Elias Victor Seixas Jr. (; pronounced SAY-shus; born August 30, 1923)">"A Bartender at 76, Seixas Has Trophies, but Little Money,"
''Los Angeles Times''. is an American former

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 ...

. Seixas was ranked in the top ten in the US on 13 occasions between 1942 and 1956. In 1951 Seixas was ranked No. 4 amateur in the world, two spots below

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 ...

, while he was No. 1 in the U.S. ranking, one spot ahead of Savitt. In 1953, Seixas was ranked No. 3 in the world 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 ...

. In 1954 Seixas was ranked amateur number one by Harry Hopman. In his career, Seixas won 15 Major championships. He won both

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 * ...

and the US Open in singles. He also won the

Australian Open The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

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 ...

(twice), and US Open (twice) in doubles, and the French Open, Wimbledon (four times), and US Open (three times) in Mixed Doubles. Seixas was inducted into the

International Tennis Hall of Fame The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, grass tennis courts, an indo ...

, the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic Hall of Fame, the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame, and the

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I. Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly ...

Hall of Fame.

Early life

Seixas was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Anna Victoria (Moon), who was of Irish descent, and Elias Victor Seixas Sr., who was born in the Dominican Republic, of Portuguese-Sephardi Jewish descent. He is reported to be Jewish by a number of sources, but was raised Presbyterian. He attended and graduated from the

William Penn Charter School William Penn Charter School (commonly known as Penn Charter or simply PC) is an independent school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1689 at the urging of William Penn as the "Public Grammar School" and chartered in 1689 to be op ...

, where he was a tennis star. He served as a pilot in the United States Army Air Corps in World War II for three years, which interrupted his tennis career. He then attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of Alpha Sigma of the

Chi Psi Chi Psi () is a fraternity consisting of active chapters (known as "Alphas") at 33 American colleges and universities. The mission of Chi Psi is to create and maintain an enduring society which encourages the sharing of traditions and values, res ...

fraternity. He was 63–3 at UNC, won the

singles championship in 1948 and the doubles championship in 1949, and was an All American. He graduated in 1949, the same year that UNC awarded him the Patterson Medal, the school's top medal in athletics.

Tennis career

During the course of his lengthy career, Seixas won scores of singles, doubles, and mixed doubles titles. He entered the US Championships men's singles a record 28 times between 1940 and 1969. Seixas was ranked in the top ten in the US 13 times from 1942 to 1956. In 1951 Seixas was ranked No. 4 in the world, two spots below

, while he was No. 1 in the US ranking (a ranking he also held in 1954 and 1957), one spot ahead of Savitt. In 1953, Seixas was ranked No. 3 in the world by

and was cited as being the World No. 1 in the ''

Reading Eagle The ''Reading Eagle'' is the major daily newspaper in Reading, Pennsylvania. A family-owned newspaper until the spring of 2019, its reported circulation is 37,000 (daily) and 50,000 (Sundays). It serves the Reading and Berks County region of Pe ...

'' the same year."Seixas Tests Shea in Eastern Tennis", ''Reading Eagle'', August 6, 1953. His major singles wins include

in 1953 over

Kurt Nielsen Kurt Nielsen (19 November 1930 – 11 June 2011) was a Danish tennis player. He was born in Copenhagen, and was the first Danish tennis player ever to have played in a men's singles final in a Grand Slam tournament. Nielsen reached the singl ...

(where his 'cash' winnings was a £25 certificate to spend at a shop in Piccadilly Circus) and the US National (U.S. Open) in 1954 over

Rex Hartwig Rex Noel Hartwig (2 September 1929 – 30 December 2022) was an Australian tennis player. Early life Rex Hartwig was born on 2 September 1929 in Culcairn, New South Wales. Both parents played tennis, and at age 10, Hartwig won a local tournam ...

