Jack Crawford (tennis player)
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- For the 18th-Century British war hero of the same name, see Jack Crawford
John Herbert Crawford, known as Jack Crawford, was a great Australian tennis player of the 1930s. He was born March 22, 1908, in Albury, New South Wales, and died September 10, 1991. Although he won a number of major championship titles, he is best known, perhaps, for something he did not do - complete the tennis Grand Slam five years before Don Budge accomplished the feat for the first time.
In 1933 Crawford won the Australian, French, and British championships, needing to win the American championship to complete the slam. An asthmatic who suffered in the muggy summer heat of Long Island, he was leading the Englishman Fred Perry in the finals of the championship by two sets to one when his strength began to fade. He ended up losing the match, and tennis immortality, by the final score of 3-6, 13-11, 6-4, 0-6, 1-6.
He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island in 1979.
Grand Slam Tournament wins:
- Australian Championships:
- singles champion - 1931-33, 1935
- doubles champion - 1929-30, 32, 1935
- mixed doubles champion - 1931-33
- French Championships:
- singles champion - 1933
- doubles champion - 1935
- mixed doubles champion - 1933
- Wimbledon Championships:
- singles champion - 1933
- doubles champion - 1935
- mixed doubles champion - 1930
See List of male tennis players a thorough list of tennis greats throughout the years.