Robert Bédard (tennis)

Robert Bédard (born 13 September 1931) is a former Canadian tennis player and educator. He is the most recent Canadian winner of the men's Canadian Open Tennis Championships.

Bédard won three Canadian Open singles titles in 1955 (over Henri Rochon in the final), 1957 (over Ramanathan Krishnan in the final) and 1958 (over Whitney Reed in the final). Bédard won a record seven Quebec Open singles championships and two Ontario Open singles titles. Bédard won the ILTF Sutton Hard Courts or ILTF Surrey Hard Court Championships on clay at Sutton, England in 1957. That same season he won the North of England Hard Court Championships on clay at Southport, England. He won the USLTA Eastern Clay Court Championships in 1960. His career titles won was 30 tournaments, mostly on clay, in a very restricted playing career often confined to just the summer months.

Bédard was considered among the top ten clay court players in the world and was the top-ranked Canadian singles player in 11 consecutive years from 1955 to 1965. At the height of his career, he was unbeaten in 216 consecutive matches against Canadian players.

Bédard represented Canada in Davis Cup play for many years, reaching North America Zone and Interzone Finals in 1953, 1955, and 1959. During his career, he defeated No. 1 players from 21 different countries, including Australia and the U.S.

Bédard was a multi-sport athlete and was offered professional contracts with the New York Rangers ice hockey team and the Cleveland Indians baseball team, which he declined in favour of a career in academia. He became the principal of St. Andrew's College, an elite private preparatory collegiate, from 1981 to 1997.

Tennis career

Summary

Born in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, Bédard began playing tennis at the relatively late age of 15, and tennis was always his second sport to ice hockey. Bédard continued to play minor league ice hockey during the winter months and minor league baseball during the summer months.

Despite having a very limited time in tennis play, in many years playing tournaments only in the summer months, Bédard was an outstanding clay court player, with 30 tournament wins against many well-known clay specialists. During his career, Bédard defeated No. 1 players of many different countries, including Australia (Roy Emerson), the U.S. ( Whitney Reed, Dick Savitt), Great Britain ( Bobby Wilson, Mike Sangster), Italy (Nicola Pietrangeli, Orlando Sirola), Sweden (Sven Davidson, Ulf Schmidt), France (Paul Rémy, Pierre Darmon), Denmark (Kurt Nielsen, Torben Ulrich), Mexico (Mario Llamas, Rafael Osuna), South Africa ( Gordon Forbes, Bob Mark), India (Ramanathan Krishnan). Bédard defeated players in the top ten of world rankings, including Dick Savitt, Roy Emerson, Rafael Osuna, Sven Davidson, Nicola Pietrangeli, Ramanathan Krishnan, Kurt Nielsen, Straight Clark, Mike Sangster, Eugene Scott, and Ron Holmberg. Whitney Reed was ranked No. 1 in the U.S.

College tennis player

During the 1952–53 school year, Bédard attended UCLA on a tennis scholarship provided by his home community supporters in Sherbrooke, Quebec. This would be his only formal tennis coaching, and he was otherwise a self-taught player. During that same scholastic year, Bédard's fellow Canadian tennis player and later Davis Cup teammate Don Fontana was also in the UCLA tennis program on a tennis scholarship. Bédard and Fontana played against Bill Tilden and his student in possibly the final matches of Tilden's life, shortly before he died.

Amateur

1952–1953

Bédard won the Montreal Cup in August 1952 beating Jack Spencer in the final. Bédard also won the Nova Scotia Championships that year.

In 1953, Bédard reached the semi-finals of the Quebec championships, losing in three straight sets to Lorne Main. Bédard was ranked Canadian No. 2 for 1953 behind Main.

1954

Bédard reached the final of the Hollywood Beach Invitational, losing in three straight sets to Gardnar Mulloy. He later reached the final of the 1954 Stuttgart Open, losing to Gottfried von Cramm. He was a quarterfinalist at the 1954 Italian Open, winning a five-set marathon over Sven Davidson despite losing the first two sets, and later losing to defending champion Jaroslav Drobný. At the 1954 French Open, Bédard defeated Xavier Perreau-Saussine in the second round in a long five-set match. The No. 1 seed for the tournament, Lew Hoad, defeated Bédard in the third round at Roland Garros in three close sets. A month later, Bédard won his first match at Wimbledon, a close four-set victory over Gordon Forbes, and also won his second-round match against Eduardo Argon. Fred Perry, who covered Wimbledon for BBC, stated that Bédard was the most complete athlete in the tournament and noted his competitive zeal in matches. Hoad, the Wimbledon No. 2 seed, eliminated Bédard in the third round in four sets, Bédard winning the third set from Hoad. Bédard reached the final of the Quebec Open championships, where he lost a long four-set match to Lorne Main. Bédard was ranked Canadian No. 2 for 1954 behind Main.