. Seixas was also a successful doubles and mixed doubles player. In 1952, he won the US National doubles with

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 the mid-1950s, he formed a successful partnership with

Tony Trabert Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

, winning the 1954 French and US Championships, as well as the 1955

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

and French Championships. Additionally, they won the decisive third point in the

1954 Davis Cup The 1954 Davis Cup was the 43rd edition of the Davis Cup, the most important tournament between national teams in men's tennis. 23 teams entered the Europe Zone and 7 teams entered the America Zone. The Eastern Zone was abandoned for this year and ...

win over Australia. Seixas won four consecutive mixed doubles crowns at Wimbledon from 1953 to 1956, the first three with

Doris Hart Doris Hart (June 20, 1925 – May 29, 2015) was an American tennis player from who was active in the 1940s and first half of the 1950s. She was ranked world No. 1 in 1951. She was the fourth player, and second woman, to win a Career Grand Slam in ...

and the fourth with

Shirley Fry Shirley June Fry Irvin (née Fry; June 30, 1927 – July 13, 2021) was an American tennis player. During her career, which lasted from the early 1940s until the mid-1950s, she won the singles title at all four Grand Slam events, as well as 13 dou ...

; the US National mixed doubles from 1953 to 1955, all with Doris Hart; and the French Championships mixed doubles in 1953 with Doris Hart. In 1966, at 42 years of age, Seixas played 94 games over four hours to defeat 22-year old Australian

Bill Bowrey William Bowrey (born 25 December 1943) is a former Australian tennis player. Bowrey was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and is best remembered as the last amateur to win the Australian Championships in 1968 before the tournament ope ...

, 32–34, 6–4, 10–8 at the 1966 Philadelphia Grass Championship. The same year, Seixas was rated as the Senior

Squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

Champion of America.

Davis Cup

Seixas and Trabert won the

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 ...

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

, against Australia. Seixas is rated fifth in the category of most Davis Cup Singles matches (24), just behind

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 b ...

(25) 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 ...

(27). He served three times as Captain of the US Davis Cup team. He was 38–17 lifetime in Davis Cup matches.

Halls of Fame

Seixas was inducted into the

in 1971. He was also inducted into the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic Hall of Fame. Seixas was inducted into Class II of the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame in 2005. He was inducted into the Southern Conference Hall of Fame in 2011.

After tennis retirement

Seixas was a stockbroker from the late 1950s until the early 1970s. Afterward, he worked as a tennis director for the

Greenbrier Resort The Greenbrier is a luxury resort located in the Allegheny Mountains near White Sulphur Springs in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, in the United States. Since 1778, visitors have traveled to this part of the state to "take the waters" of the ...

in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia and at a Hilton Hotel in New Orleans. He moved to California in 1989, where he lived in Mill Valley and established a tennis program at the Harbor Point Racquet and Beach Club in Mill Valley (Marin County), now known as The Club at Harbor Point. In 1998, unable to play tennis any longer due to his knees, he chose to become a bartender at Harbor Point. After several years bartending and helping with the club's front desk duties, he retired. Seixas is currently the oldest living Grand Slam singles champion in the world, and the oldest living member of the Tennis Hall of Fame.

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 5 (2 titles, 3 runners-up)

Doubles: 8 (5 titles, 3 runners-up)

Mixed doubles: 8 (8 titles)

Grand Slam performance timeline

References

External links

* * * *
Prominent members of Chi Psi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seixas, Vic 1923 births Living people American people of Portuguese-Jewish descent American sportspeople of Dominican Republic descent American male tennis players American people of Dominican Republic descent Australian Championships (tennis) champions French Championships (tennis) champions Hispanic and Latino American sportspeople Jewish American sportspeople Jewish tennis players American Sephardic Jews American Presbyterians North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball players International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees Tennis players from Philadelphia United States Army Air Forces officers United States Army Air Forces pilots of World War II United States National champions (tennis) Wimbledon champions (pre-Open Era) Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's singles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles William Penn Charter School alumni American men's basketball players American people of Irish descent 21st-century American Jews The Greenbrier people North Carolina Tar Heels men's tennis players World number 1 ranked male tennis players American people of Portuguese descent Brazilian American American people of Brazilian descent