| Ellsworth Vines |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT ELLSWORTH VINES | |
| american tennis players | |
| vines, ellsworth | |
| us open champions | |
| tennis hall of fame members | |
| american golfers | |
| pga tour golfers | |
| 1911 births | |
| 1994 deaths | |
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Ellsworth Vines ( September 28 , 1911 - March 17 , 1994 ) was an American Tennis champion of the 1930s, the '''World No. 1''' player for 3 years, twice as an amateur and once as a professional. In the opinion of Jack Kramer , himself a great player, Vines was, along with Don Budge one of the two greatest players who ever lived. Budge was consistently the best, according to Kramer's 1979 autobiography, but, at the very top of his game, Vines was unbeatable by anyone: "...On his best days, Vines played the best tennis ever. Hell, when Elly was on, you'd be lucky to get your racket on the ball once you served it."In his 1979 autobiography Kramer considered the best player ever to have been either Don Budge (for consistent play) or Ellsworth Vines (at the height of his game). The next four best were, chronologically, Bill Tilden , Fred Perry , Bobby Riggs , and Pancho Gonzales . After these six came the "second echelon" of Rod Laver , Lew Hoad , Ken Rosewall , Gottfried Von Cramm , Ted Schroeder , Jack Crawford , Pancho Segura , Frank Sedgman , Tony Trabert , John Newcombe , Arthur Ashe , Stan Smith , Bjorn Borg , and Jimmy Connors . He felt unable to rank Henri Cochet and René Lacoste accurately but felt they were among the very best. Tall and thin, Vines possessed a game with no noticeable weaknesses, except, according to Kramer, because of his great natural athletic ability, laziness. He was particularly known for his powerful forehand and his very fast serve, both of which he generally hit absolutely flat with no spin. Although he could play the and hitting shots like Babe Ruth ." Kramer made up his mind on the spot to concentrate on tennis. Vines had "the perfect slim body," according to Kramer, "that was coordinated for anything. Elly won Forest Hills the first time when he was still only nineteen, but at the same time he was also devoting himself to Basketball at the University Of Southern California . He went there, on a basketball scholarship." After becoming bored with tennis while only in his late twenties, Vines became a professional Golfer and, over the years, had a number of high finishes in tournaments, including one professional victory and a semi-final position in the prestigious 1951 PGA Championships when it was a match-play tournament. "He was twice in the top ten of golf money winnings," writes Kramer, "and he was surely the best athlete ever in the two sports." Vines was inducted into the International Tennis Hall Of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1962 . NOTES SEE ALSO |
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