Jews in Tennis and Squash

History of Jews in Tennis and Squash

In this Racket Too
by the Encyclopedia Judaica (CD-ROM Edition)

As most tennis facilities were located in private clubs that barred Jewish membership, progress in this sport was slow. Conditions improved after World War II, as did the rankings of Jewish players. The first Jewish player officially ranked in the United States was Dr. William Rosenbaum (1882-1951) in 1908, and the first to gain the top-ten was Julius Seligson (1909-1987) in 1929. In Europe, Mikhail Stern represented Rumania in the 1922 Davis Cup competition, and in 1928-30 Baron Hubert de Morpurgo (1897- ) of Italy received world ranking. Other players who achieved world ranking included Daniel Prenn (1905- ), 1929 Germany, and 1932 Great Britain, 1934 (doubles); Ladislav Hecht (1910- ), Czechoslovakia, 1934 (doubles), who defeated Britain's Davis Cup player Bunny Austin; Angela Buxton (1934- ) Great Britain, who was a Wimbledon doubles title winner in 1956. Outstanding tennis players also included Abraham Segal (1931- ), South Africa, winner of South African singles championship in 1967; Pierre Darmon (1933- ) France, 1958, 1963-64; Tom ("the Flying Dutchman") Okker (1944- ), Netherlands, Dutch national champion who won the Italian national singles title in 1968; Richard Savitt (1927- ) an American who was Wimbledon champion in 1951 and came out of retirement to win both the singles and doubles championships at the 1961 Maccabiah Games; Herbert Flam (1928- ), who won more top world rankings than any other Jewish tennis player and represented the U.S. Davis Cup team in 1951 and 1952; Americans Barbara Breit, 1955, 1957; Anita Kanter, 1952; and Julie M. Heldman (1945- ), who, as a girl of 12, won her first national title, the Canadian Junior Championship, and later won the Italian National Women's singles title in 1968. Among Israel players of note was Eleazar Davidman.

Americans Julie Heldman (1974), Harold Solomon (1975-77, 1979), Brian Gottfried (1977-79), and Eliot Telscher (1980) were ranked among the world's top ten players. Heldman played in Federation and Wrightman Cup competition and Solomon and Gottfried in Davis Cup play. Solomon was South African Open champion in 1975 and 1976, and Gottfried won the French (1975 and 1977), World (1975) and Wimbledon (1976) doubles championships. Brian Gottfried and Harold Solomon, retired from the professional tour in 1984.

In 1976 Ilana Kloss of South Africa won the French mixed doubles and the United States women's doubles titles. American Bruce Manson won a 1975 Pan-American Games gold medal, and Dana Gilbert the 1978 United States women's Clay Court championship.

American Dick Savitt, 1951 Wimbledon winner, was included in the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1976.

Other Americans Eliot Telscher, Brad Gilbert, Aaron Krickstein, and Jay Berger and Israel's Amos Mansdorf and Argentina's Martin Jaite joined the world's tennis elite in the 1980s. These players and Shlomo Glickstein, Shahar Perkiss, and Gilad Bloom of Israel and Andrew Sznajder of Canada played in Davis Cup competition. Elise Burgin represented the U.S. in Federation Cup play.

American Jim Grabb was a member of the men's doubles combination that won the U.S. Open championship in 1992, and Brad Gilbert won a men's singles bronze medal in the 1988 Olympic Games.

Joseph Cullman III, who helped launch the women's pro tour, was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1992.

National champions in American squash racquets and squash tennis were Victor Niederhoffer, Victor Elmaleh, Abraham M. Sonnabend (1897-1964), Milton Baron, and James Prigoff. Prigoff served as president of the National Squash Tennis Association, and Roger Sonnabend held the same position with the National Squash Racquets Association. Cecil Kaplan, David Duchen, and Jeffery Maisels were South African national champions and internationalists.

The Encyclopedia Judaica CD-ROM contains all the text of the original 16 Keter volumes, the eight yearbooks and the two Ten-Year update volumes. In addition it includes many statistical updates and an interactive time-line. The CD has over 2500 pictures, 100 maps, slideshows, audio, and fifteen minutes of video.