Between the wars
United States · born Ogden, Utah, 1913 · died 2004 · Wimbledon doubles champion and singles finalist in 1939
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1939
Wimbledon gentlemen's doubles title with Bobby Riggs
5
Sets in the 1939 Wimbledon singles final, lost to Riggs
1939
Newport Casino Invitational singles title
No. 4
US ranking in 1945, his highest
20
Years as head professional at Sunningdale Country Club, 1961 to 1981
Elwood Thomas Cooke was born in Ogden, Utah, on 5 July 1913 and grew up in Portland, Oregon. He took up tennis the summer before his junior year at Benson Polytechnic High School, where he was unbeaten in league singles. He won the Oregon State and Pacific Northwest titles in the mid-1930s.
His great year was 1939. He reached the semi-finals of the French Championships and won the mixed doubles there with Sarah Palfrey. At Wimbledon, seeded sixth, he beat Bunny Austin and Henner Henkel to reach the singles final, where he led Bobby Riggs two sets to one before losing in five; with Riggs he won the doubles. Back home he won the Newport Casino Invitational, beating Don McNeill in the final, and with Palfrey reached the US mixed final. He finished 1939 ranked sixth in the United States and eighth in the world by Gordon Lowe.
He married Sarah Palfrey in 1940; the marriage ended in 1949. He won the US Indoor doubles with Riggs in 1940, served as a naval officer in the Second World War and was ranked fourth in the United States in 1945, when he reached the US singles semi-finals. He turned professional in 1947, played pro events until 1949, and was head professional at Sunningdale Country Club in Scarsdale, New York, from 1961 to 1981. He died in Apopka, Florida, on 16 April 2004, aged 90.
| Wimbledon 1939 singles final | Seeded 6, lost to Bobby Riggs, seeded 2, 6-2, 6-8, 6-3, 3-6, 2-6 in 135 minutes, after leading two sets to one |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon 1939 doubles final | With Riggs, seeded 2, beat Charles Hare and Frank Wilde, seeded 4, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 9-7 |
| Newport 1939 | Won the Newport Casino Invitational, beating Don McNeill 8-10, 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 in the final |
| US Championships | Mixed final 1939 with Sarah Palfrey, lost to Alice Marble and Harry Hopman 7-9, 1-6. Singles semi-final 1945, lost to Frank Parker |
| Wimbledon 1939 mixed | Semi-finals, completing a week in which he reached the last four of all three events |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1939 | Men's doubles | with Bobby Riggs |
| Newport, Rhode Island | ||
| 1939 | Men's singles Newport Casino 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.
Portland, 1930 to 1932
He only took up tennis the summer before his junior year at Benson Polytechnic High School in Portland. In his two seasons on the school team he did not lose a league singles match. The Portland Interscholastic League put him in its Hall of Fame in 2015.
Source: PIL Hall of FameWimbledon 1939
In the singles final he won the first set 6-2 and led Bobby Riggs two sets to one before losing 3-6, 2-6 in the last two sets. The two men then went out as partners and won the doubles.
Source: Wimbledon Compendium 2025 (AELTC)Coaching at home
Helen Jacobs credited him with improving the game of his wife, Sarah Palfrey: he "worked assiduously with her to develop in her game stylish, effortless stroking similar to his own." She won her first US singles title in 1941, the year after their marriage.
Source: Tennis Abstract, The Tennis 128: Sarah Palfrey CookeCincinnati, 1945
With no mixed event at the Tri-State Championships in 1945, he and his wife entered the men's doubles together. They reached the final before losing 6-2, 6-2 to Bill Talbert and Hal Surface; the Associated Press called them "the unusual husband-wife duo".
Source: Tennis Abstract, The Tennis 128: Sarah Palfrey CookeScarsdale, 1961 to 1981
After a short professional playing career, from 1947 to 1949, he spent twenty years as head tennis professional at Sunningdale Country Club in Scarsdale, New York.
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