front of emperors, presidents, and other heads of states. While Tilden may have overshadowed Richards, even in the Davis Cup, Richards held a perfect 5–0 record when he played for his country. In April 1926, Richards and Tilden contested
324-746: Was the Longwood Cricket Club in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, where it was held from 1964 to 1999. It became part of the Grand Prix Tennis Tour shortly after the advent of open tennis in 1968. From 1970 to 1977, it was a prominent tournament of the Grand Prix Super Series . It then became a tennis event within the ATP Tour with reorganization of the top tier of pro tour tennis. The tournament
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