Herbert Flam (November 7, 1928 – November 25, 1980) was an American

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 ...

player who in 1957 was ranked by

Lance Tingay Lance Tingay (15 July 1915 – 10 March 1990) was a British sports journalist, historian, and author of several tennis books. For many years his annual ranking of top tennis players was "the only one that counted" before ATP rankings were introduc ...

as the World No. 4 amateur (and World No. 5 by

Adrian Quist Adrian Karl Quist (23 January 191317 November 1991) was an Australian tennis player. Biography Adrian Quist was born in Medindie, South Australia. His father was Karl Quist, who had been a noted interstate cricketer, and owned a sporting goods ...

)."Times Have Changed, Says Adrian Quist"
''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 27 October 1957.

Biography

He was inducted into the International Tennis Association Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987, inducted into the

Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, in Beverly Hills, California, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring American Jewish athletes, other sports personalities, and teams from Southern California who have distinguished themselves ...

in 1990, inducted into the

International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame ( he, יד לאיש הספורט היהודי, translit=Yad Le'ish HaSport HaYehudi) was opened July 7, 1981 in Netanya, Israel. It honors Jewish athletes and their accomplishments from anywhere around ...

in 1992, and inducted into the

University of California at Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

Hall of Fame in 2006. In 2017, he was inducted into the Southern California Tennis Association Hall of Fame. He was born in New York City, and was Jewish. Flam reached his first Grand Slam final at the U.S. championships in 1950, beating

Bill Talbert William Franklin Talbert (September 4, 1918 – February 28, 1999) was an American tennis player and administrator. Tennis career He was ranked in the U.S. top 10 13 times between 1941 and 1954, and was ranked World No. 3 in 1949 by John Olliff ...

and

Gardnar Mulloy Gardnar Putnam "Gar" Mulloy (November 22, 1913 – November 14, 2016) was a U.S. No. 1 tennis player primarily known for playing in doubles matches with partner Billy Talbert. He was born in Washington, D.C. and turned 100 in November 2013. Du ...

before losing to

Art Larsen Arthur David "Art" or "Tappy" Larsen (April 17, 1925 – December 7, 2012) was an American No. 1 male tennis player best remembered for his victory at the U.S. Championships in 1950 and for his eccentricities. He won the "Times" national sport ...

. That year he was ranked Number 2 in the United States. In 1951 he won the

Ojai Tennis Tournament The Ojai Tennis Tournament, often shortened to The Ojai, is an annual tennis tournament in Ventura County, California, headquartered at Libbey Park in downtown Ojai, about north of Los Angeles. The event, first held in 1896, is the oldest and la ...

in men's singles. At Wimbledon 1951 Flam beat

Frank Sedgman Francis "Frank" Arthur Sedgman (born 29 October 1927) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. Over the course of a three-decade career, Sedgman won five Grand Slam singles tournaments as an amateur as well as 22 Grand Slam doubles ...

before losing to

Dick Savitt Richard Savitt (March 4, 1927 – January 6, 2023) was an American tennis player. In 1951, at the age of 24, he won both the Australian and Wimbledon men's singles championships. Savitt was mostly ranked world No. 2 the same year behind fellow ...

in the semifinals. That year he was ranked Number 4 in the US. In 1952 Flam beat Mulloy and

Vic Seixas Elias Victor Seixas Jr. (; pronounced SAY-shus; born August 30, 1923)

before losing in the semis to

Jaroslav Drobny Jaroslav (also written as Yaroslav or Jarosław in other Slavic languages) is a Czech and Slovak first name, pagan in origin. There are several possible origins of the name Jaroslav. It is very likely that originally the two elements of the nam ...

. That year he was ranked Number 5 in the US. In the 1956 Australian Championships, Flam beat Ashley Cooper before losing in the semifinals to

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 ...

. In September 1956 Flam won the singles title at the

Pacific Southwest Championships The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, defeating Rosewall in the final in five sets. That year he was ranked Number 2 in the US. At the 1957 French championships Flam beat

Mervyn Rose Mervyn Gordon Rose AM (23 January 1930 – 23 July 2017) was an Australian male tennis player who won seven Grand Slam titles (singles, doubles and mixed doubles). Rose was born in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, and turned professional in 1 ...

in a five-set semifinal before losing in straight sets to

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 the final. At the U. S. championships, Flam beat Seixas before losing to Cooper in the semi finals. That year he was ranked Number 2 in the US, behind Seixas.

Grand Slam finals

Singles (2 runner-ups)

References

External links

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Jews in Sports bio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flam, Herb 1928 births 1980 deaths American male tennis players Jewish tennis players Jewish American sportspeople Sportspeople from New York City Tennis people from New York (state) UCLA Bruins men's tennis players Beverly Hills High School alumni 20th-century American Jews

Biography

Grand Slam finals

Singles (2 runner-ups)

See also

References

External links