1955

In European play, Bédard won a close five-set match against Orlando Sirola in the second round of the Italian Championships. Bédard reached the semifinal at Cannes, defeating Jacques Brichant, but lost to Władysław Skonecki. He won a close match against Nicola Pietrangeli in the Queen's Club Championships but lost in the third round to Hoad. At the 1955 Wimbledon Championships, Bédard lost in the first round to Herb Flam. In August 1955, Bédard won his first Canadian Open championship at Quebec City on clay. Bédard defeated Val Harit in the quarterfinal, Don Fontana in the semifinal and Henri Rochon in the final. Rochon had eliminated Lorne Main in the other semifinal. Bédard teamed with his Davis Cup partner Fontana to win the Canadian Open doubles title. Bédard won the Nova Scotia Championships in 1955. Bédard also beat Rochon in the final of the Quebec championships in July. He reached the third round at Forest Hills in 1955 for the first of an eventual four times, but again it was Hoad that he came up against, this time Hoad winning in three straight sets. Bédard was ranked Canadian No. 1 for 1955 for the first of 11 straight times.

1956

In July Bédard won the Quebec Open over Fontana in the final. He also won the Ontario Championships in July beating Paul Willey in the final. As defending champion in the 1956 Canadian Open, held in Vancouver on grass, Bédard lost in the semifinals to Noel Brown, who then defeated Fontana in the final. Bédard again reached the third round at Forest Hills, this time bowing out to unseeded American Hugh Stewart in four sets. After going out early in the next two U.S. Nationals, he would once again reach the third round in 1959, when he lost to No. 6 seed Luis Ayala. He reached the same round one last time two years later, just shy of his 30th birthday. His wins in the Ontario and Quebec championships earned him the Canadian No. 1 ranking for 1956.

1957

Bédard and his wife took a honeymoon tour of Europe in 1957 following their wedding, which would be his finest year with four tournament wins in singles. He won two clay court tournaments in Britain in 1957.

Bédard won the ILTF Sutton Hard Courts or ILTF Surrey Hard Court Championships on clay, the two titles played in combination that season, at the Sutton Tennis and Squash Club in Sutton, Surrey, England. Bédard defeated Oliver Prenn in the semifinal and the defending champion Bob Howe in the final, both in straight sets.

Bédard also won the North of England Hard Court Championships on clay at Southport, England at the Argyle Lawn Tennis Club, defeating Alan Mills in a straight sets final. Mills would win the event in 1959.

In the Italian Tennis Championships Bédard reached the third round but was unable to play his match against Ashley Cooper and had to withdraw. In the French Championships at Roland Garros, Bédard led Flam in their second-round match by two sets to one but lost the last two sets. Flam would reach the final before losing to Davidson. In the Kent Championships at Beckenham on grass, Bédard defeated Roy Emerson but lost in the next round to Ramanathan Krishnan. At Wimbledon, Bédard and his wife entered the mixed doubles, losing in the first round. Bédard defeated Torben Ulrich in the first round at Wimbledon in singles but lost his next match to Brichant.

Bédard won the Nova Scotia Championships in men's singles in 1957 and also won the mixed doubles title with his wife. Bédard played in the O'Keefe International at the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club on red clay in Toronto. He won three rounds and defeated Kurt Nielsen and Armando Vieira, but lost the semifinal to Sven Davidson, world No. 2 and the French Open champion for that year on red clay. Davidson defeated Budge Patty in the final.

Bédard won the Canadian Open for the second time at Montreal's Monkland Tennis Club on clay, the same venue where Santana would win the Canadian Open title over Emerson ten years later. He defeated in turn Straight Clark, Armando Vieira and Ramanathan Krishnan in a superbly played four-set final. Krishnan had beaten Bédard several times earlier that year in Britain and would win the Canadian Open in 1968. Bédard had lost to Vieira in the 1957 Quebec Open championships in a long semifinal match. Bédard also won the 1957 Canadian Open doubles title partnered by his Davis Cup teammate Fontana.

1958

Bédard successfully defended his Canadian Open title in 1958 in Vancouver on grass, defeating American player Glenn Bassett in the quarterfinal in four sets and Whitney Reed in the final in three straight sets. Bédard had earlier in the season lost to Reed on clay in Toronto in Davis Cup play. Reed would later win two Canadian Open singles titles.

Bédard won the Adirondack Invitation tournament at Schroon Lake, New York, defeating his fellow Canadian Davis Cup teammate Lorne Main in the final. At the O'Keefe International at the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club on red clay in Toronto, Bédard defeated Ulf Schmidt and Dick Savitt, before losing to Luis Ayala in the semifinal. In August, Bédard won the Quebec Open title beating Val Harit in the final in five sets, his 100th straight victory against Canadian players.

1959

Bédard won the silver medal at the 1959 Pan American Games in Chicago. defeating Mexican Mario Llamas in a five-set quarterfinal, Mexican Francisco Contreras in the semi-finals but lost the final to Chilean Luis Ayala, thus capturing the silver medal.

Bédard also won the 1959 Adirondack Invitation at Schroon Lake, New York defeating American players George Ball in the semifinal and Sidney Schwartz in the final. Bédard won the Quebec Open in August, beating Cuban Reynaldo Garrido in a five-set semifinal and Eduardo Zuleta

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