John Gardner is an Australian former 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 ...

player.

Career

A U.S. based player from Australia, Gardner played varsity tennis for

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , prov ...

(SMU) while studying for a business degree. He came to the U.S. from rural

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. In 1965 Gardner played his first tour tournament at the

Northern Championships Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. In July 1968 he won the Cheshire Tennis Championships at

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...

. In April 1969 he won the Sabadell International against John Bartlett at

Sabadell Sabadell () is a city in Catalonia, Spain. It is in the south of the ''comarca'' of Vallès Occidental and its joint capital (co-capital), on the River Ripoll, north of Barcelona. Sabadell is located above sea level. Sabadell pioneered the Ind ...

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on clay. In 1970 Gardner was runner-up at the U.S. National Amateur Grass Court Championships, and was the SWC singles champion in 1972. In 1971 he won the U.S. National Amateur Grass Court Championships against

Raul Ramirez Raul, Raúl and Raül are the Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan forms of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph (name), Rudolph. They are cognates of the French Raoul (disambiguation) ...

at Southampton, Long Island, New York. The same year he was a finalist to

Dick Dell Richard Dell (born 1947) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. Biography Dell, who won a gold medal at the 1965 Summer Universiade in the men's doubles with Allen Fox, attended the University of Michigan from 1965 to 196 ...

at the Southern Championships held

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

On the professional tour he had wins over

Georges Goven Georges Goven (born 26 April 1948) is a retired tennis player from France. Tennis career Juniors As a junior, he won the Australian Championships Boys' Singles title in 1964. Amateur / Pro tour Goven reached the semifinals in both singles and ...

and

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 ...

. He beat

Nikola Špear Nikola "Nikki" Špear ( sr-Cyrl, Никола Шпеар; 22 February 1944 – 2 December 2017) was a Yugoslavian international tennis player. Špear won the senior championship of Yugoslavia 1968, 1972, 1973 and 1975. He also organised tennis ev ...

in the first round of the 1971 US Open and featured in all grand slam main draws except his home tournament. He played his last tour event at the Tulsa Invitation at

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

in 1974. From 1973 to 1977 he served as SMU's head coach, with the team achieving three fourth-place finishes nationally.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gardner, John Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Australian male tennis players SMU Mustangs men's tennis players SMU Mustangs coaches Australian tennis coaches Tennis people from New South Wales College tennis coaches in the United States 20th-century Australian people Sportsmen from New South Wales