Dick Savitt, The tennis Hall of Famer who won the men’s singles championships at the 1951 Australian and Wimbledon Grand Slam Tournaments. However, I stopped playing full-time a year later. at His game was at its peak, and he passed away on Friday at His house in Manhattan. He was 95.
Bob, his son confirmed his death.
Savitt He was the second American to win the two. Australian and Wimbledon Titles in One calendar year. Don Budge was the one to do it. in 1938. Jimmy Connors matched their results in 1974 and Pete Sampras did twice, in 1994 and 1997.
Savitt Six times ranked in the Top 10 American Players in The 1950s and among the world’s top 10 four times, even though after 1952 he confined his Grand Slam tournament play to the United States Nationals at Forest Hills, Queens. He defeated leading American players in Domestic tournaments, while you pursue a business career.
Inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1976.
1951, Savitt It was defeated Ken McGregorA native of Australia is. in The Australian championships. “The Australian was a big shock to the tennis world,” Savitt Nancy Gill McShea in An interview with the International Tennis Hall of Fame, 60 years later. “It put me on the map.”
He made it to the semifinals. 1951 French Championships, but were lost to Jaroslav Drobiny who won the singles title. McGregor was defeated again in 61 minutes. in The Wimbledon finalIt was the first Jewish player ever to win the tournament. Wimbledon singles championship.
Savitt The following appeared: cover of Time magazine’s Aug. 27, 1951, issue The U.S. Nationals were held on the eve. “What he has got is a simple, overpowering attack; a smashing serve and deep, hard-hit ground strokes that keep his opponent scrambling in the backcourt, on the defensive,” Time wrote.
SavittThe 6-foot-3-inch tall stout stood in for him. and His opponents were often defeated and he reached the semi-finals. at Forest Hills. He was unable to compete due to a knee infection and lost against fellow American Vic Seixas.
Savitt a selection for the 1951 U.S. Davis Cup teamIt was determined to make up for its losses to Australia. in The 1950 cup finals were formerly known as “The Challenge Round”. Savitt, ranked as the squad’s No. 1 singles match winner in In the first rounds. Frank Shields was the captain, but he did not play. He removed him from cup play. and Ted Schroeder was his replacement. in semiretirement. Shields said he hadn’t been happy with Savitt’s overall play in These are the last few months.
Savitt and His American colleagues were surprised that he was not selected, but Savitt They chose not to respond on the matter of being cut. Australia beat the United States 3-2. in The challenge round.
In the next year Savitt The semifinals of this year’s Australian championships. McGregor defeated him there and McGregor declared that he is leaving the international tour.
He won however the U.S. National Indoor Championships in 1952, 1958 and 1961, he became the first to hold that title three times. He won singles in 1961. and Gold medals doubled at The Maccabiah GamesThe Jewish Olympics was held in in Israel. Later, he helped to develop the tennis courts in Israel.
Richard Savitt On March 4, 1927, he was born. in Bayonne, N.J. is the sole child of Morris and Kate (Hoberman). Savitt. His father, a food broker, had a company that sought marketing opportunities for the producers.
He taught himself how to play tennis in His early teens, when he was still a boy-ball player at Berkeley Tennis Club in Orange, N.J., mostly by watching some of the game’s greatest players, including Jack Kramer, Bobby Riggs and Pancho Segura competes there in New Jersey state tournaments.
“I had never seen tennis like that before,” Savitt in Interview with him in the Hall of Fame “I immediately got Don Budge’s book on tennis to learn how to hit strokes correctly.”
However Savitt’s first love was basketball. His family relocated to El Paso in 1978. in the early 1940s, hoping that the warmer weather would ease his mother’s skin problems, he became an all-state high school basketball player. He also played tennis. and Was highly ranked in the country in The junior division.
Savitt Cornell University in 1946 basketball scholarship, after World War II service in The Navy had given him the task of playing on basketball teams for servicemen. However, injuries kept him from playing basketball so he switched to tennis. and Singles won Eastern college singles and doubles titles. He received his graduation in 1950, with a degree in economics.
Louise Liberman was his second child, and he also had a son. in divorce in 1963, Savitt He is survived by his three grandsons. His second wife, Annelle Warwick Hayes, died in 2013.
Savitt Oil drilling equipment in Texas and Louisiana and Then, he became an investment banker for a while. in New York following the retirement of full-time professional tennis.
His success in amateur tennis was marked by trophies and no cash prizes.
“You either kept playing and taking under-the-table type payments or you ended up teaching at a club,” Savitt told The Star-Ledger Newark in 2011. “I didn’t want to do that. I had to decide to keep playing a few more years or get out of the game and go to work in a normal position. That’s what I did.”
Maia Coleman Participatory reporting
