Richard Evans (journalist)

Last updated

Richard Robert Ingham Evans (born February 1939) [1] [2] is a British sports journalist, author, and historian who is most closely associated with tennis.

As a teenager he was educated at Canford School, [3] a boarding school in Dorset. His journalistic career in tennis began at Wimbledon in 1960. [4] He has written 23 books, including biographies of Ilie Nastase and John McEnroe, as well as serving the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in several roles; as its first press officer in 1973, as European Director from 1974 to 1977, and on its Board of Directors from 1977 to 1979. [5] In 1986 he was the third recipient of the ATP's Ron Bookman Media Excellence Award. [6] In 2000 he was one of the founders of the International Tennis Writers' Association (ITWA), and served as its president from 2001 to 2004. [7]

In 2024 he was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame for his contributions to the game. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ilie Năstase</span> Romanian tennis player (born 1946)

Ilie Theodoriu Năstase is a Romanian former world No. 1 tennis player. He held the top singles spot from 23 August 1973 to 2 June 1974, and was the first man to hold the position on the computerized ATP rankings. Năstase is one of the 10 players in history who have won over 100 total ATP titles, with 64 in singles and 45 in doubles. Năstase won seven major titles: two in singles, three in men's doubles and two in mixed doubles. He also won four Masters Grand Prix year-end championship titles. He was the first professional sports figure to sign an endorsement contract with Nike, doing so in 1972. Năstase wrote several novels in French in the 1980s, and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Ashe</span> American tennis player (1943–1993)

Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. was an American professional tennis player. He won three Grand Slam titles in singles and two in doubles. Ashe was the first black player selected to the United States Davis Cup team, and the only black man ever to win the singles titles at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open. He retired in 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Chang</span> American tennis player

Michael Te-pei Chang is an American former professional tennis player and coach. He is the youngest man in history to win a singles major, winning the 1989 French Open at 17 years and 109 days old. Chang won a total of 34 top-level professional singles titles, was a three-time major runner-up, and reached a career-best ranking of world No. 2 in 1996. Since he was shorter than virtually all of his opponents, he played a dogged defensive style utilizing his quickness and speed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Tennis Hall of Fame</span> Museum and tennis venue in Rhode Island, US

The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, 13 grass tennis courts, an indoor tennis facility with three courts, three outdoor hard courts, one green clay court, a court tennis facility, and a theatre. The International Tennis Hall of Fame is a non-profit organization with the goal of preserving, celebrating, and inspiring the sport of tennis around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stan Smith</span> American tennis player (born 1946)

Stanley Roger Smith is an American former professional tennis player. A world No. 1 player and two-time major singles champion, Smith also paired with Bob Lutz to create one of the most successful doubles teams of all-time. In 1970, Smith won the inaugural year-end championships title. In 1972, he was the year-end world No. 1 singles player. In 1973, he won his second and last year end championship title at the Dallas WCT Finals. In addition, he won four Grand Prix Championship Series titles. In his early years he improved his tennis game through lessons from Pancho Segura, the Pasadena Tennis Patrons, and the sponsorship of the Southern California Tennis Association headed by Perry T. Jones. Since 2011, Smith has served as President of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Outside tennis circles, Smith is best known as the namesake of a popular brand of tennis shoes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cliff Drysdale</span> South African tennis player

Eric Clifford Drysdale is a South African former tennis player. After a career as a highly ranked professional player in the 1960s and early 1970s, he became a tennis announcer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guillermo Vilas</span> Argentine tennis player

Guillermo Vilas is an Argentine former professional tennis player. Vilas was the world No. 1 of the Grand Prix seasons in 1974, 1975 and 1977. He won four major titles, the year-end championships, and 62 ATP titles overall. 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 computerized ATP rankings, he peaked at No. 2 in April 1975, a position he held for a total of 83 weeks, although some have argued that Vilas should have been ranked No. 1 for at least 10 weeks, particularly in 1977 when he won 2 majors. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1991, two years after his first retirement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justin Gimelstob</span> American tennis player

Justin Jeremy Gimelstob is a retired American tennis player. Gimelstob has been a resident of Morristown, New Jersey, and as of 2009 lived in Santa Monica, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donald Dell</span> American sports attorney, writer, commentator, and former tennis player

Donald L. Dell is an American sports attorney, writer, commentator, and former tennis player. Dell was the first sports agent in professional tennis, and represented Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith, Jimmy Connors, and Ivan Lendl during the golden age of pro tennis. He was also the founder of Professional Services (ProServ), one of the nation's first sports marketing firms established in 1970.

Brian Edward Gottfried is a retired American tennis player who won 25 singles titles and 54 doubles titles during his professional career. He was the runner-up in singles at the 1977 French Open, won the 1975 and 1977 French Open Doubles as well as the 1976 Wimbledon Doubles. He achieved a career-high singles ranking on the ATP tour on June 19, 1977, when he became world No. 3, and a career-high doubles ranking on December 12, 1976, when he became world No. 2.

