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 singles finals of Wimbledon in 1953 (beating

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 ...

and

Jaroslav Drobný Jaroslav Drobný (; 12 October 1921 – 13 September 2001) was a World No. 1 amateur tennis and ice hockey champion. He left Czechoslovakia in 1949 and travelled as an Egyptian citizen before becoming a citizen of the United Kingdom in 1959, w ...

, then losing to

Vic Seixas Elias Victor Seixas Jr. (; pronounced SAY-shus; born August 30, 1923)

) and 1955 (beating Rosewall, then losing to Tony Trabert). Both times he reached the final, he was unseeded. Before this, he won the boys' singles at Wimbledon in 1947 (defeating Sven Davidson). Besides his successes at Wimbledon, he won the boys' singles at the French Open and reached the quarterfinals in the U.S. Championships in 1953. With Althea Gibson, Nielsen won the U.S. Open mixed doubles in 1957, thereby becoming the first Dane to have won a Grand Slam event. During his long career, he won around 30 international titles, played 96

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 ...

matches for Denmark (with a 53–43 record), and holds the record of having won the most Danish national tennis championships (50). Nielsen turned professional in 1960 and played on the pro circuit. After ending his active career, Nielsen held numerous honourable positions in leading international tennis associations as well as served as the supervisor and referee at many Grand Slam events. He was a commentator on the Danish version of the TV channel Eurosport until late 2006. Nielsen was the grandfather of Danish tennis player Frederik Løchte Nielsen.F. Løchte tættere på Wimbledon
tv2.dk 20. juni 2007 His grandson, at the 2012 Wimbledon men's doubles event, became the second Dane to win a Grand Slam tournament.

Grand Slam finals

Singles: (2 runner-ups)

Mixed doubles: (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Singles performance timeline

The following lists main draw appearances for Grand Slam and pre-Open Era Professional Major tournaments only. Note: ¹ First round bye

References

External links

* * * * Kurt Nielsen and Torben Ulrich (in dark sweater) play Tony Trabert and

Vic Seixas Elias Victor Seixas Jr. (; pronounced SAY-shus; born August 30, 1923)

at Kjøbenhavns Boldklub, Frederiksberg, Denmark in 1954
Link to video stream.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nielsen, Kurt 1930 births 2011 deaths Danish male tennis players French Championships junior (tennis) champions Sportspeople from Copenhagen United States National champions (tennis) Wimbledon junior champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles Professional tennis players before the Open Era Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' singles