Herbert Flam
Flam, circa 1950
Country (sports) United States
Born(1928-11-07)November 7, 1928
New York City, United States
DiedNovember 25, 1980(1980-11-25) (aged 52)
Turned pro1945 (amateur tour)
Retired1963
PlaysRight-handed (one-handed backhand)
Singles
Career record382-131
Career titles20
Highest rankingNo. 4 (1957, Lance Tingay)[1]
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenSF (1956)
French OpenF (1957)
WimbledonSF (1951, 1952)
US OpenF (1950)
Team competitions
Davis CupW (1956, 1957)

Herbert Flam (November 7, 1928 – November 25, 1980) was an American tennis player who, in 1957 was ranked by Lance Tingay as the World No. 4 amateur (and World No. 5 by Adrian Quist).[1][2]

Biography

Flam was born in New York City, and was Jewish.[3][4][5] He reached his first Grand Slam final at the U.S. championships in 1950, beating Bill Talbert and Gardnar Mulloy before losing to Art Larsen.[6] That year he was ranked Number 2 in the United States.[7]

In 1951 he won the Ojai Tennis Tournament in men's singles.[8] At Wimbledon 1951 Flam beat Frank Sedgman before losing to Dick Savitt in the semifinals.[9] That year he was ranked Number 4 in the US.[7]

In 1952 at Wimbledon, Flam beat Mulloy and Vic Seixas before losing in the semis to Jaroslav Drobny.[9] That year he was ranked Number 5 in the US.[7] In the 1956 Australian Championships, Flam beat Ashley Cooper before losing in the semifinals to Ken Rosewall.[10][11] In September 1956 Flam won the singles title at the Pacific Southwest Championships, defeating Rosewall in the final in five sets.[12] That year he was ranked Number 2 in the US.[7]

At the 1957 French championships Flam beat Mervyn Rose in a five-set semifinal before losing in straight sets to Sven Davidson in the final.[13] At the U. S. championships, Flam beat Seixas before losing to Cooper in the semi-finals.[13] That year he was ranked Number 2 in the US, behind Seixas.[7]

Flam was inducted into the International Tennis Association Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987,[14] into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1990,[15] into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1992, and into the University of California at Los Angeles Hall of Fame in 2006.[16] In 2017, he was inducted into the Southern California Tennis Association Hall of Fame.[17]

Grand Slam finals

Singles (twice runner-up)

Result Year Championship Surface Opponent Score
Loss1957French ChampionshipsClaySweden Sven Davidson3–6, 4–6, 4–6
Loss1950U.S. National ChampionshipsGrassUnited States Art Larsen3–6, 6–4, 7–5, 4–6, 3–6

See also

References

  1. 1 2 United States Lawn Tennis Association (1972). Official Encyclopedia of Tennis (First Edition), p. 427.
  2. ↑ "Times Have Changed, Says Adrian Quist", The Sydney Morning Herald, 27 October 1957.
  3. ↑ Great Jews in Sports. J. David Publishers. 2000. ISBN 9780824604332.
  4. ↑ Jewish Sports Stars: Athletic Heroes Past and Present. Kar-Ben Publishing ™. January 2014. ISBN 9781512490312.
  5. ↑ Encyclopedia of Jews in Sports. Bloch Publishing Company. 1965.
  6. ↑ G.P. Hughes, ed. (1951). Dunlop Lawn Tennis Annual and Almanack 1951. London: Ed. J. Burrow & Co. Ltd. pp. 181–182, 184.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 "Maintenance Page". www.usta.com.
  8. ↑ "OJAI Records of Events Index" (PDF). The Ojai Tennis Tournament. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 September 2022.
  9. 1 2 "Wimbledon player archive – Herbie Flam". AELTC.
  10. ↑ Collins, Bud (2016). The Bud Collins History of Tennis (3rd ed.). New York: New Chapter Press. p. 385. ISBN 978-1-937559-38-0.
  11. ↑ "Championship tennis". The Argus (Melbourne). 30 January 1956. p. 14 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ↑ G.P. Hughes, ed. (1957). Dunlop Lawn Tennis Annual 1957. London: Ed. J. Burrow & Co. Ltd. p. 262.
  13. 1 2 G.P. Hughes, ed. (1958). Dunlop Lawn Tennis Annual 1958. London: Ed. J. Burrow & Co. Ltd. pp. 201–203, 247–250.
  14. ↑ "ITA Men's Hall of Fame".
  15. ↑ "Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame Home". scjewishsportshof.com.
  16. ↑ Herb Flam Inducted Into UCLA Athletics Hall Of Fame
  17. ↑ "Sampras Webster Headed to SCTA Hall of Fame". UCLA.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.