Kurt Nielsen

Kurt Nielsen ( born November 19, 1930 in Copenhagen, † 11 June 2011) was a Danish tennis player and umpire and sports commentator. He is currently the only Dane, who was able to reach a Grand Slam final in the individual ( Wimbledon Championships in 1953 and 1955).

Life

Nielsen grew up in Hellerup the son of a well-off family, which promoted his tennis talent and introduced him to the German tennis coach Kurt Pohmann aside. In 1947 he won the individual title of the junior tournament at Wimbledon by a final win over Sven Davidson, the following year he won the junior title of the French Open. In 1953 he achieved among other things by a victory over the top-seeded Ken Rosewall the finals of Wimbledon, where he lost to Vic Seixas. In 1955 he again reached the finals of Wimbledon, this time he lost against Tony Trabert. Mixed In 1957 he won at the side of Althea Gibson the title at the U.S. Open, both stood together in the following year in mixed doubles final of Wimbledon. Throughout his career, 1949-1960, he was able to win 49 international and 50 national Danish title.

In 1948, he was first nominated for the Danish Davis Cup team and scored in his first meeting on Egypt. His two singles he won, while the double match was lost. Until 1960, he competed in 65 single and 31 double appearances for Denmark. He scored twice on the German Davis Cup team. In 1951, he lost against Gottfried von Cramm and Ernst Buchholz; the following year he defeated Buchholz Horst Hermann.

After the end of his active career Nielsen worked as a tennis coach as well as a referee at each Grand Slam tournaments. By the end of 2006, he worked as a commentator for Euro Sport.

He was the grandfather of Frederik Nielsen, who also took the professional career in tennis.

Tournament Win (selection)

Doubles

Mixed

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