Clark Graebner (born November 4, 1943) is a retired American 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 cov ...

player.

Early life

Graebner was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the only child of Paul Graebner, a doctor, and his wife, the former Janice Clark. Paul had been a moderately successful youth player. Clark won the state high-school tennis championship three times. He graduated from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

, where he joined the

Delta Upsilon Delta Upsilon (), commonly known as DU, is a collegiate men's fraternity founded on November 4, 1834 at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It is the sixth-oldest, all-male, college Greek-letter organization founded in North Americ ...

fraternity. In 1964 he married rising American tennis player Carole Caldwell. They had two children, a daughter, Cameron, and a son, Clark. The couple separated in 1974 and eventually divorced. In 1975, Graebner married Patti Morgan. Caldwell died of cancer in New York City on November 19, 2008.

Tennis career

Graebner was considered to be one of the fastest servers in his time. In the 1967 United States Championship, the last time the event, today's U.S. Open, was open only to amateur players, Graebner lost in the final to

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 ...

. The following year he reached the semifinals in singles at both Wimbledon and the inaugural U.S. Open. Graebner 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 Un ...

led the U.S. Davis Cup team to victory in the 1968

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 ...

, its first in five years. The Americans won four more titles in as many years.

John McPhee John Angus McPhee (born March 8, 1931) is an American writer. He is considered one of the pioneers of creative nonfiction. He is a four-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in the category General Nonfiction, and he won that award on the four ...

's book, '' Levels of the Game'', is about a semifinal match played between Graebner and Ashe at the 1968 U.S. Open at Forest Hills. Ashe won the match. Graebner's most significant title was probably the men's doubles title at the 1966

French Championships 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 ve ...

, where he and

Dennis Ralston Richard Dennis Ralston (July 27, 1942 – December 6, 2020) was an American professional tennis player whose active career spanned the 1960s and 1970s. As a young player, he was coached by tennis pro Pancho Gonzales. He attended the University o ...

beat

Ion Ţiriac An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by convent ...

and

Ilie Năstase Ilie Theodoriu Năstase (, born 19 July 1946) is a former World No. 1 Romanian tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 in singles from 23 August 1973 to 2 June 1974, and was the first man to hold the top position on the computerized ATP rankin ...

in the final. He also won the 1968 U.S. Men's Clay Court singles Championship in Milwaukee, the 1969 and 1970 U.S. Men's Clay Court doubles Championship (with William Bowrey and Ashe, respectively), and the 1963 doubles title at

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

. Graebner also reached the singles quarterfinals in Cincinnati in 1970, falling to eventual champion

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 reco ...

. Graebner ranks No. 32 on the list of best career set win–loss records in Grand Slam events, at 108-58, for a 65% record.Set W/L% - Slams - Career
/ref>

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline

Singles

Career finals

Singles: 11 (4 wins, 7 losses)

Doubles finals: 21 (10 wins, 11 losses)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Graebner, Clark 1943 births Living people American male tennis players French Championships (tennis) champions Northwestern Wildcats men's tennis players Sportspeople from Cleveland Sportspeople from New York City Tennis people from New York (state) Tennis people from Ohio Wimbledon junior champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' singles 20th-century American people