Chuck McKinley
Dallas, Texas, U.S. | |
Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) |
---|---|
Turned pro | 1956 (amateur tour) |
Retired | 1969 |
Plays | Right-handed (one-handed backhand) |
Int. Tennis HoF | 1986 (member page) |
Singles | |
Career record | 358-130 |
Career titles | 28 |
Highest ranking | No. 1 (1963, Ned Potter)[1] |
Grand Slam singles results | |
Wimbledon | W (1963) |
US Open | SF (1962, 1963, 1964) |
Doubles | |
Career record | 4–12 |
Grand Slam doubles results | |
Wimbledon | QF (1961, 1962, 1964) |
US Open | W (1961, 1963, 1964) |
Team competitions | |
Davis Cup | W (1963) |
Charles Robert McKinley Jr. (January 5, 1941 – August 11, 1986) was an American former
McKinley won the
Biography
McKinley was born in
In 1960 McKinley enrolled at
McKinley's decision to play Wimbledon was justified when in 1961, as a college sophomore, he reached the
His intense desire to win, his habit of screaming, "Oh Charley, you missed that one," at himself after a bad shot, and the fact that he drew a four-month suspension for heaving his tennis racket into the crowd at a Davis Cup match,[8] gave him the reputation of the 'bad boy of international tennis.'[9]
In 1963, with Laver in the professional ranks, McKinley won Wimbledon without losing a set.[a] He was helped in this by the fact that favorite Roy Emerson was eliminated by little known German Wilhelm Bungert. After McKinley eliminated Bungert, the press asked the German if he had been tired. “I was tired,” said Bungert, "Tired from those five set matches earlier. And tired from watching McKinley run." According to Time, McKinley played the tournament "with an astounding lack of grace. He leaps, he lunges, he scrambles, he slides, he falls, he dives, he skins his elbows and knees, and he flails at the ball as if he were clubbing a rat. His nerves are as taut as the strings of his racket."[8] In the final, McKinley met Fred Stolle who had beaten McKinley four out of six previous meetings. However, Stolle said "He knocked it down my throat...In the end, I didn't know where to serve or what he was going to do."[8]
In December 1963, McKinley and Dennis Ralston played all of the matches for the U.S. in winning the Davis Cup from Australia. The Australians had not lost the cup for four years and did not relinquish it again for another four. In the decisive match, McKinley defeated a young John Newcombe, who was 19 at the time.
After graduation from Trinity, McKinley chose not to go into professional tennis, and he became a stockbroker in New York City. He died in 1986 in Dallas, Texas of a brain tumor at the age of 45.[12][13] McKinley has been elected to the Trinity University Hall of Fame and to the International Tennis Hall of Fame.[14]
The tennis courts at Pattonville High School in Maryland Heights, Missouri, the school he attended, are named after him.
Playing style
McKinley was not tall. He stood 5'8” and weighed 160 pounds. McKinley did not use off speed shots but relied instead on a power game. According to a Sports Illustrated, “Not in years has an American fledgling combined so much box-office appeal with so much pure ability – or crashed the tight little world of big-time tennis with so much confidence. 'If I didn't think I could be the best tennis player in the world,' Chuck McKinley says, 'I don't think I'd want to play.'" Bill Talbert described the young McKinley by saying, "There is nothing he can't do on the court. He has all the strokes. He's fast. He's strong. He has marvelous reflexes. He has the eyes of a hawk—sees the ball as well as anyone in the game."[4]
Grand Slam finals
Singles (1 title, 1 runner-up)
Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Opponent | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Loss | 1961 | Wimbledon |
Grass | Rod Laver | 3–6, 1–6, 4–6 |
Win | 1963 | Wimbledon | Grass | Fred Stolle | 9–7, 6–1, 6–4 |
Doubles (3 titles, 1 runner-up)
Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Win | 1961 | U.S. Championships | Grass | Dennis Ralston | Rafael Osuna Antonio Palafox |
6–3, 6–4, 2–6, 13–11 |
Loss | 1962 | U.S. Championships | Grass | Dennis Ralston | Rafael Osuna Antonio Palafox |
4–6, 12–10, 6–1, 7–9, 3–6 |
Win | 1963 | U.S. Championships | Grass | Dennis Ralston | Rafael Osuna Antonio Palafox |
9–7, 4–6, 5–7, 6–3, 11–9 |
Win | 1964 | U.S. Championships | Grass | Dennis Ralston | Mike Sangster Graham Stilwell |
6–3, 6–2, 6–4 |
Grand Slam tournament performance timeline
W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |
Singles
Tournament | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | SR |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Australian Open | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 0 |
French Open | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 0 |
Wimbledon
|
A | A | A | 2R | F | 2R | W | SF | A | A | A | A | A | 1 / 5 |
US Open | 2R | 2R | 4R | QF | 3R | SF | SF | SF | 4R | 4R | 1R | 3R | 1R | 0 / 13 |
Strike rate | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 2 | 1 / 2 | 0 / 2 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 0 / 1 | 1 / 18 |
Notes
- ^ McKinley is to date one of only five men who have won the Wimbledon singles title without dropping a set, the others being Don Budge (1938), Tony Trabert (1955), Björn Borg (1976) and Roger Federer (2017).[10][11]
References
- ^ "The Miami Herald, 23 October 1963". newspapers.com.
- ^ Potter, Edward C. (November 1963). "The World's First Tens Of 1963". World Tennis. Vol. 11, no. 6. New York. p. 15.
- ^ "Around the World..." World Tennis. Vol. 11, no. 9. New York. February 1964. p. 80.
- ^ a b Kenneth Rudeen (May 16, 1960). "Little Man with a Big Wallop". Sports Illustrated. 12 (20): 34, 36.
- Daytona Beach Morning Journal. AP. August 14, 1961. p. 13 – via Google News Archive.
- ^ John Leusch (July 13, 1964). "Clay courts tournament opens today". Chicago Tribune. p. 54.
- ^ "McKinley Wins Indoor Tennis". Chicago Tribune. UPI. p. 45.
- ^ a b c "Tennis: One for the Yanks". Time. Vol. 82, no. 2. Time Inc. July 12, 1963.
- ^ John Lovesey (July 15, 1963). "Better than fancy pants". Sports Illustrated. 19 (3): 12–15.
- AELTC.
- ^ "Federer finishes flawless run to win Wimbledon". July 16, 2017.
- ^ International Tennis Hall of Fame, Profile of Charles McKinley
- ^ Peter Alfano (August 12, 1986). "Chuck McKinley Dies at 45; Won Wimbledon Title in '63". The New York Times.
- ^ Trinity University Athletics Hall of Fame