Leonard Roscoe Tanner (born October 15, 1951) is a retired American tennis player, who turned professional in 1972 and reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4 on July 30, 1979. Tanner was famous for his big left-handed serve, which was reportedly clocked at at the

Mission Hills Country Club The Mission Hills Country Club is a country club in the western United States, located in Rancho Mirage, California, southeast of Palm Springs. Overview Among the facilities at the club are 3 championship golf courses (54 holes), 27 tennis court ...

Rancho Mirage, California Rancho Mirage is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. The population was 17,218 at the 2010 census, up from 13,249 at the 2000 census, but the seasonal (part-time) population can exceed 20,000. Incorporated in 1973 and locate ...

on February 19, 1978 during the 1978 American Airlines Tennis Games singles final against

Raúl Ramírez Raúl Ramírez (born 20 June 1953) is a Mexican retired professional tennis player. He was active during the 1970s and 1980s. Ramírez was the first player to finish first in both singles and doubles Grand Prix point standings, accomplishing th ...

.Wimbledon '99: Secrets of an express delivery, by Ronald Atkin
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', June 20, 1999 Retrieved December 9, 2009. He is also known for winning the men's singles title at the first of two Australian Open tournaments held in 1977. Tanner won the tournament held in January,

Vitas Gerulaitis Vytautas Kevin Gerulaitis (July 26, 1954 – September 17, 1994) was an American professional tennis player, known as Vitas Gerulaitis. In 1975, he won the men's doubles title at Wimbledon, partnering with Sandy Mayer. He won the men's singles ...

won the December tournament. Tanner reached the Wimbledon final in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

, losing to Björn Borg in five sets. After his retirement, Tanner received media attention in the 2000s for legal problems that included stretches of imprisonment, arrests for missing child support payments, allegations of financial misdeeds, and bankruptcy.

Early life

Leonard Roscoe Tanner III hailed from

Lookout Mountain, Tennessee Lookout Mountain is a town in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 2,058 at the 2020 census. Bordering its sister city of Lookout Mountain, Georgia to the south, Lookout Mountain is part of the Chattanooga, TN– GA ...

, graduated from

Baylor School Baylor School, commonly called Baylor, is a private, coeducational college-preparatory school in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Founded in 1893, the school currently sits atop a 690-acre campus and enrolls students in grades 6-12, including boarding ...

in Chattanooga, and with teammate Sandy Mayer helped to lead Stanford University's rise to national prominence in collegiate tennis. Tanner played number one singles, with Mayer playing number two. In 1972, Tanner and Mayer won the NCAA doubles championship, and the Stanford team finished second in the NCAA tournament, behind Trinity (TX). The team also featured

Chico Hagey James "Chico" Hagey (born February 25, 1953) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. Biography Hagey, known by his nickname "Chico" which he has had since birth, was originally from Illinois but moved to San Diego at the ag ...

, Rick Fisher, Jim Delaney, Gery Groslimond, Chip Fisher, Paul Sidone, and Tim Noonan.

Playing history

Tanner defeated Haroon Rahim 10–8 in the fifth set to win the 1970 United States Amateur Championships. Tanner defeated

Guillermo Vilas Guillermo Vilas (; born 17 August 1952) is an Argentine former professional tennis player. Vilas was the No. 1 of the Grand Prix seasons in 1974, 1975 and 1977, and won four Grand Slam tournaments, one year-end Masters, nine Grand Prix Super Se ...

in three straight sets in the

1977 Australian Open (January) The 1977 Australian Open (January) was a tennis tournament played on Grass court, outdoor grass courts at the Kooyong Stadium, Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament was held from 3 to 9 January 1977. Due to a scheduling ...

final, to win his first and only grand slam title. Tanner lost a five set match to Björn Borg in the 1979 Wimbledon final, which was the first Wimbledon final to be broadcast live in the United States as part of

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's ''Breakfast at Wimbledon''. Tanner avenged this loss to Borg by beating him in four sets in the US Open quarterfinals two months later, a match where Tanner's 140 mph serve brought the net down during the fourth set. Tanner lost to

in the semifinals. Tanner described his 1979 US Open win over Borg and loss to Gerulaitis in his autobiography as "the highest of my highs and the lowest of my lows on a tennis court within two days of each other". Tanner's unorthodox but very strong left-handed serve was tossed very low and struck with a lunge involving the whole body, earning him the nickname "The Rocket". His booming 153 mph serve was the fastest ever recorded in tournament competition from February 1978 until

Andy Roddick Andrew Stephen Roddick (born 30 August 1982) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is a major champion, having won the 2003 US Open. Roddick reached four other major finals ( Wimbledon in 2004, 2005, and 2009, and the US Ope ...

posted a 155 mph serve in a Davis Cup semifinal in September 2004 against Vladimir Voltchkov. He won the Davis Cup in

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playing with

John McEnroe John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was known for his shot-making and volleying skills, his rivalries with Björn Borg and Jimmy Connors, and his confrontational on-court beha ...

, Eliot Teltscher and Peter Fleming on a team captained by Arthur Ashe that defeated Argentina in the final, played at

Riverfront Coliseum Heritage Bank Center is an indoor arena located in downtown Cincinnati, next to the Great American Ball Park. It was completed in September 1975 and named Riverfront Coliseum because of its placement next to Riverfront Stadium. In 1997, the fa ...

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 wit ...

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

¹The Australian Open was played twice in 1977, in January and December.

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 2 (1 titles, 1 runner-up)

Career finals

Singles (15 titles, 26 runner-ups)

Doubles titles (13 titles, 16 runner-ups)

Personal life

Tanner has been married three times, first to Nancy, then Charlotte, and last to Margaret. He has five children, Omega Anne Romano, Tamara Tanner, Lauren Tanner, Anne Monique, and Lacey Tanner.

Criminal record

Tanner has an extensive record of conflicts with the law. He was first arrested in 1997 for failure to pay child support. He was arrested again in June 2003 on a fugitive warrant on charges related to passing a bad check and to further nonpayment of child support. He pleaded guilty and received an initial sentence of probation. Tanner violated his probation and served one year in prison in Florida, but was then jailed for contempt of court in California. In 2008, Tanner was again arrested for writing a bad check in Knoxville, Tennessee, but it was settled out of court.''Tanner accused of not returning vehicles after check bounced''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

, May 28, 2008. Retrieved April 15, 2009. After being evicted from his home, Tanner was arrested in January 2012 for writing another bad check. In March 2013, Tanner was arrested in Florida for writing a bad check and grand theft, and in 2014, he served 10 days for driving with a suspended license. In 2015, Tanner was arrested for failure to appear in court on a previous warrant.

Tennis camps

Currently, Tanner has a venture in teaching tennis. He has taught at doubles tennis camps with other professionals, and is the camp director at his own training camp.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tanner, Roscoe 1951 births Living people American male tennis players American people convicted of fraud Australian Open (tennis) champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's singles People from Charleston County, South Carolina Sportspeople from Chattanooga, Tennessee Sportspeople from Orange County, California People from Pinellas County, Florida Stanford Cardinal men's tennis players Tennis people from South Carolina Tennis people from Tennessee People from Vero Beach, Florida