Steve Flink

Last updated

Steve Flink (born June 26, 1952 in Santa Monica, California [1] ) is an American sports journalist and historian. Flink, who has been a columnist and editor with such magazines as World Tennis Magazine, Tennis Week and Tennis Channel and published two monographs on the history of tennis, in 2017 was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in the Contributor category.

Flink was born in the New York City and became a fan of tennis in 1965, at age 12, when his father Stanley took the boy to the Wimbledon Championships. Later the same year Steve for the first time watched the US National Championships in New York. Flink himself recalls that as 15 years old he has already decided to become a tennis reporter. While still a boy, he also developed an interest in sports statistics. [2]

In 1970, Flink moved to England where he began studying at the U.S. International University in Sussex. During his college years, he took part in student tennis competitions, showing remarkable consistence and "well rounded game" according to the team brochures. His father introduced him to future International Tennis Hall of Famers Bud Collins and John Barrett. In 1972 Collins, who was aware of Steve's flair for statistics and historical facts, hired the youth to help him at Wimbledon and the US Open. [2] Steve was feeding Collins various facts and statistics during his reportages. [3] The same year Flink first met Jack Kramer, who later became one of his mentors. [2]

In 1973 Flink interviewed Chris Evert and sold the story to the World Tennis Magazine. After publishing another story in 1974 in the same magazine he was offered a permanent job by its owner Gladys Heldman. [2] Flink's collaboration with World Tennis continued until 1991, and he took the positions of a columnist and an editor with this magazine. Since 1982 he has also covered the Wimbledon Championships and the French Open for CBS Radio (where he worked for more than 25 years [3] ), in 1970s and 1980s worked as a statistician for CBS, NBC and ABC telecasts and in 1980–1996 was a color commentator for ESPN and MSG. [2] From 1992 to 2007 Flink was a senior correspondent for Tennis Week , and since 2007 he works as a columnist for the online magazine Tennis Channel. [4]

As a tennis historian, Flink wrote two reputable monographs: The Greatest Tennis Matches of the 20th Century and The Greatest Tennis Matches of All-Time. In addition, for 12 years he was creating biographical portraits of players for John Barrett's annual book World of Tennis. [3] Since 1994 he has been a consultant and writer for the International Tennis Hall of Fame, and later a member of this organization's Nominating Committee [5]

Colleagues commend Steve Flink's journalistic work for its eloquence and commitment to facts, also noting his general charm as a person. In 2010, he was inducted into the Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame in New York, [2] and in 2017 he was elected in a Contributor category to the International Tennis Hall of Fame together with Andy Roddick, Kim Clijsters, the late coach Vic Braden and the wheelchair tennis champion Monique Kalkman-Van Den Bosch. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tracy Austin</span> American former tennis player (born 1962)

Tracy Ann Austin Holt is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. She won three major titles, the women's singles titles at the 1979 and 1981 US Opens, and the mixed doubles title at the 1980 Wimbledon Championships. Additionally, she won the WTA Tour Championships in 1980 and the year-ending Toyota Championships in 1981, both in singles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Newcombe</span> Australian tennis player

John David Newcombe AO OBE is an Australian former professional tennis player. He is one of the few men to have attained a world No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles. At the majors, he won seven singles titles, a former record 17 men's doubles titles, and two mixed doubles titles. He also contributed to five Davis Cup titles for Australia during an age when the Davis Cup was deemed as significant as the majors. Tennis magazine rated him the 10th best male player of the period 1965–2005.

<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 and the year-end championships, totalling 62 singles titles alongside 16 doubles titles during his career on the ATP tour. 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">Ashley Cooper (tennis)</span> Australian tennis player (1936–2020)

Ashley John Cooper AO was an Australian tennis player who played between 1953 and 1968. He was ranked as the world's No. 1 amateur player during the years of 1957 and 1958. Cooper won four singles and four doubles titles at Grand Slam tournaments. He won three of the four Grand Slam events in 1958. He turned professional in 1959. Cooper won the Slazenger Professional Championships tournament in 1959. He won the Grand Prix de Europe professional tour of Europe in 1960. Cooper won the European Cup professional tour of Europe in 1962. He retired from tennis play at the end of 1962 due to injury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vic Seixas</span> American tennis player (1923–2024)

Elias Victor Seixas Jr. was an American tennis player.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sidney Wood</span> American tennis player

Sidney Burr Wood Jr. was an American tennis player who won the 1931 Wimbledon singles title. Wood was ranked in the world's Top 10 five times between 1931 and 1938, and was ranked World No. 6 in 1931 and 1934 and No. 5 in 1938 by A. Wallis Myers of The Daily Telegraph.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilfred Baddeley</span> Tennis player and sports administrator (1872-1929)

Wilfred Baddeley was a British male tennis player and the elder of the Baddeley twins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bud Collins</span> US journalist and sportscaster (1929–2016)

Arthur Worth "Bud" Collins Jr. was an American journalist and television sportscaster, best known for his tennis commentary. Collins was married to photographer Anita Ruthling Klaussen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julie Heldman</span> American tennis player

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.

Jane Bartkowicz, known during her career as Peaches Bartkowicz, is a former top tennis player from the United States in the 1960s.

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.

Defending champion Björn Borg defeated Jimmy Connors in the final, 3–6, 6–2, 6–1, 5–7, 6–4 to win the gentlemen's singles tennis title at the 1977 Wimbledon Championships. It was his second Wimbledon title and fourth major title overall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Owen Davidson</span> Australian tennis player (1943–2023)

Owen Keir Davidson was an Australian professional tennis player of the 1960s and 1970s.

Arthur Melvin Spander is an American sports writer. He is a free-lance columnist for the San Francisco Examiner.

John Edward Barrett, is a former tennis player, television commentator and author. He was born in Mill Hill, North West London, the son of Alfred Edward Barrett, a leaf tobacco merchant, and Margaret Helen Barrett. He had one sister, Irene Margaret Leppington (1925–2009), a research chemist. His father had the rare distinction of having played both for Leicester Tigers RFC as a wing three-quarter and for Leicester Fosse FC as a wing half.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Powell (tennis)</span> Canadian tennis player

Robert Branks 'Bobby' Powell was a male tennis player from Canada.

Lance Tingay was a British sports journalist, historian, and author of several tennis books. For many years his annual ranking of top tennis players was "the only one that counted" before ATP rankings were introduced in 1973.

Brian Gottfried and Raúl Ramírez were the defending champions, but lost in the first round to Jim Delaney and Sashi Menon.

Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova were the defending champions, but decided not to play together. Evert partnered with Rosie Casals, but they lost in the second round to Helen Cawley and JoAnne Russell.

Tony Roche and Françoise Dürr were the defending champions, but Roche did not compete. Dürr partnered with Marty Riessen but lost in the third round to Bob Hewitt and Greer Stevens.

References

  1. ↑ International Tennis Hall of Fame profile Archived 2024-05-21 at the Wayback Machine . Access: 21 May 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Nancy Gill McShea. (2010-04-25). "Sir Steve Makes Mark: Tennis Historian, Journalist Steve Flink Inducted Into Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame". Tennis Now. Retrieved 2017-04-03.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "ITHF Class of 2017 Announced!". International Tennis Hall of Fame. January 22, 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-12-29. Retrieved 2017-03-24.
  4. ↑ "Steve Flink". Tennis Channel. Archived from the original on 2017-04-04. Retrieved 2017-04-03.
  5. ↑ "About Steve". Steve Flink's personal website (old). Archived from the original on 2017-04-22. Retrieved 2017-04-03.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.