Paul Gerken (born March 15, 1950) is a 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 from the

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Early life and career

Gerken was born in New York but his family moved to Norwalk,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

a year after his birth. When he was only 14 he was the top ranked junior in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

for the 16-year-old age division. In 1968 he was called up to the American junior Davis Cup team. He was the third ranked junior in the country at the time. He was runner-up to

Dick Stockton Richard Edward Stokvis (born November 22, 1942), known professionally as Dick Stockton, is an American retired sportscaster. Stockton began his career in Philadelphia, then moved to Pittsburgh, where he worked as the sports director for KDKA-TV ...

at the

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18s in 1968. A student at Norwalk High School, he won the

Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference FCIAC, the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference, was established in 1961 and is made up of high schools throughout Fairfield County, Connecticut Fairfield County is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Con ...

singles championship in 1967 and 1968.

College years

Gerken attended

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

on a tennis scholarship and while there was an All-American college player. He later transferred to Trinity University, in

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, where he played beside Dick Stockton and Brian Gottfried. Gerken was also an All-American at Trinity University and was a member of the team which won the NCAA Championship in 1972. He also reached the NCAA doubles final that year.

Professional career

Gerken competed in the main singles draw at the US Open every year from 1968 to 1975, as well as in 1977.ATP World Tour Profile
/ref> He appeared three times in both the

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

and

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. His best performance in a Grand Slam tournament came at the

1973 French Open The 1973 French Open was a tennis tournament that took place on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. The tournament ran from 21 May until 3 June. It was the 77th staging of the French Open, and the second Grand S ...

, where he had wins over Eric Deblicker,

Torben Ulrich Torben Ulrich (born 4 October 1928) is a Danish writer, musician, filmmaker and former professional tennis player. He is the father of Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich. Biography Ulrich was born on 4 October 1928 in Copenhagen, the son of Ulla ...

and

Guillermo Vilas Guillermo Vilas (; born 17 August 1952) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. Vilas was the No. 1 of the Grand Prix seasons in 1974, 1975 and 1977, and won four Grand Slam tournaments, one year-end Masters, nine Grand Prix Super Se ...

, before losing his fourth round match to

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, in five sets. He never won a

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 ...

or WCT title during his career, but reached six finals, two in singles and four in doubles. Gerken had a winning record against

Björn Borg Björn Rune Borg (; born 6 June 1956) is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. Between 1974 and 1981, he became the first man in the Open Era to win 11 Grand Slam singles titles with six at the French Open and five consecutively at Wimb ...

, beating him twice, in 1973 and 1974, and losing just once. He also defeated Ilie Năstase at Salt Lake City in 1973,

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 ...

at Hamburg the same year 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 ...

at a Tokyo WCT tournament in 1974. He had surgery in 1975 for a torn rotator cuff and as a result didn't feature at all in the 1976 tennis season. His comeback in 1977 was unsuccessful and he retired the following year.

Coaching

Gerken was the head tennis coach for the men's team at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

from 1979 to 1982. He continues to coach in the New England area.'' Columbia Spectator''
"For Jacobs men, Columbia tennis runs in the family "
October 5, 2011, Mia Park Paul Gerken was also the Head Tennis Professional at the Westside Tennis Club in Forest Hills NY

Grand Prix/WCT career finals

Singles: 2 (0–2)

Doubles: 4 (0–4)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gerken, Paul 1950 births Living people American male tennis players Trinity Tigers men's tennis players Stanford Cardinal men's tennis players Tennis people from Connecticut Sportspeople from Norwalk, Connecticut Columbia Lions men's tennis coaches Norwalk High School (Connecticut) alumni American tennis coaches