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American tennis player
William 'Bill' Jackson Clothier
(September 27, 1881 ? September 4, 1962) was an American
tennis player
.
Biography
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]
William J. Clothier was a top American tennis player in the early 1900s and reached the singles final of the
United States Championships
three times. In his first final appearance in 1904 he lost in three straight sets to compatriot
Holcombe Ward
. Two years later, in 1906, Clothier achieved his greatest success by emphatically beating
Beals Wright
in the final in three straight sets at the
Newport Casino
. This despite breaking his pelvic bone in a riding accident earlier that year.
[2]
His last appearance in the final came in 1909 when he lost in five sets to
William Larned
who claimed his fifth singles title.
[3]
Clothier won the intercollegiate tennis singles and doubles championship in 1902 playing for Harvard, where he was a three sport athlete and also played hockey and football.
He was a member of the winning USA
Davis Cup
Team in 1905 and 1909 and won both his singles matches in the 1909 final against the
British Isles
.
[4]
Together with his son, William J. Clothier II, they two won the national father-son title held at Longwood Cricket Club twice in 1935 and 1936.
[5]
Clothier was inducted into the
International Tennis Hall of Fame
in 1956 and was elected its first President in 1954, a position he held until 1957.
[1]
Clothier also played amateur
ice hockey
from 1900 to 1904 with the
Quaker City Hockey Club
in Philadelphia and the
Harvard Crimson
intercollegiate team in
Cambridge
,
Massachusetts
.
Clothier is interred in the family plot at
West Laurel Hill Cemetery
, Summit Section, in
Bala Cynwyd
, Pennsylvania.
Playing style
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]
In their book
R.F. and H.L. Doherty - On Lawn Tennis (1903)
multiple Wimbledon champions Reginald and Lawrence Doherty described Clothier's playing style:
Clothier has copied
Whitman
, but is not so good. His twist service is much the same as Whitman's, and he always follows it up to the net, He volleys well, and is especially severe overhead. His volleying is considerably superior to his ground strokes.
On Lawn Tennis
- 1903
[6]
Grand Slam finals
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Singles (1 title, 2 runners-up)
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Mixed doubles: (1 runner-up)
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References
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External links
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