Tennis Jack Crawford

He was the World No. 1 amateur for 1933, during which year he won the Australian Open, the French Open, and Wimbledon, and was runner-up at the U.S. Open in five sets, thus missing the Grand Slam by one set that year. He also won the Australian Open in 1931, 1932, and 1935. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1979.

Jack Crawford
OBE

Full name	John Herbert Crawford
Country (sports)	Australia
Born	(1908-03-22)22 March 1908 Urangeline, New South Wales, Australia
Died	10 September 1991(1991-09-10) (aged 83) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Turned pro	1926 (amateur tour)
Retired	1951
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Int. Tennis HoF	1979 (member page)
Singles
Career record	681-182 (78.9%)
Career titles	66
Highest ranking	No. 1 (1933, A. Wallis Myers)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	W (1931, 1932, 1933, 1935)
French Open	W (1933)
Wimbledon	W (1933)
US Open	F (1933)
Doubles
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	W (1929, 1930, 1932, 1935)
French Open	W (1935)
Wimbledon	W (1935)
US Open	F (1939)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian Open	W (1931, 1932, 1933)
French Open	W (1933)
Wimbledon	W (1935)

Crawford was born on 22 March 1908 in Urangeline, near Albury, New South Wales, the second youngest child of Jack Sr. and Lottie Crawford. He had no tennis training as a child and practised mainly by hitting against the house and school and playing his older brother. Crawford played his first competition match at age 12 in a mixed doubles match at the Haberfield club. He won the Australian junior championships four consecutive times from 1926 to 1929 which entitled him to the permanent possession of the trophy.

Although he won a number of major championship titles he is perhaps best known for something he did not do – complete the tennis Grand Slam in 1933, five years before Don Budge accomplished the feat for the first time in 1938.

In 1933, Crawford won the Australian Championships, French Championships, and Wimbledon Championships, leaving him needing to win the U.S. Championships to complete the Grand Slam. An asthmatic who suffered in the muggy summer heat of Forest Hills, Crawford was leading the Englishman Fred Perry in the final of the US Championships by two sets to one when his strength began to fade. It was said that Crawford was an asthmatic who frequently took brandy mixed with sugar to help his breathing during matches, and on the muggy afternoon in Forest Hills he was said to have downed two or three doses of the concoction, though there are differing accounts of what Crawford actually drank. Crawford ended up losing the match by the final score of 3–6, 13–11, 6–4, 0–6, 1–6.

Crawford was ranked World No. 1 amateur in 1933 by A. Wallis Myers, Bernard Brown, Pierre Gillou, Didier Poulain, John R. Tunis (The Literary Digest), Harry Hopman (Melbourne Herald), Alfred Chave (Brisbane Telegraph), "Set" (The West Australian) and Ellsworth Vines.

Crawford exacted some measure of revenge against Perry at the 1935 Australian, winning the final against Perry in four sets. Historically, he was competing in his tenth straight major final, a record matched only by Big Bill Tilden and then joined by Roger Federer. He advanced to his last Australian finals in 1936 and 1940, felled each time by fellow Aussie Adrian Quist, but he had set a record by making seven Australian finals appearances, equaled only by Roy Emerson in 1967.

In his 1979 autobiography Jack Kramer, the long-time tennis promoter and great player himself, included Crawford in his list of the 21 greatest players of all time.

Crawford was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island in 1979 and into the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame in 1997. He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1977 New Year Honours for his services to sport.

 

 

Crawford was a right-handed baseline player with a game that was based more on technical skills and accuracy than on power. He was not particularly fast but had excellent anticipation and his game was described as fluent and effortless. His style was compared with Henri Cochet. Crawford always wore long, white pressed flannels and a long-sleeved shirt. He played with an old-fashioned flat-topped racket produced by the Alexander Patent Racket Company in Launceston, Tasmania.

