Bill Tilden

William Tatem "Bill" Tilden II, called " Big Bill " ( born February 10, 1893 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, † June 5, 1953 in Los Angeles, California ) was an American tennis player.

Biography

He was the dominant tennis player in the 1920s and one of the best tennis players of all time. With the exception of the 1950s, when Pancho Gonzales dominated the scene at the professional tennis players, there was no other tennis player who dominated the tennis for such a long period. He won in addition to his success at Grand Slam tournaments with the U.S. Davis Cup team seven times the trophy.

For a tennis player, he was unusual only in the relatively late age of 27 years to a far superior player. Although he won even before 1920 some of the titles in singles and doubles, but he lost at the U.S. Championships in 1918 against Lindley Murray and 1919 against Bill Johnston. Following these defeats, he worked in the tennis hall of a friend during the whole winter at his backhand and was able to dominate with the changed, more variable and more aggressive backhand the tennis for a decade. Tilden had an excellent condition at great speed and a sense of balance, and he had grown very tall for his time with 1.88 m. This came to him, though he rarely advancing to the network, at his canon surcharge, one of his most effective punches, especially accommodating. His last Grand Slam tournament at the age of 37 years won Tilden in 1930 at Wimbledon. In the same year Tilden had won the title in the mixed doubles in Paris. Partner there was Cecily Aussem, was instrumental to their great career as a coach Tilden share. Due to lack of funds, he was a professional tennis player in 1931 and toured for 15 years with other top players through the U.S. and Europe; However, the audience mainly wanted to see him play. Bill Tilden was able to keep up with the younger players and tennis greats of the 1930s such as Ellsworth Vines, Fred Perry and Don Budge.

Bill Tilden was an intellectual tennis players, who passionately stroke technique, twist and cut studied and wrote three books on tactics and technique tennis. He also published several, but unsuccessful, short stories.

In public opinion, Tilden was 1920-1955 as the greatest tennis player ever before outstripped him Pancho Gonzales in public.

In the years 1946 and 1949 Tilden, whose homosexuality was an open secret in the tennis scene, was sentenced to imprisonment for homosexual harassment of young people. Socially ostracized, he was no longer invited to show Tournaments and could no longer work as a trainer as well. Bill Tilden died penniless in Los Angeles at the age of 60 years.

He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1959.

Grand Slam victories

• Single - 1920, 1921, 1930
• Double - 1927

• Single - 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1929
• Double - 1918, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1927

• Mixed - 1913, 1914, 1922, 1923

• Mixed in 1930

Professional Tennis Championships victories

• Single - 1931, 1935

• Single - 1933, 1934