Cliff Drysdale

Cliff Drysdale was a dominate figure in the professional tennis landscape throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s. The South African native was ranked as high as #4 in the world in 1965 by The Daily Telegraph. Drysdale won consecutive Dutch Open championships in ’63 and ’64 and in ’65 won the German Championships in singles. In his Open era career, Drysdale was a superb doubles player capturing 6 titles in all, including a doubles win at the 1972 US Open with partner Roger Taylor. He also won 5 singles titles throughout the Open era campaign and had a career best runner up finish in the ’65 US Open. After his playing career, Drysdale was named President of the Association of Tennis Professionals and elected into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2013. Drysdale has spent much of his retired career as a tennis commentator for ESPN.