Eric Clifford Drysdale (born 26 May 1941) is a South African former

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. After a career as a highly ranked professional player in the 1960s and early 1970s, he became a well-known tennis announcer. Drysdale won the singles title at the Dutch Open in Hilversum in 1963 and 1964. In 1965, he reached the singles final of the 1965 U. S. Championships and he won the singles title at the German Championships. He defeated Rod Laver in the fourth round of the first US Open in 1968. During his Open-era career, Drysdale captured five singles titles and six doubles titles, including the 1972 US Open doubles crown with Roger Taylor. He was a pioneer of the two-handed backhand shot, which he used to great effect during his playing career. Drysdale was included among the Handsome Eight, a group of players signed by

Lamar Hunt Lamar Hunt (August 2, 1932 – December 13, 2006) was an American businessman most notable for his promotion of American football, soccer, and tennis in the United States. He was the principal founder of the American Football League (AFL) and ...

in 1968 for the newly formed professional

World Championship Tennis World Championship Tennis (WCT) was a tour for professional male tennis players established in 1968 (the first players signed a contract at the end of 1967) and lasted until the emergence of the ATP Tour in 1990. A number of tennis tournaments aro ...

group. He became president of the

Association of Tennis Professionals The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is the governing body of the men's professional tennis circuits – the ATP Tour, the ATP Challenger Tour and the ATP Champions Tour. It was formed in September 1972 by Donald Dell, Jack Kramer, a ...

(ATP), an association that Drysdale had formed in 1972 with Jack Kramer and

Donald Dell Donald L. Dell (born June 17, 1938) is an American sports attorney, writer, commentator, and former tennis player. Dell was the first sports agent in professional tennis, and represented Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith, Jimmy Connors, and Ivan Lendl duri ...

. Following retirement, Drysdale became a naturalized American citizen. He is the cofounder of Cliff Drysdale Tennis, which specializes in resort, hotel and club-tennis management. Drysdale has served as a tennis commentator for

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

since the network's inception in 1979. In 1998, the

USTA The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, ...

awarded Drysdale the William M. Johnston award for his contribution to men's tennis. In 2013, he was elected into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Doubles: 1 (1 title)

Grand Prix Championship Series finals

Singles: 2 (2 runner-ups)

Open Era titles

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

Note: The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December.

References

External links

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Biography and images of Cliff on the ''Cliff Drysdale'' site
Cliff Drysdale Tennis Academy in Utah
Cliff Drysdale ESPN Bio