| Born | 1933 (age 90–91) Santa Monica, California |
|---|---|
| College | University of California-Los Angeles |
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
Representing  United States | ||
| Maccabiah Games | ||
| Women's tennis | ||
 | 1953 Israel | Women's Singles |
 | 1953 Israel | Mixed Doubles |
| 1953 Israel | Women's Doubles |
Anita Kanter (born 1933) is a former amateur tennis player from the U.S. who played in the 1950s. In singles, Kanter was ranked # 6 in the United States (and # 10 in the world by World Tennis magazine) in 1952, and # 9 in the US in 1953. [1] [2] [3]
Kanter was born in Santa Monica, California, and is Jewish. [4] [5] She attended Santa Monica High School. [6]
Kanter won the 1949 US Girls National Hard Court Singles Championship. [3] She won the US girls tennis championship in 1951 as an 18-year-old sophomore at the University of California-Los Angeles, as well as the 1951 National Hard Court Doubles and Mixed Doubles championships. [7] [3]
In 1952, she won the U.S. Women's Clay Court Championships, and was the runner-up at the Foothills Cup. [7] [3] That year at the Cincinnati Masters, she won both the singles and doubles titles. [8]
In 1953 she won the US National hard court tennis championship, [5] successfully defended her doubles title, [3] and reached the singles final. She was seeded no. 1 in singles and doubles in both appearances in Cincinnati. In doubles in those two years, she paired with Joan Merciadis in 1952 and with Thelma Long of Australia in 1953. [9]
Kanter, who is Jewish, competed in Israel in the 1953 Maccabiah Games—the "Jewish Olympics". [10] At the Games, Kanter, ranked #9 in the US at the time, lost the women's singles title to Angela Buxton and ended up with the silver medal, [11] [12] [13] but won two gold medals, one as she won the mixed doubles title with Grant Golden and one as she won the women's double title with Toby Greenberg - beating Angela Buxton and Carol Levy of Britain in the final. [7] [14] [3]
In 2014, she was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. [15] [3]
Brad Gilbert is an American former professional tennis player, tennis coach, and tennis commentator and analyst for ESPN. During his career, he won 20 singles titles and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4 in 1990, and a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 18 four years prior. He won a bronze medal at the 1988 Olympics, and both a gold medal and a silver medal at the 1981 Maccabiah Games.
Richard Savitt was an American tennis player.
Thelma Dorothy Coyne Long was an Australian tennis player and one of the female players who dominated Australian tennis from the mid-1930s to the 1950s. During her career, she won 19 Grand Slam tournament titles. In 2013, Long was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Julie Heldman is an American tennis player who won 22 singles titles. In 1968 and 1969, she was ranked No. 2 in the U.S. She was Canadian National 18 and Under Singles Champion at age 12, U.S. Champion in Girls' 15 Singles and Girls' 18 Singles, Italian Open Singles Champion, Canadian Singles and Doubles Champion, and U.S. Clay Court Doubles Champion. She won three medals at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, and three gold medals at the 1969 Maccabiah Games.
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Seymour Greenberg was an amateur American clay-court specialist tennis player in the 1940s and 1950s. Greenberg won the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in 1942 and 1943.
Grant Golden was an American amateur tennis player in the 1940s and 1950s. Golden was ranked in the U.S. top 10 in singles in 1953, 1956, and 1957, and was ranked # 2 in the U.S. in doubles in 1953.
Ilana Sheryl Kloss is a South African former professional tennis player, tennis coach, and administrator. She was the World's No. 1 ranked doubles player in 1976, and World No. 19 in singles in 1979. She won the Wimbledon juniors singles title in 1972, the US Open juniors singles title in 1974, and the US Open Doubles and French Open Mixed Doubles titles in 1976. She won three gold medals at the 1973 Maccabiah Games in Israel. After her playing career, Kloss was the commissioner of World TeamTennis from 2001–2021.
Angela Buxton was a British tennis player. She won the women's doubles title at both the French Championships and Wimbledon in 1956 with her playing partner, Althea Gibson.
Allan Louis Neville Jay MBE was a British five-time-Olympian foil and épée fencer, and world champion.
The 6th Maccabiah Games were held in Tel Aviv, Israel in 1961, with 1,100 athletes from 27 countries competing in 18 sports. The Games were officially opened in an Opening Ceremony on August 29, 1961, in Ramat Gan Stadium by Israeli President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi before a crowd of 30,000. The closing ceremony took place on September 5, 1961, at the stadium before a crowd of 40,000, with Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion telling the crowd that he hoped that in the future athletes from North Africa, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet Union would also compete. The United States won 58 gold medals, Israel won 28 gold medals, and South Africa was third with 11 gold medals. American sportscaster Mel Allen narrated a film about the 1961 Games.
Eight hundred ninety athletes representing 23 countries competed in the 1953 4th Maccabiah Games, held September 20 to 29, in 18 branches of sports.
Myron Jay "Mike" Franks is an American former world class tennis player. He was the #1 seeded junior player in 1954 in the US Nationals at Kalamazoo, Michigan. He played #1 singles for UCLA from 1956 to 1958, and was one of 8 All Americans in college tennis. UCLA won its 5th NCAA Tennis Team Championship in 1956, but was placed on two years probation for football recruiting violations in 1957 and 1958. Franks was ranked # 3 in doubles in the United States in 1956, 1957, and 1959, and was ranked # 7 in singles in 1958. He won a gold medal in doubles at the 1961 Maccabiah Games in Israel with Dick Savitt.
At the 8th Maccabiah Games from July 29 to August 7, 1969, 1,450 athletes from 27 countries competed in 22 sports in Israel. The final gold medal count was the United States in first place (64), Israel second, and Great Britain third (11).
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Dana Gilbert is an American former professional tennis player.
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Marilyn Jane Aschner is an American former professional tennis player. She was an Orange Bowl doubles champion in 1966, and she won a gold medal at the 1969 Maccabiah Games in Israel in doubles with partner Julie Heldman. She made the third round in women's doubles of the 1966 U.S. National Championships and 1968 Wimbledon Championships.
Sydney Levy was a South African tennis player. He competed at Wimbledon, the French Championships, the U.S. Open, and Davis Cup, and won a silver medal at the Maccabiah Games in Israel.