The amateur years
United States · born St. Louis, Missouri, 1940 · Wimbledon boys' champion 1958 · founder of the Miami Open
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1958
Wimbledon boys' singles champion
3
Junior majors in a row, 1958 to 1959
2
Wimbledon quarter-finals, 1960 and 1968
1962
United States Pro champion
1985
Founded the event now called the Miami Open
Earl Henry Buchholz was born in St. Louis in 1940 and played his first tournament at six. In 1958 he won the French and Wimbledon boys' titles and the US National 18s at Kalamazoo, then took the Australian junior title in 1959. Lance Tingay ranked him fifth among the world's amateurs in 1960, the year he reached the US Championships semi-finals, and he played Davis Cup for the United States in 1959 and 1960. He turned professional in 1961, won the US Pro Championship in 1962 and in 1968 joined Lamar Hunt's Handsome Eight at World Championship Tennis. Off the court he was commissioner of World Team Tennis, executive director of the ATP in 1981 and 1982, and in 1985 founded the Lipton International Players Championships, now the Miami Open.
| Major singles titles | 2: Australian (1959); Wimbledon (1958) |
|---|---|
| Major doubles titles | 1: Australian (1959) |
| Wimbledon boys' final | 1958: beat Premjit Lall of India 6-1, 6-3 |
| Australian junior doubles | 1959 with José Luis Arilla of Spain |
| Wimbledon singles | Quarter-finals in 1960, as an amateur, and in 1968, the first open Wimbledon |
| Forest Hills | 1960 US Championships semi-final on grass, lost to Rod Laver in five sets |
| Davis Cup | United States team in 1959 and 1960, with a 6-3 record |
| US Pro Championships | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1966 | Men's doubles†| with Rod Laver |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"He would have won Wimbledon in 1960 if he had not hurt himself."
The person behind the player.
New York 1959
In February 1959 he appeared on the television quiz show To Tell the Truth. He was introduced as holder of the junior grand slam: France, England, Australia and the United States. He was 18, and had won his first tournament title at seven, a year after his first event.
Source: WikipediaWimbledon 1960 · Quarter-final
Against Neale Fraser he led two sets to one and reached match point in the fourth. Cramp set in, and at 15-15 in a game of that set he could not go on and retired. Fraser won the title. Charlie Pasarell said later that Buchholz would have won Wimbledon that year had he not been hurt.
Source: Tennis.comDallas 1968
When Lamar Hunt formed World Championship Tennis in 1968 he signed eight players and marketed them as the Handsome Eight. Buchholz was one of the original group, a professional of seven years' standing by then, and that summer he reached the quarter-finals of the first open Wimbledon.
Source: International Tennis Hall of FameSt. Louis 1971
"In 1971 I knew my playing days were over," he said later, describing himself as scared and confused. He went home to St. Louis and built a ten-court indoor club, Town and Tennis, the first of the businesses that took him into running the game rather than playing it.
Source: International Tennis Hall of FameDelray Beach 1985
As ATP executive director he told his board: "I said to the board that I wanted to start that tournament for men and women and build a stadium." The first Lipton International Players Championships was played at Delray Beach in 1985 and moved to Key Biscayne. "We changed the way tennis was perceived," he said.
Source: Tennis.comKey Biscayne
Bud Collins, who first met him as an energetic teenager at the Orange Bowl juniors, admitted he had called the Florida plan a big mistake and a folly. The tournament moved from Delray Beach to Boca Raton and then Key Biscayne before it settled. Collins closed his account of its success with two words: "Some folly."
Source: Bud Collins TennisFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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