Gilbert James Shea (5 October 1928 - 23 December 2020) was a former American

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 c ...

player. Although born in Oregon, Shea and his family moved to California when he was three years old. He started playing tennis when he was around eight years old. Big serving Shea was ranked as high as number 4 in the U. S. in 1957. Making his Grand Slam debut at the U. S. championships in 1948, Shea lost in round three to

Jaroslav Drobny Jaroslav (also written as Yaroslav or Jarosław in other Slavic languages) is a Czech and Slovak first name, pagan in origin. There are several possible origins of the name Jaroslav. It is very likely that originally the two elements of the nam ...

. In 1949 he lost in round two to Edward Moylan and in 1950 lost in round one to Hugh Stewart. At the 1952 U. S. Championships, Shea lost in round three to

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 19 ...

. In 1953 he lost in round three to Arthur Larsen. At Roland Garros in 1954 Shea lost in round three to

. At Wimbledon, he lost in the last 16 to

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 ...

. At the U. S. Championships, he beat Luis Ayala before losing in round three to Moylan. At Wimbledon 1955, Shea beat

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

and

Adrian Quist Adrian Karl Quist (23 January 191317 November 1991) was an Australian tennis player. Biography Adrian Quist was born in Medindie, South Australia. His father was Karl Quist, who had been a noted interstate cricketer, and owned a sporting goo ...

before losing in the last 16 to

Nicola Pietrangeli Nicola "Nicky" Pietrangeli (; born 11 September 1933) is a former Italian tennis player. He won two singles titles at the French Championships and is considered by many to be Italy's greatest tennis champion. Biography Born 11 September 1933, in ...

. He lost in round one of the U. S. championships. At the 1956 Australian championships, Shea beat a young

Roy Emerson Roy Stanley Emerson (born 3 November 1936) is an Australian former tennis player who won 12 Grand Slam singles titles and 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, for a total of 28 Grand Slam titles. He is the only male player to have completed a care ...

(who won 6 titles in the 1960s) before losing in the quarter finals to

Neale Fraser Neale Andrew Fraser (born 3 October 1933) is a former number one amateur male tennis-player from Australia, born in Melbourne, Victoria, the son of a Victorian judge. Fraser is the last man to have completed the triple crown, i.e. having won ...

. Shea lost in round two of Wimbledon. He reached the last 16 at U. S. championships, losing to Fraser. In 1957 Shea lost in round two of Roland Garros, round one of Wimbledon and round three at U. S. championships. Shea then lost in round one of Wimbledon 1958 and round two at U. S. championships in 1959 and then retired. In later life he played a lot of golf recreationally. He died aged 92 on 23 December 2020.

References

1928 births American male tennis players Tennis people from Oregon Sportspeople from Portland, Oregon Tennis people from California 2020 deaths {{US-tennis-bio-stub