Stan Smith

Infobox Tennis player
playername = Stan Smith


country = USA
residence = Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, U.S.
datebirth = birth date and age|1946|12|14
placebirth = Pasadena, California, U.S.
height = convert|6|ft|4|in|cm|abbr=on
weight = convert|185|lb|kg|abbr=on
turnedpro = 1968
retired = 1986
plays = Right-handed
careerprizemoney = US$1,774,811
singlesrecord = 641–262
singlestitles = 36
highestsinglesranking = No. 1 (1972)
AustralianOpenresult = 3r (1970, 1975)
FrenchOpenresult = QF (1971, 1972)
Wimbledonresult = W (1972)
USOpenresult = W (1971)
Othertournaments = Yes
MastersCupresult = W (1970)
doublesrecord = 558–201
doublestitles = 54
highestdoublesranking =
grandslamsdoublesresults =yes
AustralianOpenDoublesresult = W (1970)
FrenchOpenDoublesresult = F (1971, 1974)
WimbledonDoublesresult = F (1972, 1974, 1980, 1981)
USOpenDoublesresult = W (1968, 1974, 1978, 1980)
updated =

Stanley Roger Smith (born December 14, 1946 in Pasadena, California) is a former American tennis player who, with his partner Bob Lutz, was one of the best doubles teams of all time. Together, they won many major titles all over the world. Smith also won many singles titles, including the Wimbledon championship once and the US Open championship once. In 1972, he was the year-ending World No. 1 singles player.

Career

Smith played collegiate tennis at the University of Southern California, where he was a three-time All-American and won the 1968 NCAA singles championship and the 1967 and 1968 doubles titles.

In his 1979 autobiography, Jack Kramer, the long-time tennis promoter and great player himself, ranked Smith as one of the 21 best players of all time. [Kramer considered the best player ever to have been either Don Budge (for consistent play) or Ellsworth Vines (at the height of his game). The next four best were, chronologically, Bill Tilden, Fred Perry, Bobby Riggs, and Pancho Gonzales. After these six came the "second echelon" of Rod Laver, Lew Hoad, Ken Rosewall, Gottfried von Cramm, Ted Schroeder, Jack Crawford, Pancho Segura, Frank Sedgman, Tony Trabert, John Newcombe, Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith, Björn Borg, and Jimmy Connors. He felt unable to rank Henri Cochet and René Lacoste accurately but felt they were among the very best.]

In 2005, TENNIS Magazine put Smith in 35th place in its list of 40 Greatest Players of the TENNIS era.

Smith was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987.

Following his playing career, Smith became active as a coach for the United States Tennis Association. He now has his own academy with Billy Stearns called Smith Stearns Tennis Academy, located in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.

Today, Smith lives in Hilton Head with his wife and four children, all of whom competed in collegiate tennis.

Grand Slam singles finals

Wins (2)

Runner-ups (19)

References

Further reading

*cite book |author=Smith, Stan |title=Stan Smith's Winning Doubles |publisher=Human Kinetics |location=Champaign, IL |year=2002 |pages= |isbn=0-7360-3007-7 |oclc= |doi=

External links

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* [http://www.tennisfame.com/famer.aspx?pgID=867&hof_id=148 International Tennis Hall of Fame profile]