Cliff Drysdale

Eric Clifford 'Cliff' Drysdale (born 26 May 1941, Nelspruit, South Africa) is a former top-ranked professional tennis player of the 1960s and early 1970s who became a well-known tennis announcer. He was one of the Handsome Eight, a group of players signed by Lamar Hunt in 1968 for the newly formed professional World Championship Tennis (WCT) group. He became President of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) when it was formed by Jack Kramer, Donald Dell, and himself in 1972. Drysdale was ranked World No. 4 in 1965 by Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph.

Drysdale won the singles title at the Dutch Open in Hilversum in 1963 and 1964. In 1965 he won the singles title at the German Championships by defeating Boro Jovanović in the final. During his Open era career, Drysdale captured five singles titles and six doubles titles including winning the 1972 U.S. Open doubles crown with Roger Taylor. He defeated Rod Laver in the fourth round of the first US Open in 1968. He was a pioneer of the two-handed backhand which he used to great effect in the 1960s [USA Today, 11 July 2013]. He became a naturalized United States citizen after retiring as a player. Today, he serves as a tennis commentator on ESPN. He is the founder of Cliff Drysdale Tennis (along with partner Don Henderson) which specializes in resort, hotel, and club tennis management.

In 1998 Drysdale won the William M. Johnston Award for contribution to men’s tennis, given by the USTA. In 2013 Drysdale was elected into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Singles

Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in final	Score
1965	U.S. Championships	Grass	Manuel Santana	2–6, 9–7, 5–7, 1–6

Doubles

Year	Championship	Surface	Partnering	Opponent in final	Score
1972	US Open	Grass	Roger Taylor	Owen Davidson John Newcombe	6–4, 7–6(7–3), 6–3

Runner-up (2)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1971	Boston WCT	Ken Rosewall	4–6, 3–6, 0–6
1972	Las Vegas	John Newcombe	3–6, 4–6