Singles: 12 (6 titles, 6 runners-up)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1931	Australian Championships	Grass	Harry Hopman	6–4, 6–2, 2–6, 6–1
Win	1932	Australian Championships	Grass	Harry Hopman	4–6, 6–3, 3–6, 6–3, 6–1
Win	1933	Australian Championships	Grass	Keith Gledhill	2–6, 7–5, 6–3, 6–2
Win	1933	French Championships	Clay	Henri Cochet	8–6, 6–1, 6–3
Win	1933	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	Ellsworth Vines	4–6, 11–9, 6–2, 2–6, 6–4
Loss	1933	U.S. Championships	Grass	Fred Perry	3–6, 13–11, 6–4, 0–6, 1–6
Loss	1934	Australian Championships	Grass	Fred Perry	3–6, 5–7, 1–6
Loss	1934	French Championships	Clay	Gottfried von Cramm	4–6, 9–7, 6–3, 5–7, 3–6
Loss	1934	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	Fred Perry	3–6, 0–6, 5–7
Win	1935	Australian Championships	Grass	Fred Perry	2–6, 6–4, 6–4, 6–4
Loss	1936	Australian Championships	Grass	Adrian Quist	2–6, 3–6, 6–4, 6–3, 7–9
Loss	1940	Australian Championships	Grass	Adrian Quist	3–6, 1–6, 2–6

Doubles: 12 (6 titles, 6 runners-up)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1929	Australian Championships	Grass	Harry Hopman	Jack Cummings   Edgar Moon	6–1, 6–8, 4–6, 6–1, 6–3
Win	1930	Australian Championships	Grass	Harry Hopman	Tim Fitchett   John Hawkes	8–6, 6–1, 2–6, 6–3
Loss	1931	Australian Championships	Grass	Harry Hopman	James Anderson   Norman Brookes	2–6, 4–6, 3–6
Win	1932	Australian Championships	Grass	Edgar Moon	Harry Hopman   Gerald Patterson	12–10, 6–3, 4–6, 6–4
Loss	1933	Australian Championships	Grass	Edgar Moon	Keith Gledhill   Ellsworth Vines	4–6, 8–10, 2–6
Loss	1934	French Championships	Grass	Vivian McGrath	Jean Borotra   Jacques Brugnon	9–11, 3–6, 6–2, 6–4, 7–9
Win	1935	Australian Championships	Grass	Vivian McGrath	Patrick Hughes   Fred Perry	6–4, 8–6, 6–2
Win	1935	French Championships	Clay	Adrian Quist	Donald Turnbull   Vivian McGrath	6–1, 6–4, 6–2
Win	1935	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	Adrian Quist	Wilmer Allison   John Van Ryn	6–3, 5–7, 6–2, 5–7, 7–5
Loss	1936	Australian Championships	Grass	Vivian McGrath	Adrian Quist   Donald Turnbull	8–6, 2–6, 1–6, 6–3, 2–6
Loss	1939	U.S. Championships	Grass	Harry Hopman	Adrian Quist   John Bromwich	6–8, 1–6, 4–6
Loss	1940	Australian Championships	Grass	Vivian McGrath	John Bromwich   Adrian Quist	3–5, 5–7, 1–6

Mixed doubles: 8 (5 titles, 3 runners-up)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1928	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	Daphne Akhurst	Elizabeth Ryan   Patrick Spence	5–7, 4–6
Loss	1929	Australian Championships	Grass	Marjorie Cox Crawford	Daphne Akhurst   Edgar Moon	6–0, 7–5
Loss	1930	Australian Championships	Grass	Marjorie Cox Crawford	Nell Hall Hopman   Harry Hopman	9–11, 6–3, 3–6
Win	1930	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	Elizabeth Ryan	Hilde Sperling   Daniel Prenn	6–1, 6–3
Win	1931	Australian Championships	Grass	Marjorie Cox Crawford	Emily Hood Westacott   Aubrey Willard	7–5, 6–4
Win	1932	Australian Championships	Grass	Marjorie Cox Crawford	Nell Hall Hopman   Jiro Sato	6–8, 8–6, 6–3
Win	1933	Australian Championships	Grass	Marjorie Cox Crawford	Marjorie Gladman   Ellsworth Vines	3–6, 7–5, 13–11
Win	1933	French Championships	Clay	Margaret Scriven	Betty Nuthall   Fred Perry	6–2, 6–3

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