Full name | Luis Alberto Ayala |
---|---|
Country (sports) | Chile |
Residence | United States |
Born | Santiago, Chile | 18 September 1932
Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) |
Turned pro | 1961 (amateur from 1950) |
Retired | 1970 |
Plays | Right-handed (one-handed backhand) |
Singles | |
Career record | 626–353 (63.9%) [1] |
Career titles | 43 |
Highest ranking | No. 5 (1958, Lance Tingay ) [2] |
Grand Slam singles results | |
French Open | F (1958, 1960) |
Wimbledon | QF (1959, 1960, 1961) |
US Open | QF (1957, 1959) |
Professional majors | |
US Pro | QF (1965, 1966, 1967) |
Wembley Pro | 1R (1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965) |
French Pro | QF (1961, 1965) |
Doubles | |
Grand Slam doubles results | |
French Open | 1R (1969) |
Wimbledon | 1R (1968, 1969) |
US Open | 2R (1968, 1969, 1970) |
Mixed doubles | |
Grand Slam mixed doubles results | |
French Open | W (1956) |
Wimbledon | SF (1957) |
Luis Alberto Ayala Salinas (born 18 September 1932) is a former Chilean tennis player who competed in the 1950s and 1960s. [3]
He was twice a singles runner-up at the French Championships. In 1958 he was seeded fifth and reached the final after a victory against first-seeded and world No. 1 Ashley Cooper in the semifinal. In the final, however, he was defeated in straight sets by Mervyn Rose while in 1960 he lost the final in five sets to Nicola Pietrangeli. [4] Together with Thelma Coyne Long, he won the mixed doubles title at the 1956 French Championships.
Ayala won the gold medal at the 1959 Pan American Games in Chicago, beating Canadian Robert Bédard in the final.
Ayala won the prestigious singles title at the Italian Open in 1959, defeating Pietrangeli in the semifinal and Neale Fraser in the final, both matches in four sets. The following year, 1960, he again reached the Italian final but lost in five sets to Barry MacKay.
Ayala won the 1960 Argentina Championships at Buenos Aires on clay, defeating Ron Holmberg in the semifinal in three straight sets, and Manuel Santana in the final in five close sets. He won the 1960 Madrid Championships on clay, defeating Andrés Gimeno in the final in four sets. Ayala won the 1961 Hanover Championships on clay, defeating Ramanathan Krishnan in the final in five sets.
Ayala was ranked world No. 5 for 1958 by Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph (and No. 6 for 1959, No. 7 for 1960 and 1961). [2]
In 1961 Ayala turned professional and joined Jack Kramer's tour. [5] In 1964, he won the La Baule Professional Championships on clay, defeating Rod Laver in the semifinal and Lew Hoad in the four-set final. When he retired, he became a tennis professional at River Oaks Country Club in Houston, Texas. Currently, he is the director of tennis at the Forest Club in Houston, Texas.
Between 1952 and 1960 Ayala played in 18 ties for the Chilean Davis Cup team and compiled a record of 37 wins and 14 losses. During this period the best performance was reaching the semifinal of the Europe zone in 1955 which they lost to Sweden, despite Ayala winning both his singles matches against Lennart Bergelin and Sven Davidson. [6]
Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Opponent | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Loss | 1958 | French Championships | Clay | Mervyn Rose | 3–6, 4–6, 4–6 |
Loss | 1960 | French Championships | Clay | Nicola Pietrangeli | 6–3, 3–6, 4–6, 6–4, 3–6 |
Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Loss | 1955 | French Championships | Clay | Jenny Staley Hoad | Darlene Hard Gordon Forbes | 7–5, 1–6, 2–6 |
Win | 1956 | French Championships | Clay | Thelma Coyne Long | Doris Hart Bob Howe | 4–6, 6–4, 6–1 |
Lewis Alan Hoad was an Australian tennis player whose career ran from 1950 to 1973. Hoad won four Major singles tournaments as an amateur. He was a member of the Australian team that won the Davis Cup four times between 1952 and 1956. Hoad turned professional in July 1957. He won the Kooyong Tournament of Champions in 1958 and the Forest Hills Tournament of Champions in 1959. He won the Ampol Open Trophy world series of tournaments in 1959, which included the Kooyong tournament that concluded in early January 1960. Hoad's men's singles tournament victories spanned from 1951 to 1971.
Kenneth Robert Rosewall is an Australian former world top-ranking amateur and professional tennis player. He won a record 23 Majors in singles, including eight Grand Slam singles titles and, before the Open Era, a record 15 Pro Slam titles. Rosewall also won a record 24 major men's doubles titles, with nine Grand Slam titles and 15 Pro Slam men's doubles titles. Rosewall had a renowned backhand and enjoyed a long career at the highest levels from the early 1950s to the early 1970s. Rosewall was ranked as the world No. 1 tennis player by multiple sources from 1961 to 1964, multiple sources in 1970 and Rino Tommasi in 1971 and 1972. Rosewall was first ranked in the top 20 in 1952 and last ranked in the top 20 in 1977. Rosewall is the only player to have simultaneously held Pro Grand Slam titles on three different surfaces (1962–1963). At the 1971 Australian Open, he became the first man during the Open Era to win a Grand Slam tournament without dropping a set. Rosewall won world professional championship tours in 1963, 1964, and the WCT titles in 1971 and 1972. A natural left-hander, Rosewall was taught by his father to play right-handed. He developed a powerful, effective backhand but never had anything more than an accurate but relatively soft serve. He was 1.70 m tall, weighed 67 kg (148 lb) and sarcastically was nicknamed "Muscles" by his fellow-players because of his lack of them. He was, however, fast, agile, and tireless, with a deadly volley. Now a father of two and grandfather of five, Rosewall lives in northern Sydney.
