Ellsworth Vines


Henry Ellsworth Vines Jr. was an American tennis champion of the 1930s, the World No. 1 player or the co-No. 1 for four years in 1932, 1935, 1936 and 1937, able to win Pro Slam titles on three different surfaces. He later became a professional golfer, and won three titles on the PGA Tour.

Career

Amateur

Vines attended the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California, where he was a member of the Sigma Nu Fraternity and played on the freshman basketball team. Many believe that Mercer Beasley started him on his tennis career at age 14 in Pasadena. He was mentored by Perry T. Jones through the Los Angeles Tennis Club and the Southern California Tennis Association.
;1931
Vines was still 19 when he won his first Grand Slam singles title, the U.S. Championships, beating George Lott in the final in four sets. Vines played "erratically throughout the major part of match, but his brilliant placements and cannonball service were sufficient to overcome Lott's steadier volleying and effective service", according to The Daily News . Trailing 5-2 in the fourth set, Vines won five consecutive games to close out the match.
;1932
At Wimbledon Championships in 1932, Vines beat Bunny Austin easily in the final and the winning ace was hit so hard, Austin claimed he couldn't see it. At the U.S. Championships in 1932, Vines beat Clifford Sutter in the semi finals in five long sets when he came very close to defeat.. He then beat Henri Cochet in the final to retain his title.
;1933
1933 was a poor year for Vines. One of his most surprising losses was to young Australian player Vivian McGrath in the Australian championships quarter finals. Vines reached the final of Wimbledon in 1933, but lost a classic five set battle to Jack Crawford. It was a "Wimbledon final that produced some of the greatest tennis in the history of the world famous tournament" and "the crowd gave Crawford one of the longest, wildest cheers that ever has echoed through Wimbledon". At the US Championships, Vines lost in the fourth round to Bryan Grant.

Professional

;1934
Vines played his first professional tennis match on January 10, 1934 and then became the leading pro player until 1938. In his first World series tour, Vines overcame the 41 year old Bill Tilden. From May to June, Vines participated in the US tournament circuit. Vines won tournaments at New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Cleveland, beating Tilden in each of these events. Then Vines lost in the semi finals at Detroit to Karel Kozeluh and didn't play in the remaining events of the tour at Milwaukee and St. Louis. At the US Pro in Chicago, Vines lost surprisingly in the semi finals to Hans Nusslein. At Wembley, Vines won the title in a round robin that also featured Nusslein, Tilden, Martin Plaa, Bruce Barnes and Dan Maskell. Then Vines won in Paris beating Nusslein in the final.
;1935
Vines beat Lester Stoefen in the World series. At the French Pro at Roland Garros, Vines beat Nusslein in the final. Vines then won the tournament at Southport beating Tilden. Vines then won tournaments at Deauville and La Baule. However, he surprisingly lost to Robert Ramillon at a tournament at Le Touquet. At Wembley, Vines trailed Stoefen 4-1 in the fifth set in the semi finals but won in five sets and beat Tilden in five sets in the final.
;1936
Over the next three years, Vines concentrated on playing tours and did not enter tournaments. He beat Stoefen to win the 1936 World series. In November, he toured Asia with Tilden and won the tour easily.
;1937
1937 featured the first of the Vines-Perry World Series tours. 1937 was a very successful tour, grossing $412,000. The result was still in doubt until the penultimate match, when Vines beat Perry at Hershey. Vines then won the final match of the series at Scranton to win the series 32-29. Touring UK and Ireland, Perry won a short series against Vines, including winning two of the three matches at Wembley, where they played for the King George VI Coronation Cup.
;1938
The 1938 World Series was another tough battle. After coming back from four match points down to win at Richmond on 8th May, Vines said "I've got a good lead over that guy and I'm going to keep it just to prove once and for all who's No 1 man" and "if Budge turns pro next year I want to be the one to play against him because that's where the money will be. After this tour ends there'll be no doubt who's the better man between me and Perry". Vines won the series 49-35. In November, Vines and Perry toured South and Central America and won four matches each.
;1939
In 1939 Vines lost his world pro crown to Don Budge but narrowly: in their first pro tour against each other, Vines trailed Budge 17–22. The tour proved that at his best Vines was unbeatable, but also that Budge's consistency would prevail a majority of the time, making the latter the best player of the time. Touring Europe with Tilden and Stoefen in the summer, Budge won the tour and beat Vines more comfortably than he had done in the World Series. Vines lost in the final at Roland Garros to Budge. At the knock-out event at Southport, Vines lost in the semi finals to Nusslein. Vines, by now, was losing interest in tennis and was turning his attention more and more to golf. His final title came at the US Pro, where he beat Perry in the final in four sets.
;1940
In April 1940 Vines, at 28 years old, played his last tennis competition at the West Coast professional tennis tournament in Los Angeles. His physical problems, his desire to enjoy family life, his loss of the world crown, and above all his increasing passion for golf drove him to retire from tennis.
Vines' career earnings as of May 1938 were reported to be $185,000.

Abilities

Comparing Vines and Fred Perry after the 1939 tours, Budge wrote,
Years later, Budge deemed that the world's all-time best player had been Ellsworth Vines, "on his day". Budge was always astonished when someone had not ever heard of Vines whom he considered as the champion of the 1930s. In the opinion of Jack Kramer, himself a great player, Vines was, along with Don Budge, one of the two greatest players who ever lived. Budge was consistently the best, according to Kramer's 1979 autobiography, but, at the very top of his game, Vines was unbeatable by anyone:
Tall and thin, Vines possessed a game with no noticeable weaknesses, except, according to Kramer, because of his great natural athletic ability, laziness. He was particularly known for his powerful forehand and his very fast serve, both of which he generally hit absolutely flat with no spin. Although he could play the serve-and-volley game, he generally played an all-court game, preferring to hit winners from the baseline. Playing in the white flannel trousers that were standard dress for the time, he greatly impressed the youthful Kramer in a 1935 match in Southern California:
Kramer made up his mind on the spot to concentrate on tennis. Vines had, according to Kramer,

In his chapter on 1932, Bud Collins writes in that Vines...
Collins goes on to say that:
After becoming bored with tennis while only in his late twenties, Vines became a professional golfer in 1942 and over the years had a number of high finishes in tournaments, including at least two professional victories and a semifinal position in the prestigious 1951 PGA Championship when it was a match play tournament. Writes Kramer,
He compares Vines to another great tennis player, Lew Hoad:
Vines was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1962.

Tennis

Major finals

Grand Slam tournaments

Singles (3 titles, 1 runner-up)

Doubles (2 titles)

Pro Slam tournaments

Singles (4 titles, 1 runner-up)

Golf

Tournament wins

Note: Vines did not play in The Open Championship.
NT = no tournament
"T" indicates a tie for a place
R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = round in which player lost in match play
Source for The Masters:
Source for U.S. Open and U.S. Amateur:
Source for PGA Championship:
Source for 1939 Amateur Championship: