Jack Crawford (tennis)

John Herbert Crawford, OBE (22 March 1908 – 10 September 1991) was an Australian tennis player during the 1930s. He was the World No. 1 player for 1933, during which year he won the Australian Open, the French Open, and Wimbledon, and was runner-up at the U.S. Open in five sets, thus missing the Grand Slam by one set that year.[2] He also won the Australian Open in 1931, 1932, and 1935. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1979.

Jack Crawford
OBE

Full name	John Herbert Crawford
Country (sports)	Australia
Born	22 March 1908 Urangeline, Australia
Died	10 September 1991 (aged 83) Sydney, Australia
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Turned pro	1926 (amateur tour)
Retired	1951
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Int. Tennis HoF	1979 (member page)
Singles
Career record	681-182 (78.9%) [1]
Career titles	66 [1]
Highest ranking	No. 1 (1933, A. Wallis Myers)[2]
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	W (1931, 1932, 1933, 1935)
French Open	W (1933)
Wimbledon	W (1933)
US Open	F (1933)
Doubles
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	W (1929, 1930, 1932, 1935)
French Open	W (1935)
Wimbledon	W (1935)
US Open	F (1939)
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open	W (1931, 1932, 1933)
French Open	W (1933)
Wimbledon	W (1935)

Early life

Crawford was born on 22 March 1908 in Urangeline, near Albury, New South Wales, the second youngest child of Jack Sr. and Lottie Crawford.[3] He had no tennis training as a child and practiced mainly by hitting against the house and school and playing his older brother.[3] Crawford played his first competition match at age 12 in a mixed doubles match at the Haberfield club.[4] He won the Australian junior championships four consecutive times from 1926 to 1929 which entitled him to the permanent possession of the trophy.[5]

Career

Although he won a number of major championship titles he is perhaps best known for something he did not do – complete the tennis Grand Slam in 1933, five years before Don Budge accomplished the feat for the first time in 1938.

In 1933, Crawford won the Australian Championships, French Championships, and Wimbledon Championships, leaving him needing to win the U.S. Championships to complete the Grand Slam.[6] An asthmatic who suffered in the muggy summer heat of Forest Hills, Crawford was leading the Englishman Fred Perry in the final of the US Championships by two sets to one when his strength began to fade. Crawford ended up losing the match by the final score of 3–6, 13–11, 6–4, 0–6, 1–6.

In his 1979 autobiography Jack Kramer, the long-time tennis promoter and great player himself, included Crawford in his list of the 21 greatest players of all time.[7]

He was also known for taking a shot of whiskey between sets if the game was tense.

Crawford was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island in 1979 and into the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame in 1997. He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1976 for his services to sport.[8]

Playing style

Crawford at White City, Sydney ca. 1929

Crawford in 1933 holding his characteristic flat-topped racket

Crawford was a right-handed baseline player with a game that was based more on technical skills and accuracy than on power. He was not particularly fast but had excellent anticipation and his game was described as fluent and effortless. His style was compared with Henri Cochet. Crawford played with an old-fashioned flat-topped racket and always wore long, white flannels and a long-sleeved shirt.

Grand Slam tournament finals

Singles: 12 (6 titles, 6 runners-up)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1931	Australian Championships	Grass	Harry Hopman	6–4, 6–2, 2–6, 6–1
Win	1932	Australian Championships	Grass	Harry Hopman	4–6, 6–3, 3–6, 6–3, 6–1
Win	1933	Australian Championships	Grass	Keith Gledhill	2–6, 7–5, 6–3, 6–2
Win	1933	French Championships	Clay	Henri Cochet	8–6, 6–1, 6–3
Win	1933	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	Ellsworth Vines	4–6, 11–9, 6–2, 2–6, 6–4
Loss	1933	U.S. Championships	Grass	Fred Perry	3–6, 13–11, 6–4, 0–6, 1–6
Loss	1934	Australian Championships	Grass	Fred Perry	3–6, 5–7, 1–6
Loss	1934	French Championships	Clay	Gottfried von Cramm	4–6, 9–7, 6–3, 5–7, 3–6
Loss	1934	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	Fred Perry	3–6, 0–6, 5–7
Win	1935	Australian Championships	Grass	Fred Perry	2–6, 6–4, 6–4, 6–4
Loss	1936	Australian Championships	Grass	Adrian Quist	2–6, 3–6, 6–4, 6–3, 7–9
Loss	1940	Australian Championships	Grass	Adrian Quist	3–6, 1–6, 2–6

Doubles: 12 (6 titles, 6 runners-up)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1929	Australian Championships	Grass	Harry Hopman	Jack Cummings Edgar Moon	6–1, 6–8, 4–6, 6–1, 6–3
Win	1930	Australian Championships	Grass	Harry Hopman	Tim Fitchett John Hawkes	8–6, 6–1, 2–6, 6–3
Loss	1931	Australian Championships	Grass	Harry Hopman	James Anderson Norman Brookes	2–6, 4–6, 3–6
Win	1932	Australian Championships	Grass	Edgar Moon	Harry Hopman Gerald Patterson	12–10, 6–3, 4–6, 6–4
Loss	1933	Australian Championships	Grass	Edgar Moon	Keith Gledhill Ellsworth Vines	4–6, 8–10, 2–6
Loss	1934	French Championships	Grass	Vivian McGrath	Jean Borotra Jacques Brugnon	9–11, 3–6, 6–2, 6–4, 7–9
Win	1935	Australian Championships	Grass	Vivian McGrath	Patrick Hughes Fred Perry	6–4, 8–6, 6–2
Win	1935	French Championships	Clay	Adrian Quist	Donald Turnbull Vivian McGrath	6–1, 6–4, 6–2
Win	1935	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	Adrian Quist	Wilmer Allison John Van Ryn	6–3, 5–7, 6–2, 5–7, 7–5
Loss	1936	Australian Championships	Grass	Vivian McGrath	Adrian Quist Donald Turnbull	8–6, 2–6, 1–6, 6–3, 2–6
Loss	1939	U.S. Championships	Grass	Harry Hopman	Adrian Quist John Bromwich	6–8, 1–6, 4–6
Loss	1940	Australian Championships	Grass	Vivian McGrath	John Bromwich Adrian Quist	3–5, 5–7, 1–6

Mixed doubles: 8 (5 titles, 3 runners-up)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1928	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	Daphne Akhurst	Elizabeth Ryan Patrick Spence	5–7, 4–6
Loss	1929	Australian Championships	Grass	Marjorie Cox Crawford	Daphne Akhurst Edgar Moon	6–0, 7–5
Loss	1930	Australian Championships	Grass	Marjorie Cox Crawford	Nell Hall Hopman Harry Hopman	9–11, 6–3, 3–6
Win	1930	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	Elizabeth Ryan	Hilde Sperling Daniel Prenn	6–1, 6–3
Win	1931	Australian Championships	Grass	Marjorie Cox Crawford	Emily Hood Westacott Aubrey Willard	7–5, 6–4
Win	1932	Australian Championships	Grass	Marjorie Cox Crawford	Nell Hall Hopman Jiro Sato	6–8, 8–6, 6–3
Win	1933	Australian Championships	Grass	Marjorie Cox Crawford	Marjorie Gladman Ellsworth Vines	3–6, 7–5, 13–11
Win	1933	French Championships	Clay	Margaret Scriven	Betty Nuthall Fred Perry	6–2, 6–3

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

Key

W

F

SF

QF

#R

RR

Q#

A

NH

(W) Won; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent; (NH) not held. SR=strike rate (events won/competed)

Tournament	1926	1927	1928	1929	1930	1931	1932	1933	1934	1935	1936	1937	1938	1939	1940	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945	1946	1947	1948	1949	1950	1951	SR	W–L	Win %
Australia	1R	QF	SF	QF	SF	W	W	W	F	W	F	SF	3R	SF	F	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	3R	1R	3R	3R	2R	1R	4 / 21	52–17	75.4
France	A	A	QF	A	2R	A	A	W	F	SF	A	A	A	A	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	A	3R	A	A	A	A	1 / 6	20–5	80.0
Wimbledon	A	A	4R	A	3R	A	SF	W	F	SF	QF	QF	A	A	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	A	1R	A	A	A	A	1 / 9	36–8	81.8
United States	A	A	QF	A	A	A	A	F	A	A	A	A	A	3R	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	3R	A	A	A	A	0 / 4	10–4	71.4
Win–Loss	0–1	2–1	12–4	2–1	6–3	5–0	10–1	23–1	15–3	14–2	8–2	7–2	1–1	5–2	4–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–1	1–4	1–1	1–1	0–1	0–1	6 / 40	118–34	77.6

See also

• List of male tennis players a detailed list of tennis greats throughout the years
• Tennis records of All Time - Men's Singles

Sources

• Kendall, Allan (1995). Australia's Wimbledon Champions. Sydney, NSW: ABC Books for the Australian Broadcasting Corp. ISBN 9780733304101.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Notes and references

1. "Jack Crawford: Career match record". thetennisbase.com. Tennismem SL.
2. "Mr Wallis Myers' Ranking", The Sydney Morning Herald, 22 September 1933.
3. Kendall (1995), p. 57
4. Kendall (1995), p. 60
5. Bradshaw, Finn, ed. (2004). Our Open : 100 Years of Australia's Grand Slam. Melbourne: News Custom Publishing. p. 25. ISBN 9781876176600.
6. "Jack Crawford :". Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938). NSW: National Library of Australia. 12 July 1933. pp. 14–16.
7. Writing in 1979, Kramer considered the best 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.
8. "Jack Crawford". The Sport Australia Hall of Fame.

External links

• Jack Crawford at the International Tennis Hall of Fame
• Jack Crawford at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Jack Crawford at the International Tennis Federation
• Jack Crawford at the Davis Cup
• Jack Crawford at Tennis Australia