Fernando Francisco González Ciuffardi is a Chilean former professional tennis player. During his career, he reached at least the quarterfinals of all four major tournaments. He contested his only major final at the 2007 Australian Open, losing to top-seeded Roger Federer. González is the fourth man in history to have won an Olympic tennis medal in every color, with gold in doubles and bronze in singles from Athens 2004, and silver in singles from Beijing 2008. The gold medal that González won partnering Nicolás Massú at the 2004 Olympics in men's doubles was Chile's first-ever Olympic gold medal.
Francis "Frank" Arthur Sedgman is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. Over the course of a three-decade career, Sedgman won five Grand Slam singles tournaments as an amateur as well as 22 Grand Slam doubles tournaments. He is one of only five tennis players all-time to win multiple career Grand Slams in two disciplines, alongside Margaret Court, Roy Emerson, Martina Navratilova and Serena Williams. In 1951, he and Ken McGregor won the Grand Slam in men's doubles. Sedgman turned professional in 1953, and won the Wembley World Professional Indoor singles title in 1953 and 1958. He also won the Sydney Masters tournament in 1958, and the Melbourne Professional singles title in 1959. He won the Grand Prix de Europe Professional Tour in 1959.
Clark Graebner is a retired American professional tennis player.
Ramanathan Krishnan is a retired tennis player from India who was among the world's leading players in the 1950s and 1960s. He was twice a semifinalist at Wimbledon in 1960 and 1961, reaching as high as World No. 3 in Potter's amateur rankings. He led India to the Challenge Round of the 1966 Davis Cup against Australia and was the non playing captain when Vijay Amritraj and Anand Amritraj led India into the 1974 Davis Cup finals against South Africa.
Michael I. Belkin is a former Canadian No. 1 tennis player.
Nicola "Nicky" Pietrangeli is a former Italian tennis player. He won two singles titles at the French Championships and is considered by many to be Italy's greatest tennis champion.
Robert Bédard is a Canadian former tennis player and educator. He is the most recent Canadian winner of the Canadian Open Tennis Championships.
Orlando Sirola was a male tennis player from Italy.
Juan Mónaco, nicknamed "Pico", is an Argentine former tennis player. He won nine singles titles, reached the semifinals of the 2010 Shanghai Masters and the 2012 Miami Masters, and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world no. 10 in July 2012. He announced his retirement from professional tennis on 15 May 2017.
Barry MacKay was an American tennis player, tournament director and broadcaster. He was ranked #1 in the U.S. in 1960.
The Italy men's national tennis team represents Italy in Davis Cup tennis competition and are governed by the Federazione Italiana Tennis. Italy won the Davis Cup in 1976, and finished as runners-up six times. They currently compete in the World Group. They last competed in the highest level in 2000, but winning 3–0 against Chile, on September 16, 2011, won again a pass for the World Group. Nicola Pietrangeli is one of Italy's most decorated players, featuring in all major records for the team. He holds the record for most Davis Cup ties, most overall wins, most singles wins, most doubles wins, and most years played.
Ronald "Ronnie" E. Holmberg is a former American tennis player who competed during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He was ranked world No. 7 in 1960 and was ranked in the U.S. Top 10 for nine years. He is currently one of the USTA's select "Master Professionals" and devotes most of his time coaching, participating and directing charity events and clinics and other tennis related projects.
Pablo Gabriel Cuevas Urroz is a Uruguayan professional tennis player. Cuevas won the 2008 French Open men's doubles title with Luis Horna.
Horacio Zeballos Jr. is an Argentine professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 39, achieved in March 2013, and his career-high doubles ranking is world No. 3, achieved in September 2019. In doubles, he has reached the men's doubles finals at the 2019 US Open and Wimbledon 2021 alongside Marcel Granollers. In singles, he has reached the fourth round at the French Open, doing so in 2017.
Leonardo Martín Mayer is a former professional tennis player from Argentina. Mayer achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 21 in June 2015 and world No. 48 in doubles in January 2019. He was coached by Alejandro Fabbri and Leo Alonso. He was born in Corrientes and resides in Buenos Aires.
Ian Vermaak is a former tennis player competing for South Africa. As the No. 4 seed he finished runner-up to Nicola Pietrangeli in the singles final of the Amateur French Championships of Roland-Garros in 1959, after having reached earlier in the season the Hamburg International German Tennis Championships final, losing to William Knight.
Cristian Ignacio Garín Medone is a Chilean professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 17 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in singles, which he first achieved on 13 September 2021, and is the current Chilean No. 2. He also has a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 206, achieved on 10 May 2021.
Nicolás Jarry Fillol is a Chilean professional tennis player. He achieved his highest ATP singles ranking of world No. 38 in July 2019 and is the current Chilean No. 1. His highest doubles ranking of world No. 40 was achieved in March 2019. He has won two ATP titles in singles at Båstad 2019 and Santiago 2023. He also has won two titles in doubles on the ATP Tour.