Between the wars
United States · born Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1898 · died 1971 · right-handed · Wimbledon doubles champion 1920 with Dick Williams
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1920
Wimbledon doubles title with Dick Williams, the first won by an American pair
2
Wimbledon singles semi-finals, 1919 and 1920
8
Best US ranking, held three years running, 1918 to 1920
1919
US intercollegiate singles and doubles titles for Yale, and the Southampton singles title
1927
Year he captained the US Davis Cup team
Charles Stedman Garland was born in Pittsburgh in October 1898. He was US junior singles champion at 17, went on to captain Yale, and in 1919 won the intercollegiate singles and doubles titles. He was ranked No. 8 in the United States in 1918, 1919 and 1920.
In 1919 he went to Wimbledon and reached the semi-finals of the all-comers singles, losing to Algernon Kingscote in five sets; that summer he also won the Meadow Club invitation singles at Southampton, Long Island. In 1920 he again reached the Wimbledon semi-finals, where Bill Tilden beat him in three sets, and won the doubles with Harvard's Dick Williams, the first Americans to win the Wimbledon gentlemen's doubles.
After that he turned to the running of the game. An investment banker by profession, he became the first president of the Middle States section in 1924, sat on several national association committees including the Davis Cup committee, captained the 1927 US Davis Cup team that lost to France 3-2 and became a vice-president of the USLTA. He entered the Hall of Fame in 1969 and died in Baltimore in January 1971.
| Wimbledon 1920 doubles final | With Dick Williams beat Algernon Kingscote and James Cecil Parke 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-2; the 1919 champions did not defend, so the all-comers final decided the title |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon 1919 singles | Beat Ronald Thomas in the quarter-finals, then lost to Algernon Kingscote 1-6, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5, 4-6 in the all-comers semi-finals |
| Wimbledon 1920 singles | Lost the semi-final to Bill Tilden 4-6, 6-8, 2-6; Tilden went on to win the title |
| Southampton 1919 | Won the Meadow Club invitation singles, beating Willis Davis 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in the final |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1920 | Men's doubles | with R. Norris Williams |
| Southampton (Meadow Club) | ||
| 1919 | Men's singles Southampton Invitational | |
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
The person behind the player.
Yale and Harvard
The Hall of Fame begins its account of Garland by noting that a Yale man and a Harvard man rarely agree on anything; Garland of Yale and Dick Williams of Harvard put the rivalry aside long enough to win Wimbledon together in 1920.
Source: International Tennis Hall of FameWimbledon 1919
On his first visit to Wimbledon Garland came back from two sets down against Algernon Kingscote, levelled at two sets all and lost the fifth 6-4.
Source: International Tennis Hall of FameMiddle States
Those who knew him described Garland as "the most balanced person", and USTA Middle States says his game matched: steady and accurate. He combined his work as an investment banker with the running of the section, whose first president he became in 1924.
Source: USTA Middle States1927
Garland captained the US Davis Cup team in 1927 and lost the final to France 3-2.
Source: International Tennis Hall of FameFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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