Robert Keith Wilson (22 November 1935 – 21 September 2020) was an English
tennis player
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 cove ...
. Wilson reached the quarterfinals 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
* ...
four times,
Forest Hills twice, and
Roland Garros once during the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was also a prominent
Great Britain Davis Cup team
The Great Britain Davis Cup team has represented the United Kingdom internationally since 1900 in the Davis Cup. Organised by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), it is one of the 50 members of International Tennis Federation's European associatio ...
member.
Grand Slam tournaments
Wilson was a champion junior player, winning the 1951 British Junior Championship at age 15. He was runner-up the following two years as well as doubles champion partnering
Billy Knight
William R. Knight (born June 9, 1952) is an American former professional basketball player and executive. Playing with the Indiana Pacers in both the American Basketball Association (ABA) and later the National Basketball Association (NBA), he w ...
. While still a junior Wilson won a senior level singles match at Wimbledon in
1952
Events January–February
* January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses.
* February 6
** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...
, then he lost to eventual runner-up
Jaroslav Drobný
Jaroslav Drobný (; 12 October 1921 – 13 September 2001) was a World No. 1 amateur tennis and ice hockey champion. He left Czechoslovakia in 1949 and travelled as an Egyptian citizen before becoming a citizen of the United Kingdom in 1959, w ...
in the second round; the following year, he reached the third round, where he lost to eventual quarterfinalist
Sven Davidson
Sven Viktor Davidson (13 July 1928 – 28 May 2008) was a Swedish tennis player who became the first Swede to win a Grand Slam title when he won the French Championships in 1957, beating Ashley Cooper and Herbert Flam.
Career
Davidson also rea ...
in five sets.
Wilson first reached a major quarterfinal in 1958, at
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
* ...
. Unseeded, he reached the round without dropping a set, setting up a meeting against No. 1 seed
Ashley Cooper. The champion Australian took the first two sets handily before Wilson levelled the match at two sets apiece. The deciding set was closely contested with eventual champion Cooper prevailing 7–5. Wilson, seeded No. 4, reached the same stage the following summer but went out without much of a stir to
Roy Emerson
Roy Stanley Emerson (born 3 November 1936) is an Australian former tennis player who won 12 Grand Slam singles titles and 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, for a total of 28 Grand Slam titles. He is the only male player to have completed a caree ...
in straight sets.
1960 saw Wilson, the No. 8 seed, reach the quarterfinals at the
U.S. Nationals
United States nationality law details the conditions in which a person holds United States nationality. In the United States, nationality is typically obtained through provisions in the U.S. Constitution, various laws, and international agree ...
in his fourth appearance at Forest Hills. He then met No. 2 seed
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 ...
. Despite hanging close in the opening set, Wilson went down easily in three straight sets. Wilson reached the quarterfinals again at Wimbledon the following summer. He barely survived his first round match versus Argentine
Eduardo Soriano
Eduardo Soriano (born 13 October 1936) is an Argentine former tennis player.
Soriano was born in Buenos Aires on 13 October 1936. Soriano participated in the Davis Cup, representing his country in the 1950s and the 1960s. He played a total of 32 ...
, coming back from two sets to one down to prevail, 6–2, 4–6, 5–7, 16–14, 6–3. Two rounds later, Wilson scored perhaps the biggest match victory of his career, dispatching No. 1 seed
Neale Fraser
Neale Andrew Fraser (born 3 October 1933) is a former number one amateur male tennis-player from Australia, born in Melbourne, Victoria, the son of a Victorian judge. Fraser is the last man to have completed the triple crown, i.e. having won t ...
1–6, 6–0, 13–11, 9–7. The following round, however, proved once again to be a roadblock for Wilson as he went out to No. 8 seed
Chuck McKinley in four sets.
1963 proved to be Wilson's best year as he reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and Forest Hills. In Paris, Wilson, as he often did when he went far into tournaments, breezed through the first four rounds, including a round of 16 win over No. 6 seed
Bob Hewitt. However, he went out rather easily in the next round, this time to French champion and No. 3 seed
Pierre Darmon
Pierre Darmon (born 14 January 1934) is a French former tennis player. He was ranked No.8 in the world in 1963, and also reached the top ten in 1958 and 1964.
Early life
Darmon was born in Tunis, Tunisia. He moved to France at 17 years of age.
...
. A month later, again unseeded, Wilson made it to the quarterfinals, but was easily beaten by the No. 4 seed Chuck McKinley. His success for the year saw him seeded No. 6 at Forest Hills and he reached the quarterfinals. His opponent this time, however, was not a big name, unseeded
Frank Froehling
Frank Arthur Froehling III (May 19, 1942 – January 23, 2020) was an American tennis player.
