Country (sports) | Italy |
---|---|
Born | Turin, Italy | 16 December 1957
Plays | Right-handed |
Singles | |
Career record | 4–4 |
Highest ranking | No. 257 (26 Dec 1979) |
Franco Merlone (born 16 December 1957) is an Italian former professional tennis player. [1]
Born in Turin, Merlone was active on the professional tour in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He had his best tournament run as a main draw qualifier at the 1980 Campionati Internazionali di Sicilia, where he fell in the semi-finals to Guillermo Vilas, after having secured earlier wins over Rod Frawley and Phil Dent. [2]
Björn Rune Borg is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. Between 1974 and 1981, he became the first man in the Open Era to win 11 Grand Slam singles titles, but he never won the US Open despite four finals appearances. He is the first male player to win five Wimbledon titles in the Open Era.
Guillermo Vilas, also known as Willy Vilas, is an Argentine former professional tennis player, No. 1 of the Grand Prix seasons in 1974, 1975 and 1977, who won four Grand Slam tournaments, one year-end Masters, nine Grand Prix Super Series titles and 62 total ATP titles. World Tennis, Agence France-Presse and Livre d'or du tennis 1977, among other rankings and publications, rated him as world No. 1 in 1977. In the ATP computer rankings, he peaked at No. 2 in April 1975, a position that he held for a total of 83 weeks. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1991, two years after his first retirement.
Guillermo Ignacio Cañas, often referred to as Willy Cañas, is a retired tennis player from Argentina. He was born in Buenos Aires and named after Argentine tennis star Guillermo Vilas. Cañas won the Canada Masters in 2002, and reached the quarterfinal stage of the French Open in 2002, 2005 and 2007. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 8, achieved in June 2005. After being suspended in August 2005, Cañas returned to the circuit in September 2006 at ATP Challenger level.
Adriano Panatta is a former professional tennis player from Italy. He won the French Open in 1976, and was the only player ever to defeat Björn Borg at Roland Garros, doing so on two occasions.
World Championship Tennis (WCT) was a tour for professional male tennis players established in 1968 and lasted until the emergence of the ATP Tour in 1990. A number of tennis tournaments around the world were affiliated with WCT and players were ranked in a special WCT ranking according to their results in those tournaments.
Tennis in Argentina is regulated by the Asociación Argentina de Tenis, which also selects the coaches of the Argentine teams for the Davis Cup and Federation Cup. There are many tennis courts in Argentina, and the sport, even though still considered middle- to upper-class, is practiced by regardless of age.
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José Luis Clerc is a former professional tennis player from Argentina. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 4 singles ranking on 3 August 1981, following a run of 25 consecutive match wins after Wimbledon.
Gene Mayer is a former tennis player from the United States who won 14 professional singles titles during his career.
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Kim Warwick is an Australian former professional male tennis player who competed on the ATP Tour from 1970–1987, reaching the singles final of the Australian Open in 1980. He defeated over 35 players ranked in the top ten including Guillermo Vilas, Raúl Ramírez, Vitas Gerulaitis, Jan Kodeš, Bob Lutz and Arthur Ashe. Warwick's career-high singles ranking was world No. 15, achieved in 1981. He won three singles titles and 26 doubles, including Australian Open 1978 and Australian Open 1980 and 1981, and Roland Garros 1985, and was also a runner-up in Australian Open 1986, all of them partnering fellow countryman Mark Edmondson. Partnering with Evonne Goolagong, he won the French Open 1972, defeating Françoise Dürr and Jean-Claude Barclay in the final 6–2, 6–4. Evonne and Kim were finalists in 1972 at Wimbledon against Rosie Casals and Ilie Năstase who won 6–4, 6–4.
Eighth-seeded Brian Teacher defeated Kim Warwick 7–5, 7–6(7–4), 6–2 in the final to win the Men's Singles tennis title at the 1980 Australian Open.
The 1973 South American Open, also known as the Argentine Open, was a men's tennis tournament that was played on outdoor clay courts in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The event was part of the 1973 Commercial Union Assurance Grand Prix circuit, categorized as Group B, and was held from 19 November through 25 November 1973. Guillermo Vilas won the singles title after first-seeded Björn Borg had to retire in the final after injuring his hand when he ran into the umpire's stand. He earned $7,000 first-prize money.
The Open Era is the current era of professional tennis. It began in 1968 when the Grand Slam tournaments allowed professional players to compete with amateurs, ending the division that had persisted since the dawn of the sport in the 19th century. The first open event was the 1968 British Hard Court Championships held in April, followed by the inaugural open Grand Slam event, the 1968 French Open, a month later. Unless otherwise sourced, all records are based on data from the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the International Tennis Federation (ITF), and the official websites of the four Grand Slam tournaments. All rankings-related records are based on ATP Rankings, which began in 1973. The names of active players appear in boldface.
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The 1980 Campionati Internazionali di Sicilia, also known as the Palermo Grand Prix or the Sicilian Open, was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts in Palermo, Italy that was part of the 1980 Volvo Grand Prix. It was the second edition of the tournament and took place from 8 September until 14 September 1980. First-seeded Guillermo Vilas won the singles title.
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Franco Bartoni was an Italian tennis administrator and former professional player.