Between the wars
United States · born Guaymas, Mexico, 1908 · died 1978 · left-handed · US champion 1930, who beat Bill Tilden with 28 aces on the way
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28
Aces in his 1930 US semi-final win over Bill Tilden
16-14
Fourth set of the 1930 US final against Frank Shields
2
US doubles titles with George Lott, 1929 and 1930
No. 4
World ranking in 1930; US No. 1 the same year
2-0
Davis Cup singles record, 1930
John Thomas Godfray Hope Doeg was born in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico, in 1908 and raised in Southern California. His mother, Violet Sutton, played tennis, and his aunt was May Sutton, the first American to win Wimbledon. He won the US junior singles in 1926 and the Longwood Bowl in 1927, and became a US citizen in 1933.
His game was built on one of the great left-handed serves. In 1929 he won the Seabright Invitational, beating R. Norris Williams in straight sets, and the US doubles with George Lott. In 1930 he reached the Wimbledon semi-finals, losing to Wilmer Allison in five sets, and with Lott the doubles final. At Forest Hills that September he beat Frank Hunter, then Bill Tilden 10-8, 6-3, 3-6, 12-10, and Frank Shields 10-8, 1-6, 6-4, 16-14 in the final. He and Lott also kept the doubles title. He was ranked US No. 1 and world No. 4.
He played Davis Cup in 1930 and won both his singles. In 1931 he wrote Elements of Lawn Tennis with the New York Times correspondent Allison Danzig. He died in Redding, California, in 1978, and had been elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1962.
| US Championships 1930 | Semi-final: beat Bill Tilden 10-8, 6-3, 3-6, 12-10, with 28 aces, ending Tilden's bid for an eighth title. Final: beat Frank Shields 10-8, 1-6, 6-4, 16-14 |
|---|---|
| US doubles with George Lott | 1929: beat Berkeley Bell and Lewis White 10-8, 16-14, 6-1. 1930: beat John Van Ryn and Wilmer Allison 8-6, 6-3, 4-6, 13-15, 6-4 |
| Wimbledon 1930 | Seeded fourth: lost the singles semi-final to Wilmer Allison 6-3, 4-6, 8-6, 3-6, 7-5. Doubles final with Lott: lost to Allison and Van Ryn 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 |
| Seabright 1929 | Won the Seabright Invitational at Rumson, New Jersey, beating R. Norris Williams in three straight sets |
| US Championships | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1929 | Men's doubles | with George Lott |
| 1930 | Men's doubles | with George Lott |
| 1930 | Men's singles | |
| Longwood Bowl | ||
| 1927 | Men's singles | |
| 1929 | Men's singles | |
| Eastern Grass Court Championships (South Orange) | ||
| 1928 | Men's singles | |
| Seabright Invitational | ||
| 1929 | 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
"You never broke Doeg's serve. You outlasted it."
The person behind the player.
Family
His mother was Violet Sutton and his aunt May Sutton Bundy, Wimbledon champion in 1905 and 1907; his cousin was Dodo Cheney. A New Zealand paper reporting his 1930 title introduced him as the nephew of Mr and Mrs T. C. Bundy.
Source: International Tennis Hall of Fame; Evening Post (Wellington), 20 September 1930The serve
Don Budge wrote that Doeg's big left-handed slice "actually knocked the ball lopsided" and that players called it "John's egg-ball". In the advantage court, he added, it bounced so far wide that a man who reached it was carried out of the court.
Source: Wikipedia, quoting Don Budge, A Tennis Memoir, 19691928
Budge told a story from a Davis Cup trial doubles in 1928, Doeg and George Lott against Bill Tilden and Frank Hunter: in a set that went to 12-10, Hunter, receiving in the right court, never once returned Doeg's serve safely.
Source: Wikipedia, quoting Don Budge, Budge on Tennis, 19391931
After his title year he wrote Elements of Lawn Tennis with Allison Danzig, the tennis writer of The New York Times, published in New York in 1931.
Source: Wikipedia1933
Born in Mexico, Doeg won the US title in 1930 and became a US citizen in 1933.
Source: Wikipedia, citing The New York Times obituary, 2 June 1978Free membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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