Uberto De Morpurgo (12 January 1896 – 26 February 1961) was a male

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 cov ...

player from

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Uberto De Morpurgo was born in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into pr ...

when it was part of

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, but became an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

citizen when the city changed hands after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. His world rankings were ninth in 1928, tenth in 1929, and eighth in 1930."Big Bill Tilden is Second Only to Henri Cochet"
''The Montreal Gazette'', 27 November 1930.

Bill Tilden William Tatem Tilden II (February 10, 1893 – June 5, 1953), nicknamed "Big Bill", was an American tennis player. Tilden was the world No. 1 amateur for six consecutive years, from 1920 to 1925, and was ranked as the world No. 1 professional ...

ranked him 10th in the world in 1924, and 6th in 1929.

Tennis career

De Morpurgo was junior champion in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

in 1911, and student champion in Paris in 1915. He was ranked as Italy's top tennis player in 1927, and again in 1929 through 1931. ''Tennis'' magazine called him "the Tilden of his country". De Morpurgo reached the semifinals of the 1930 French championships (beating

Edgar Moon Edgar "Gar" Moon (3 December 1904 – 26 May 1976) was a tennis player from Australia who was best known for winning the 1930 Australian Championships – Men's singles title. He also won the 1932 Men's Doubles title with Jack Crawford. He wo ...

before losing to

Henri Cochet Henri Jean Cochet (; 14 December 1901 – 1 April 1987) was a French tennis player. He was a world No. 1 ranked player, and a member of the famous " Four Musketeers" from France who dominated tennis in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Born i ...

). He was named Italian Commissioner of Tennis by

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in ...

in 1929.

Olympics

De Morpurgo participated in the

singles event A singles event is an activity or program made available specifically to the romantically unattached, often with the underlying or explicit purpose of fostering dating or relationships among attendees. A singles event with a cocktail party-type a ...

at the

1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1924), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIIe olympiade) and also known as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The o ...

in Paris. He won his first four matches to reach the semifinal which he lost to eventual gold medal winner

Vincent Richards Vincent Richards (March 20, 1903 – September 28, 1959) was an American tennis player. He was active in the early decades of the 20th century, particularly known as being a superlative volleyer. He was ranked World No. 2 as an amateur in 1924 b ...

in four sets. De Morpurgo won the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receiv ...

after a five-set victory in the play-off against

Jean Borotra Jean Laurent Robert Borotra (, ; 13 August 1898 – 17 July 1994) was a French tennis champion. He was one of the " Four Musketeers" from his country who dominated tennis in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Borotra was imprisoned in Itter Castle ...

of France.

Davis Cup

De Morpurgo played on Italy's

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 organi ...

team each year from its inaugural year in 1922 through 1933. He won 39 singles matches and lost 14, while in doubles he was 16–10.

Playing style

De Morpurgo used a very fast serve on his first ball, and an exaggerated American Twist serve on the second serve which was of extreme contortion. His baseline game consisted of flat drives. He had an excellent net attack, owing to his great reach. His overhead, like his service, was hard but erratic.

Recognition

De Morpurgo, who was

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, was inducted as a member of 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 1993.

Grand Slam finals

Mixed doubles (1 runners-up)

Career finals

Singles (2 runner-ups)

References

External links

* * * * *
Umberto Louis de Morpurgo
at JewishSports.net * {{DEFAULTSORT:De Morpurgo, Uberto 1896 births 1961 deaths Italian male tennis players Jewish tennis players Olympic tennis players of Italy Olympic bronze medalists for Italy Tennis players at the 1924 Summer Olympics 20th-century Italian Jews Austro-Hungarian Jews Italian Austro-Hungarians Italian nobility Austrian nobility Sportspeople from Trieste People from Austrian Littoral Olympic medalists in tennis Medalists at the 1924 Summer Olympics