Eddie Dibbs

Eddie Dibbs

Eddie Dibbs playing against Björn Borg in the final of an exhibition tournament in Rotterdam.
Country (sports)	United States
Residence	Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Born	(1951-02-23) February 23, 1951 (age 69) Brooklyn, New York
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Turned pro	1972 (amateur tour from 1970)
Retired	1984
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand) [1]
Prize money	$2,016,426
Singles
Career record	603–261 (69.8%)
Career titles	22
Highest ranking	No. 5 (July 24, 1978)
Grand Slam Singles results
French Open	SF (1975, 1976)
Wimbledon	2R (1974)
US Open	QF (1975, 1976, 1979)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals	SF (1978)
WCT Finals	F (1978)
Doubles
Career record	77–106
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	No. 4 (1976)
Grand Slam Doubles results
French Open	QF (1975)
US Open	4R (1972)

Eddie Dibbs (born February 23, 1951) is a retired American tennis player also nicknamed "Fast Eddie". He attained a career-high singles ranking of world No. 5 in July 1978, winning 22 titles and being a runner-up another 20 times. ^[2]

Dibbs holds the record number of ATP Tour career match wins for a player who never reached a Grand Slam final. He did reach two semifinals, both at Roland Garros, losing to Guillermo Vilas in 1975 and to Adriano Panatta in 1976. His most significant victory was defeating Jimmy Connors, 1–6, 6–1, 7–5 in London on carpet.

In 1976, only one other American player, Connors, had a better record than Dibbs. ^[3] In 1977, Dibbs was the 2nd highest ranked American in the tour. ^[3] In the 1978 season, he ended the year as the leading money winner on the professional tennis tour. ^[4]

Dibbs was consistently ranked in the top 10 tour rankings for five years from 1975 to 1979. ^[4] He is also the American tennis player with most singles victories in clay ever in the Open Era and is the 7th tennis player in history with the most singles victories on clay. ^[5]

Dibbs is credited with coining the tennis term "bagel" to describe a 6-0 set. ^{[6] [7] [8]} Dibbs played doubles with Harold Solomon. They were nicknamed "The Bagel Twins" by Bud Collins. ^[9] In 1976, they were ranked No. 4 worldwide, and they were among the top ten also in 1974, 1975 and 1976. ^[9]

A 2011 ranking system created at Northwestern University based on quality of performances and number of victories ranked Dibbs in the top 20 greatest players of all time. ^{[10] [11]}

Biography

Dibbs was born in Brooklyn, New York to Lebanese parents. ^{[3] [12]} His family moved to Miami when he was a youngster where he started playing at a young age. He attended the University of Miami for three years before turning professional. ^[13] At the University of Miami he compiled a 93% winning record and was an NCAA All-American twice. He was inducted in the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame in 1987. ^[13]

Career finals

Singles: 42 (22 wins, 20 losses)