World number 1 ranked male tennis players is a year-by-year listing of the male tennis players who were ranked as world No. 1 by various contemporary and modern sources. The annual source rankings from which the No. 1 players are drawn are cited for each player's name, with a summary of the most important tennis events of each year also included. If world rankings are not available, recent rankings by tennis writers for historical years are accessed, with the dates of the recent rankings identified. In the period 1948–1953, when contemporary professional world rankings were not created, the U.S. professional rankings are cited.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allison Danzig</span> American sportswriter (1898–1987)

Allison "Al" Danzig was an American sportswriter who specialized in writing about tennis, but also covered college football, squash, many Olympic Games, and rowing. Danzig was the only American sportswriter to extensively cover real tennis, the precursor to modern lawn tennis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pierre Darmon</span> French tennis player

Pierre Darmon is a French former tennis player. He was ranked No.8 in the world in 1963, and also reached the top ten in 1958 and 1964.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie Pasarell</span> Puerto Rican tennis player and promoter (born 1944)

Charles Manuel Pasarell Jr. is a Puerto Rican former tennis player, tennis administrator and founder of the current Indian Wells tournament. He has also commented for the Tennis Channel and with Arthur Ashe and Sheridan Snyder formed the National Junior Tennis League. He was ten times ranked in the top ten of the U.S. and No. 1 in 1967 and world No. 11 in 1966. Representing the United States as a player, he has been heavily engaged in the administration of the professional game from the inception of the ATP in 1972 and has been Vice President when he was still playing and until recently on the Board of Directors representing the Americas tournaments. In 2013, Pasarell was elected into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Michael Grenfell "Mike" Davies was a Welsh professional tennis player, entrepreneur and administrator. He had a 60-year career in the tennis business, first as an amateur and professional tennis player, including a period as the number one ranked player in Great Britain and a member of the British Davis Cup team, then as an entrepreneur and one of the pioneers of the professional game.

This article covers the period from 1877 to present. Before the beginning of the Open Era in April 1968, only amateurs were allowed to compete in established tennis tournaments, including the four Grand Slam tournaments. Wimbledon, the oldest of the majors, was founded in 1877, followed by the US Open in 1881, the French Open in 1891 and the Australian Open in 1905. Beginning in 1905 and continuing to the present day, all four majors have been played yearly, with the exception of during the two World Wars, 1986 for the Australian Open, and 2020 for Wimbledon. The Australian Open is the first major of the year (January), followed by the French Open (May–June), Wimbledon (June–July) and the US Open (August–September). There was no prize money and players were compensated for travel expenses only. A player who wins all four majors, in singles or as part of a doubles team, in the same calendar year is said to have achieved a "Grand Slam". If the player wins all four consecutively, but not in the same calendar year, it is called a "Non-Calendar Year Grand Slam". Winning all four at some point in a career, even if not consecutively, is referred to as a "Career Grand Slam". Winning the four majors and a gold medal in tennis at the Summer Olympics in the same calendar year has been called a "Golden Slam" since 1988. Winning all four majors plus an Olympic gold at some point in a career, even if not consecutively, is referred to as a "Career Golden Slam". Winning the year-end championship while also having won a Golden Slam is referred to as a "Super Slam". Winning all four majors, an Olympic gold, and the year-end championships at some point in a career, even if not consecutively, is referred to as a "Career Super Slam". Winning the four majors in all three disciplines a player is eligible for–singles, doubles and mixed doubles–is considered winning a "boxed set" of Grand Slam titles.

Albert Gillis Laney was an American sportswriter who specialized in tennis and golf but also covered baseball, boxing and American football.

The 1973 U.S. Clay Court Championships was a combined men's and women's tennis tournament held at the Woodstock Country Club in Indianapolis in the United States and played on outdoor clay courts. It was part of the men's Grand Prix and women's International Grand Prix. It was the fifth edition of the tournament and was held from August 13 through August 19, 1973. Second-seeded Manuel Orantes won the men's singles title and accompanying $16,000 prize money while Chris Evert took the women's title and the $6,000 first prize.

Derek Hardwick CBE was a former tennis player and tennis administrator who was the president of the International Tennis Federation from 1975 to 1977.

References

  1. "Richard Robert Ingham Evans". Companies House. Retrieved 2023-12-30.
  2. "Richard Evans". Work With Data. Retrieved 2023-12-30.
  3. "Richard Evans profile at LinkedIn". LinkedIn. Retrieved 2023-12-30.
  4. 1 2 "Leaner Paes, Vijay Amritraj, and Richard Evans to be inducted into International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2024". tennisfame.com. International Tennis Hall of Fame. 2023-12-11. Retrieved 2023-12-30.
  5. "ITHF announces nominees for Class of 2024". tennisfame.com. International Tennis Hall of Fame. 2023-09-26. Retrieved 2023-12-30.
  6. "ATP Awards Honour Roll". atptour.com. ATP Tour . Retrieved 2023-12-30.
  7. "Former ITWA president Richard Evans elected to International Tennis Hall of Fame". itwa.org. International Tennis Writers' Association. Retrieved 2023-12-30.