The early years
United States · born Summit, New Jersey, 1872 · died 1926 · seven times US champion
All playersBack to the rankings
7
US singles titles, 1901 to 1911
38
Age at his 1911 title, still the record
11
Longwood Bowl singles titles
9-5
Davis Cup match record
William Augustus Larned was born in Summit, New Jersey, in 1872 and studied mechanical engineering at Cornell, where in 1892 he became the university's first intercollegiate tennis champion. In 1898 he served in Cuba with Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders. He won his first US singles title in 1901, at 28, defended it in 1902 against Reginald Doherty, and won five more in a row from 1907 to 1911, a total of seven that he shares with Richard Sears and Bill Tilden. He played Davis Cup for the United States in seven years between 1902 and 1912, won the Cup in 1902 and captained the team in 1903. He later worked at the New York Stock Exchange and in 1922 invented a steel-framed racket. He died in New York in 1926 and entered the Hall of Fame in 1956.
| Major singles titles | 7: US (1901, 1902, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911) |
|---|---|
| Major singles finals lost | 2: US 1900, US 1903 |
| Other grass singles titles | 16: Longwood Bowl 11 (1894, 1895, 1897, 1901, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909); Southampton 3 (1902, 1904, 1906); Seabright 2 (1893, 1895) |
| Titles kept in a challenge round | 5: US (1902, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911). Scored as a final won, not a full draw (-20 points). |
| US singles finals won | 1901: beat Beals Wright 6-2, 6-8, 6-4, 6-4. 1902: beat Reginald Doherty 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 8-6. 1907: beat Robert LeRoy 6-2, 6-2, 6-4. 1908: beat Wright 6-1, 6-2, 8-6. 1909: beat Bill Clothier 6-1, 6-2, 5-7, 1-6, 6-1. 1910: beat Tom Bundy 6-1, 5-7, 6-0, 6-8, 6-1. 1911: beat Maurice McLoughlin 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 |
| US singles finals lost | 1900: to Malcolm Whitman 4-6, 6-1, 2-6, 2-6. 1903: to Laurence Doherty 0-6, 3-6, 8-10 |
| Wimbledon | Singles quarter-finals in 1896 and 1905; doubles semi-final in 1905 |
| Davis Cup | Played in 1902, 1903, 1905, 1908, 1909, 1911 and 1912; Cup won 1902; 9-5 in matches |
| Longwood Bowl | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1894 | Men's singles | |
| 1895 | Men's singles | |
| 1897 | Men's singles | |
| 1901 | Men's singles | |
| 1903 | Men's singles | |
| 1904 | Men's singles†| |
| 1905 | Men's singles†| |
| 1906 | Men's singles | |
| 1907 | Men's singles | |
| 1908 | Men's singles†| |
| 1909 | Men's singles†| |
| US Championships | ||
| 1901 | Men's singles | |
| 1902 | Men's singles | |
| 1907 | Men's singles | |
| 1908 | Men's singles | |
| 1909 | Men's singles | |
| 1910 | Men's singles | |
| 1911 | Men's singles | |
| Southampton (Meadow Club) | ||
| 1893 | Men's singles Southampton Invitational | |
| 1894 | Men's singles Southampton Invitational | |
| 1895 | Men's singles Southampton Invitational | |
| 1900 | Men's singles Southampton Invitational | |
| 1901 | Men's singles Southampton Invitational | |
| 1902 | Men's singles Southampton Invitational | |
| Seabright Invitational | ||
| 1893 | Men's singles†| |
| 1894 | Men's singles | |
| 1895 | 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
"Larned, when on his game, is very fine indeed and very brilliant."
The person behind the player.
Ithaca 1892
Larned went to Cornell in 1890 to study mechanical engineering. In the autumn of his junior year, 1892, he won the intercollegiate singles championship, the first Cornell student to do so. Wikipedia records that he is still the only one, and Cornell elected him to its Athletics Hall of Fame in 1981.
Source: Cornell AthleticsCuba 1898
In the Spanish-American War he served as one of Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders in Cuba. The campaign left him with rheumatism, which the International Tennis Hall of Fame says eventually ended his playing career. He nonetheless won all seven of his US titles after the war.
Source: International Tennis Hall of FameLondon 1903
In their book on the game the Doherty brothers praised his topspin on both wings and his forehand volley, which they called very hard indeed. They found just one weakness: he had "really only one fault", namely that "he varies at times; he has his off-days."
Source: WikipediaNewport 1903
Defending his title in the challenge round against Laurence Doherty, Larned lost 6-0, 6-3, 10-8. Doherty became the first overseas winner of the US singles, and no player from abroad won it again until 1926. Larned, who had held the title for two years, did not win it again until 1907.
Source: Sports IllustratedNewport 1911
In his last US final he beat Maurice McLoughlin 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 for a fifth title in a row. He was 38, and no man older has won the US singles since. He had played his first national final eleven years earlier.
Source: Sports IllustratedNew York 1922
Away from tennis he captained the St Nicholas Hockey Club in 1896 and 1897 and was a horseman, golfer and rifle shot. After his playing days he worked at the New York Stock Exchange, and in 1922 he invented a steel-framed racket and set up a company to make it.
Source: WikipediaFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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