Bernard Mitton (9 November 1954 – 5 May 2017
) was a professional tennis player from South Africa.
Mitton reached his highest
singles ranking of world No. 51 on 15 December 1975, and his highest doubles ranking of 20 on 25 June 1984. His career record in singles on the
ATP Tour
The ATP Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The second-tier tour is the ATP Challenger Tour and the third-tier is the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour. The equivalent women's organis ...
was 199–218, winning two titles - at Newport, Rhode Island in 1978 and San Jose, California in 1979. He was the runner-up in three other tournaments: San Jose (1978), Adelaide (1979) and Johannesburg (1981).
His doubles record was 210–191, and he won nine titles: Auckland (1979); Stowe, Vermont and Cologne (1980);
Richmond WCT (1981); Johannesburg (1981); Tampa (1981); Columbus, Ohio (1982); Ferrara (1983); and La Quinta, California (1984). He was the runner-up in eight tournaments: Sarasota, Florida (1978); North Conway, New Hampshire (1978); Rotterdam (1979); Maui, Hawaii (1982); Ancona (1982); Toulouse (1983); Florence (1984); and
Queen's Club
The Queen's Club is a private sporting club in West Kensington, London, England. The club hosts the annual Queen's Club Championships men's grass court lawn tennis tournament (currently known as the "cinch Championships" for sponsorship reas ...
(1984).
Mitton had career wins over
John McEnroe
John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was known for his shot-making and volleying skills, his rivalries with Björn Borg and Jimmy Connors, and his confrontational on-court beha ...
,
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 ...
, and
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 ...
in singles. He reached the fourth round at a
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 ...
tournament on three occasions. In his first Grand Slam tournament in 1973, he reached the fourth round of
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
, then lost to Connors in straight sets. In 1976, he again reached the fourth round at Wimbledon, defeating former champion
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 ...
in the third round beforeg losing to
Raúl Ramírez
Raúl Ramírez (born 20 June 1953) is a Mexican retired professional tennis player. He was active during the 1970s and 1980s. Ramírez was the first player to finish first in both singles and doubles Grand Prix point standings, accomplishing th ...
in four sets. He reached the fourth round at the 1980
US Open, defeating
José Luis Clerc
José Luis Clerc (born 16 August 1958) is a former professional tennis player from Argentina. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 4 singles ranking on 3 August 1981, following a run of 25 consecutive mat ...
in the first round, then lost to Connors.
Mitton retired from the tour in 1984 due to injuries and joined the
Newport Beach Tennis Club as director of tennis. From 2000 to 2003, he was at Rancho San Clemente. He taught until his death at the Racket Club of Irvine, California.
Career finals
Singles: 5 (2 titles, 3 runner-ups)
Doubles: 17 (9 titles, 8 runner-ups)
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitton, Bernard
1954 births
2017 deaths
People from Vryburg
South African people of British descent
Sportspeople from Irvine, California
South African expatriates in the United States
South African male tennis players
White South African people