Wilhelm Bungert

Wilhelm Bungert

Full name	Wilhelm Paul Bungert
Country (sports)	West Germany
Residence	Düsseldorf, Germany
Born	(1939-04-01) 1 April 1939 (age 86) Mannheim, Germany
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Turned pro	1957 (amateur tour)
Retired	1972
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Singles
Career record	54–32
Highest ranking	No. 4 (1964, Lance Tingay ) [1]
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	QF (1962)
French Open	4R (1962)
Wimbledon	F (1967)
US Open	4R (1966)
Doubles
Career record	8–9
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	2R (1962)
French Open	F (1962)
Wimbledon	QF (1964)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian Open	SF (1962)
Wimbledon	QF (1963)
Team competitions
Davis Cup	F (1970Ch)

Wilhelm Paul Bungert (born 1 April 1939) is a former German tennis player best known for reaching the 1967 Wimbledon final. He participated in the 1970 Davis Cup final as a player and in the 1985 Davis Cup final as team captain.

Tennis career

In 1962 the right-handed Bungert reached the quarterfinals of the International Australian Championships, the doubles finals of the International French Championships and the International Tennis Tournament of Monte Carlo.

Bungert was ranked as high as World No. 4 for 1964 by Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph. ^[1]

After reaching the semifinals in 1963 (beating Roy Emerson before losing to Chuck McKinley) ^[2] and 1964 (losing to Emerson), the unseeded Bungert was the second German player (thirty years after Gottfried von Cramm) to reach the Wimbledon men’s finals in 1967 when he beat Roger Taylor in five sets. Bungert's victories in the quarterfinal and round of 16 had also been five-set affairs. ^[3] However, he lost the final in straight sets against the Australian John Newcombe.

In 1970 he (with Christian Kuhnke) was part of the German Davis Cup team which lost the finals against the U.S. 0–5. In July of the same year he won his only career singles title in Düsseldorf.

In the eighties Bungert was captain of the German Davis Cup team (Boris Becker and Michael Westphal) which lost the finals against Sweden 2–3. Nikola Pilić became his successor as captain.

Today, Bungert owns a tennis and golf center in Hilden. Adidas named one of their tennis shoes after him ^[3] and have been producing pairs up until (at least) October 2005. ^[4] PUMA also named a tennis shoe after him, though exact production dates are unknown.

Grand Slam finals

Singles (1 runner-up)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1967	Wimbledon	Grass	John Newcombe	2–6, 1–6, 1–6

Doubles (1 runner–up)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1962	French Championships	Clay	Christian Kuhnke	Roy Emerson Neale Fraser	3–6, 4–6, 5–7

Career finals

• Singles titles (1): 1970 Düsseldorf
• Doubles titles (1): 1968 Kitzbuehel (w/Jurgen Fassbender)
• Singles finalist (3) 1967 Wimbledon, 1968 Kitzbuehel, 1968 Düsseldorf

References

1. United States Lawn Tennis Association (1972). Official Encyclopedia of Tennis (First Edition), p. 427.
2. "Wimbledon 1963". www.tennis.co.nf.
3. The 100 greatest Wimbledon players ever – Times Online ^{[ dead link ]}
4. Everett, Jack. Cromwell, Dylan (ed.). "adidas Wilhelm Bungert". eatmoreshoes. eatmoreshoes. Retrieved 28 March 2013.

External links

• Wilhelm Bungert at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Wilhelm Bungert at the International Tennis Federation
• Wilhelm Bungert at the Davis Cup