Result	No.	Year	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1.	1973	Jackson, Mississippi, US	Hard (i)	Frew McMillan	5–7, 6–1, 7–5
Win	2.	1973	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Karl Meiler	6–1, 3–6, 7–6, 6–3
Win	3.	1973	Fort Worth, US	Hard	Brian Gottfried	7–5, 6–2, 6–4
Win	4.	1974	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Hans-Joachim Plötz	6–2, 6–2, 6–3
Loss	1.	1974	Paris Indoor, France	Hard (i)	Brian Gottfried	3–6, 7–5, 6–8, 0–6
Win	5.	1975	Tehran, Iran	Clay	Iván Molina	1–6, 6–4, 7–5, 6–4
Win	6.	1975	London, UK	Carpet (i)	Jimmy Connors	1–6, 6–1, 7–5
Win	7.	1976	Monterrey WCT, Mexico	Carpet	Harold Solomon	7–6, 6–2
Win	8.	1976	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Cliff Drysdale	6–1, 6–1
Loss	2.	1976	Mexico City, Mexico	Clay	Raúl Ramírez	6–7, 2–6
Win	9.	1976	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Manuel Orantes	6–4, 4–6, 6–1, 2–6, 6–1
Loss	3.	1976	Cincinnati, US	Clay	Roscoe Tanner	6–7, 3–6
Loss	4.	1976	Madrid, Spain	Clay	Manuel Orantes	6–7, 2–6, 1–6
Loss	5.	1976	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Manuel Orantes	1–6, 6–2, 6–2, 5–7, 4–6
Win	10.	1976	Paris Indoor, France	Hard (i)	Jaime Fillol	5–7, 6–4, 6–4, 7–6
Win	11.	1977	Miami, US	Clay	Raúl Ramírez	6–0, 6–3
Win	12.	1977	London, UK	Hard (i)	Vitas Gerulaitis	7–6, 6–7, 6–4
Loss	6.	1977	Charlotte, US	Clay	Corrado Barazzutti	6–7, 0–6
Loss	7.	1977	Louisville, US	Hard	Guillermo Vilas	6–1, 0–6, 1–6
Loss	8.	1977	Boston, US	Clay	Manuel Orantes	6–7, 5–7, 4–6
Loss	9.	1977	Tehran, Iran	Clay	Guillermo Vilas	2–6, 4–6, 6–1, 1–6
Win	13.	1977	Oviedo, Spain	Hard	Raúl Ramírez	6–4, 6–1
Loss	10.	1978	St. Louis WCT, US	Carpet (i)	Sandy Mayer	6–7, 4–6
Loss	11.	1978	Dayton, US	Carpet (i)	Brian Gottfried	6–2, 4–6, 6–7
Win	14.	1978	Tulsa, US	Hard (i)	Pat DuPré	6–7, 6–2, 7–5
Loss	12.	1978	WCT Finals, Dallas	Carpet (i)	Vitas Gerulaitis	3–6, 2–6, 1–6
Win	15.	1978	Cincinnati, US	Clay	Raúl Ramírez	6–2, 6–3
Loss	13.	1978	Washington, US	Clay	Jimmy Connors	5–7, 5–7
Win	16.	1978	North Conway, US	Clay	John Alexander	6–4, 6–4
Win	17.	1978	Toronto, Canada	Clay	José Luis Clerc	5–7, 6–4, 6–1
Loss	14.	1979	Birmingham, US	Hard	Jimmy Connors	2–6, 6–3, 5–7
Loss	15.	1979	Tulsa, US	Hard (i)	Jimmy Connors	7–6, 5–7, 1–6
Win	18.	1979	Forest Hills, US	Clay	Harold Solomon	7–6, 6–1
Loss	16.	1979	Columbus, US	Clay	Brian Gottfried	3–6, 0–6
Loss	17.	1979	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Hans Gildemeister	4–6, 3–6, 1–6
Win	19.	1980	Sarasota, US	Clay	Andrés Gómez	6–1, 6–1
Loss	18.	1980	Houston, US	Clay	Ivan Lendl	1–6, 3–6
Win	20.	1980	Boston, US	Clay	Gene Mayer	6–2, 6–1
Loss	19.	1980	North Conway, US	Clay	Jimmy Connors	3–6, 7–5, 1–6
Win	21.	1981	Forest Hills, US	Clay	Carlos Kirmayr	6–3, 6–2
Win	22.	1981	Quito, Ecuador	Clay	David Carter	3–6, 6–0, 7–5
Loss	20.	1982	Forest Hills, US	Clay	Ivan Lendl	1–6, 1–6

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

Tournament	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981	SR
Australian Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 0
French Open	A	1R	4R	SF	SF	2R	QF	QF	3R	3R	0 / 9
Wimbledon	A	A	2R	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 1
US Open	2R	1R	A	QF	QF	3R	3R	QF	2R	A	0 / 8
Win–Loss	1–1	0–2	4–2	9–2	9–2	3–2	6–2	8–2	3–2	2–1	0 / 18

References

1. Eddie Dibbs Archived September 20, 2012, at the Wayback Machine . University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame. umsportshalloffame.com
2. "Eddie Dibbs". ATP . Retrieved January 15, 2011.
3. "Dibbss Racquet Booms, but Wheres Applause; Miamian Is Hardly Known Despite Steady Rise—Expects a Breakthrough Soon". New York Times.
4. "Glory Scarce for Dibbs But Not Success, Money". Washington Post.
5. "Rafael Nadal now one win away from 400 on clay, but still long way behind all-time leader". The National News. 2018.
6. "The Big Apple: Tennis Bagel". Barrypopik.
7. "Bagel. Definition of bagel in tennis". Macmillandictionary.
8. "Sarasota Loves Tennis: Fun Facts to Know and Tell (by Jack & Sasha)". The Sarasota Salt.
9. "Harold Solomon". International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
10. "Who's the best tennis player of all time? Ranking of top male tennis players produces some surprises". Sciencedaily. 2011.
11. Radicchi, Filippo (2011). "Who Is the Best Player Ever? A Complex Network Analysis of the History of Professional Tennis". Journals.plos.org.
12. "It's a Field Day for Tennis Fans". New York Times.
13. "University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame: Eddie Dibbs 1970-1972". Umsportshalloffame.

External links

• Tennis portal

• Eddie Dibbs at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Eddie Dibbs at the International Tennis Federation