The amateur years
United States · born Bayonne, New Jersey, 1927 · died 2023 · right-handed · Australian and Wimbledon champion 1951
All playersBack to the rankings
2
Major singles titles in 1951, Australia and Wimbledon
63
Minutes for the 1951 Wimbledon final against Ken McGregor
4
US men to win Australia and Wimbledon in the same year, Savitt one of them
57-2
Singles record at Cornell
25
His age when he left full-time tennis in 1952
Richard Savitt was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, in 1927 and taught himself tennis at 14, copying the strokes of other Eastern juniors; he never had a lesson. In 1944 his family moved to El Paso, Texas, where basketball was his first love and he twice won the Texas schoolboy tennis title. At Cornell two injuries, one to a knee, ended his basketball, and he became the tennis captain with a 57-2 singles record. In 1950, just out of college, he won the Pennsylvania grass court title at Merion and reached the US semi-finals at Forest Hills.
In 1951 he won the Australian Championships at White City, Sydney, beating Frank Sedgman in five sets in the semi-final and Ken McGregor in the final, and then Wimbledon, beating McGregor again 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. He was the first Jewish player to win either title and the first Jewish athlete on the cover of Time, on 27 August 1951. He reached the US semi-finals again and rose to world No. 2, but was left out of the Davis Cup final against Australia, which the United States lost 3-2.
In 1952, at 25, he won the US National Indoor title and left full-time tennis for business, first in oil in Louisiana and then on Wall Street. He came back part-time, won the Eastern Grass Court Championships in 1957 and two more National Indoor titles in 1958 and 1961, and won singles and doubles gold at the 1961 Maccabiah Games. From 1973 he helped build the Israel Tennis Centers. He entered the Hall of Fame in 1976 and died at his home in New York on 6 January 2023, aged 95.
| Wimbledon 1951 | Beat Art Larsen, the US No. 1, in straight sets. In the semi-final Herbie Flam led him by a set and 5-1; Savitt took the second set 15-13 and won in four. Beat Ken McGregor 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in the final in 63 minutes before a crowd of 15,000 |
|---|---|
| Australian Championships 1951 | Beat Frank Sedgman in five sets in the semi-final, then Ken McGregor 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 in the final at White City, Sydney |
| US Championships | Semi-finals at Forest Hills in 1950, lost to Art Larsen, and in 1951, lost to Vic Seixas 6-3 in the fifth set. His first appearance, in 1946, ended in the third round against Bill Talbert 6-2, 6-2, 6-0 |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1951 | Men's singles | |
| Pennsylvania Grass Court Championships (Merion) | ||
| 1950 | Men's singles | |
| Australian Championships | ||
| 1951 | Men's singles | |
| Eastern Grass Court Championships (South Orange) | ||
| 1957 | Men's singles | |
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 Australian was a big shock to the tennis world."
The person behind the player.
Orange, New Jersey
As a boy he was a ball boy at the Berkeley Tennis Club in Orange, New Jersey, where touring professionals played. "I had never seen tennis like that before," he said. He went home and studied Don Budge's instruction book.
Source: USTA EasternForest Hills, 1946
His first US Championships ended with a 6-2, 6-2, 6-0 defeat by Bill Talbert on the stadium court, and most of the crowd left during the match. Years later a friend, Dan Rivkind, told him he remembered it. Savitt replied: "There aren't too many of you left (who stayed that day)."
Source: USTA EasternWimbledon 1951
He took the trophy from the Duchess of Kent and remembered feeling more relieved than elated. Asked whether a champion needed brains, he said no: "It takes four things: athletic ability, desire, good technique and experience."
Source: USTA EasternDavis Cup, 1951
The non-playing captain, Frank Shields, chose the semi-retired Ted Schroeder over him for the final against Australia. Five of the top ten American players publicly accused Shields of prejudice; Savitt later said he did not believe anti-Semitism caused the dispute, and would say only that it was "a long story".
Source: Wikipedia; USTA EasternLondon, 1951
Of the Jewish community in North London he said: "Nobody knew tennis there, but after I won people started picking up rackets."
Source: WikipediaNew York, later years
He played four or more days a week for more than 50 years and went to the US Open almost every day of his adult life. In 1981 he won the US Father and Son doubles with his son Bob, who said: "I really don't think that anybody loved tennis as much as my dad."
Source: Associated Press, 2023Free membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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