- Vincent Richards
Vincent ("Vinnie") Richards (
30 March 1903 —28 September 1959 ) was a top Americantennis player in the early decades of the 20th Century, particularly known as being a superlativevolley er.Born in
Yonkers ,New York , he attended theJesuit Fordham Preparatory School , attendedFordham University and studied at theColumbia University School of Journalism in 1922.A superlative volleyer, Richards won the National Boys Outdoor Singles Tournament in 1917. He became a protégé of
Bill Tilden after being defeated by the older man in a match, and teamed up with him to win the United States doubles championship in 1918 at the age of 15. He remains the youngest male to have ever won a major championship. Twenty-seven years later, in 1945, he and Tilden won the United States Pro doubles title.Richards was one of the best singles players of the 1920s and played on several United States
Davis Cup teams. In 1927 he was the first prominent male player to turn professional. The following year, in 1928, he was still generally considered to be one of the top 5 or 6 players in the world and played a brief tour at the end of the year against another new professional, the hitherto virtually unknown Czech playerKarel Koželuh . In spite of a number of close matches, Richards could only beat Koželuh 5 times while losing 15. In 1929 Richards won 2 out of 7 matches against Koželuh and in 1930 2 out of 6. At the end of 1930 he then announced his retirement from professional tennis. At the time, he had won theUnited States Pro Championship three times, in 1927, 1928, and 1930, beating Koželuh in the finals in both 1928 and 1930, while losing to him in the 1929 finals. He later came out of retirement and won the Pro Championship once again in 1933, this time beatingFrank Hunter .Richards was inducted into the
International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1959.External links
* History of the Pro Tennis Wars
** [http://www.tennisserver.com/lines/lines_01_03_01.html Chapter II: The eminence of Karel Kozeluh and Vincent Richards 1927-1928]
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