During his college career at Trinity University Froehling recorded 46–5 in singles matches and won nine singles titles. He was also runner-up at U ...
. Taking the first two sets, Wilson looked primed to reach his first major semifinal, but he lost the next two sets. Froehling took the deciding set too, however, by a score of 9 games to 7, saving a match point to do so.
Even when past his prime, Wilson continued to compete at Wimbledon, often in doubles. He took eventual finalist
Wilhelm Bungert
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
...
to 7–9 in the fifth set of their fourth round encounter in 1967 and in 1969 reached the fourth round, for the last time, in both singles and doubles. His final Wimbledon was in 1977, where at age of 41 he played in the mixed doubles and lost in the first round; he played just in the doubles draw from 1971 onward. Overall he played in 124 matches at Wimbledon winning 77 and losing 47. In 1975 he played his last tournament at the
Northumberland Championships.
His other career singles highlights include winning the
Palace Hotel Covered Courts Championships six times (1957–60, 1962, 1967), the Cumberland Hard Courts six times (1956, 1958, 1960, 1965, 1968–69), the
British Covered Court Championships
The British Covered Court Championships (BCCC) was an indoor tennis event held from 1885 through 1971 and played in London, England. The dates of the tournament fluctuated between October and March.
History
For its first five years the tournament ...
four times (1959, 1962–63, 1965), the
German International Covered Court Championships three times (1961–62, 1964), the
North of England Championships three times (1953–54, 1956), the
French Covered Court Championships two times (1964–65), and the
Irish Championships Irish Open may refer to:
*Irish Open (golf), a golf tournament on the European Tour
**Irish Senior Open, a golf tournament on the European Seniors Tour
**Ladies Irish Open, a golf tournament on the Ladies European Tour
* Irish Open (darts), annual ...
two times (1963-64). Single tournament wins came at the
Scottish Championships (1954), the
Welsh Championships
The Welsh Championships (Welsh: Pencampwriaethau Cymru) its original name until 1970 was also known as the Championship of Wales (1951), the Welsh Open (Welsh: Cymraeg Agored) (1947–50) the Greenshields Welsh Championships and Greenshields Wel ...
(1959), the
Midland Counties Championships
The Midland Counties Championships also known as the Midland International was a grass court tennis tournament held at Edgbaston Cricket and Lawn Tennis Club, Edgbaston, Great Britain from 1881 to 1977.
History
The first unofficial championshi ...
(1960), the
Scandinavian Covered Court Championships (1966), Coupe Albert Canet (1965), the
Essex Championships
The Essex Championships was a combined men's and women's grass court tennis tournament last held at Frinton Lawn Tennis Club, Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, Great Britain from 1881 to 1973.
History
The ''Essex Championships'' were established in 1881 a ...
(1967).
Davis Cup
Between 1955 and 1968, Wilson participated in 34 ties for the British
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...
team. He compiled a record of 40 wins versus 20 losses and had a better record in doubles (25–8) than singles (16–12). The most successful year was 1963 when the
British team won the Europe Zone, defeating Sweden in the final, to reach the Inter-Zonal semifinal against the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
.
Grand Slam finals
Doubles (1 runner-up)
Junior Grand Slam titles
Singles: 1
Post-playing career
Wilson coached locally in his post-tour days. He was still doing so in 2018 at the age of 82.
Personal
He was one of many signatories in a letter to ''The Times'' on 17 July 1958 opposing "the policy of apartheid" in international sport and defending "the principle of racial equality which is embodied in the Declaration of the Olympic Games".
In 1964, Wilson published a book titled ''My Side of the Net''.
As of 1981, Wilson was a resident of
Finchley
Finchley () is a large district of north London, England, in the London Borough of Barnet. Finchley is on high ground, north of Charing Cross.
Nearby districts include: Golders Green, Muswell Hill, Friern Barnet, Whetstone, Mill Hill and H ...
, north London, where he also lived as a boy.
References
* Brown, Geoff and Hogsbjerg, Christian. ''Apartheid is not a Game: Remembering the Stop the Seventy Tour campaign.'' London: Redwords, 2020. .
External links
*
*
*
Britishpathe.com with a video clip from 1968 that includes Wilson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Bobby
1935 births
2020 deaths
English people of Scottish descent
English male tennis players
People from Finchley
People from Hendon
Wimbledon junior champions
British male tennis players
Tennis people from Greater London
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' singles