Toomas Leius

Toomas Leius ( born August 28, 1941 in Tallinn ) is a former Estonian tennis player who started his active time for the Soviet Union. After his playing career, he has worked as a tennis coach.

Life

Leius, which began with the sport of tennis at the age of ten years, in his childhood, was an avid sportsman, who, basketball, volleyball, football and tennis business in addition to table tennis in athletics. After he was able to record fast initial success against older opponents, he started in 1957 with 15 years at the Estonian Tennis Men Championships. By tactically clever game he was able to compensate for physical deficits and reached the semi-finals surprising. In the Soviet Championships he won the bronze medal. The following year he was both the Estonian and the Soviet championship win. His first international assignment had Leius 1959 in Wimbledon. While he failed in the men's competition in the second round, he reached the final, where he was able to prevail 6-3 7-5 against Roger Taylor in the unofficial junior competition.

Throughout his career he achieved at Wimbledon twice the round of 32-1960 he lost to eventual champion Neale Fraser 4:6, 1:6, 8:6 and 3:6. In 1962 he started at the U.S. Open, where he was eliminated in the second round. He celebrated his biggest success at the French Open in 1965, when he reached the quarterfinals, he lost however to pressure the Soviet government without a fight against the South African Cliff Drysdale. At the Australian Open, he lost in 1969 in the third round against Ray Ruffels and reached with John Brown the quarterfinals of the doubles competition. In the same year he and his partner Aleksandre Metreweli succeeded also in Paris the way into the quarter-finals, but they lost to the eventual finalists, Roy Emerson and Rod Laver with 1:6, 2:6 and 2:6. 1971 and 1972 he reached again in the doubles competition the round of 32, the most successful Estonian tennis player who was coached by Evald Kree, won 23 Estonian ( nine times single, 14 times double ) and ten ( four times a single, six times Double) Soviet title.

After the end of his career Leius was sentenced mid-70s manslaughter of his wife of eight years in prison. Due to good behavior, he was released after five years in prison, left Estonia and worked as a coach among other things, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Finland and Germany. Leius, who in 1970 completed his teacher training for sports and music at the Tallinn Pedagogical Institute, 1997 returned to Estonia, where he was temporarily employed, among others, as captain of the Estonian Fed Cup team.

Awards

• Estonian Sportsman of the Year in 1961, 1963 and 1965