The 1972 Commercial Union Assurance Grand Prix was a professional

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

circuit held that year and organized by the

International Lawn Tennis Federation The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national tennis associations. As of 2016, there a ...

(ILTF). It consisted of 33

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

tournaments in different categories including three of the four

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

tournaments and was followed by a season-ending

Masters tournament The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply The Masters, or the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four major championships in professional golf. Scheduled for the first full week of April, the Masters is the first maj ...

. The circuit ran from February through November. The 1972 Grand Prix circuit ran in competition with the 1972 World Championship Tennis circuit and, to a lesser extent, with the smaller 1972 USLTA Indoor Circuit. Five American indoor tournament in February and March were als part of the USLTA Indoor Circuit. In July 1971 at its annual meeting, the ILTF voted to ban all WCT contract professionals from their tournaments and facilities from the beginning of 1972 onwards. This meant that leading WCT players such as

Rod Laver Rodney George Laver (born 9 August 1938) is an Australian former tennis player. Laver was the world number 1 ranked professional in some sources in 1964, in all sources from 1965 to 1969 and in some sources in 1970, spanning four years befor ...

Ken Rosewall Kenneth Robert Rosewall (born 2 November 1934) 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 ...

Arthur Ashe Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. (July 10, 1943 – February 6, 1993) was an American professional tennis player who won three Grand Slam singles titles. He started to play tennis at six years old. He was the first black player selected to the Unite ...

and

John Newcombe John David Newcombe AO OBE (born 23 May 1944) 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 fo ...

did not initially have permission to compete in the Grand Prix circuit and Newcombe could not defend his two consecutive Wimbledon titles of 1970 and 1971. In April 1972, however, an agreement was reached between the ILTF and WCT that divided the 1973 tour in a WCT circuit that ran from January through April and a Grand Prix circuit that was scheduled for the rest of the year. Under the agreement the players contracted by the WCT could play in the Grand Prix events as of September 1972. The deal was ratified at the annual ILTF meeting in July.

Schedule

;Key

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

^* Tournaments combined with a women's Grand Prix tour event.

Points distribution

''No points were awarded for first round losers''

Standings

Cliff Richey George Clifford Richey Jr. (born December 31, 1946) is an American former amateur and professional tennis player who was active during the 1960s and 1970s. Richey achieved a highest singles ranking of World No. 6 and reached at least the quarter ...

Roscoe Tanner Leonard Roscoe Tanner (born October 15, 1951) is a retired American tennis player, who turned professional in 1972 and reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4 on July 30, 1979. Tanner was famous for his big left-handed serve, which ...

Alex Metreveli Alexander Irakliyevich Metreveli ( ka, ალექსანდრე მეტრეველი, tr, ; russian: Александр Ираклиевич Метревели ; born 2 November 1944) is a retired Soviet tennis player of Georgian b ...

Tom Okker Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

and

played too few Grand Prix tournaments to qualify for prize money.

Grand Prix rankings

List of tournament winners

The list of winners and number of singles titles won, alphabetically by last name: *

Jimmy Connors James Scott Connors (born September 2, 1952) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He held the top Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ranking for a then-record 160 consecutive weeks from 1974 to 1977 and a career total of 268 ...

(6) Roanoke, Queen's Club, Columbus, Cincinnati, Albany, Jacksonville * John Cooper (1) Hilversum *

Colin Dibley Colin Dibley (born 19 September 1944) is a former tennis player from Australia. Dibley once held the title for the fastest serve in the world at 148 m.p.h. During his professional career, he also won four singles and seventeen doubles titles. ...

(1) Kitzbühel *

Tom Edlefsen Thomas B. Edlefsen (born December 12, 1941) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. Career Edlefsen was a member of three NCAA Championship winning teams while at the University of Southern California, in 1963, 1964 and 1 ...

(1) Kansas City *

Andrés Gimeno Andrés Gimeno Tolaguera (3 August 1937 – 9 October 2019) was a Spanish tennis player. His greatest achievement came in 1972, when he won the French Open and became the oldest first-time Grand Slam champion in the Open era at 34 years of age. ...

(3) Los Angeles, French Open, Eastbourne, Gstaad *

Pancho Gonzalez Ricardo Alonso "Pancho" González (May 9, 1928 – July 3, 1995), known sometimes as Richard Gonzales, was an American tennis player. He won 15 major singles titles, including two U.S. National Singles Championships in 1948 and 1949, and 13 P ...

(1) Des Moines *

Bob Hewitt Robert Anthony John Hewitt (born 12 January 1940) is a former professional tennis player from Australia. In 1967, after marrying a South African, he became a South African citizen. He has won 15 major titles and a career Grand Slam in both men' ...

(4) Bournemouth, Bristol, Tanglewood, Indianapolis *

Jan Kodeš Jan Kodeš (born 1 March 1946) is a Czech former professional tennis player. A three-time major singles champion, Kodeš was one of the premier players in the early 1970s. Kodeš's greatest success was achieved on the clay courts of the French ...

(1) Barcelons *

Karl Meiler Karl Meiler (30 April 1949 – 17 April 2014) was a tennis player from West Germany who was active in the 1970s and 1980s. Meiler won four singles (1972, Buenos Aires; 1974, Omaha and Calgary; 1977, Manila) and 17 doubles titles during his ...

(1) Buenos Aires *

(3) Sydney, Hobart, Adelaide *

Ilie Năstase Ilie Theodoriu Năstase (, born 19 July 1946) is a former World No. 1 Romanian tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 in singles from 23 August 1973 to 2 June 1974, and was the first man to hold the top position on the computerized ATP ranking ...

(11) Baltimore, Omaha, Monte Carlo, Madrid, Nice, Düsseldorf, Montreal, South Orange, Seattle, US Open, London, Masters *

Manuel Orantes Manuel Orantes Corral (; born 6 February 1949) is a former tennis player from Spain who was active in the 1970s and 1980s. He won the US Open men's singles title in 1975, beating defending champion Jimmy Connors in the final. Orantes reached a ...

(5) Caracas, Rome, Brussels, Hamburg, Båstad *

(2) London Indoor, Johannesburg *

Stan Smith Stanley Roger Smith (born December 14, 1946) is an American former professional tennis player. Smith is best known to non-tennis players as the namesake of a popular brand of tennis shoes. A world No. 1 player and two-time major singles cham ...

(7) Salisbury, Hampton, Wimbledon, Washington, D.C., Sacramento, Los Angeles, Paris Bercy, Stockholm *

Roger Taylor Roger Taylor may refer to: *Roger Taylor (Queen drummer) (born 1949), drummer for Queen *Roger Taylor (Duran Duran drummer) (born 1960), drummer for Duran Duran *Roger Taylor (author), author of epic fantasy Hawklan series *Roger Taylor (college pr ...

(1) Merion The following players won their first Grand Prix title in 1972: *

Kitzbühel *

Bournemouth

Notes

References

External links

Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) – 1972 tournament archiveAssociation of Tennis Professionals (ATP) – History men's professional tours