Gordon Forbes

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For other people with the same name, see Gordon Forbes (disambiguation).

Gordon Forbes
Country (sports)South Africa South Africa
Born(1934-02-21)21 February 1934
Burgersdorp, Cape Province, South Africa
Died9 December 2020(2020-12-09) (aged 86)
Plettenberg Bay, Cape Province, South Africa
PlaysRight-handed
Singles
Career record342-217 (72%)
Career titles16
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open1R (1971)
French Open3R (1955, 1956, 1957, 1959)
Wimbledon4R (1956)
US OpenQF (1962)
Doubles
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open2R (1962)
French OpenF (1963)
WimbledonSF (1963)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
French OpenW (1955)
WimbledonQF (1962)
Team competitions
Davis CupSFEu (1962, 1963)

Gordon Forbes (21 February 1934 – 9 December 2020) was a South African professional tennis player and author. Forbes won the singles title of the South African Championships in 1959 and 1961 and was runner-up in 1955, 1962, 1963 and 1964. He won the Tuscaloosa Grass Court Invitational in 1962, defeating Rod Laver in the final. During the 1950s and 1960s, he was the doubles partner of countryman Abe Segal. They were considered one of the best doubles teams in the world.[1]

Career[edit]

Forbes learnt to play tennis in his childhood on the family farm. At age 12, he played and won his first junior tournament in East London.[2]

Forbes won the singles title of the South African Championships in 1959 and 1961 and was runner-up in 1955, 1962, 1963 and 1964. He won the Tuscaloosa Grass Court Invitational in 1962, defeating reigning U.S. No. 1 Whitney Reed in a marathon semifinal, and World No. 1 Rod Laver in a close four set final. He played for the South African Davis Cup team in 14 ties in the period 1955 to 1963 and compiled a record of 20 wins and 11 losses.

Later life[edit]

After retiring from tennis, Forbes wrote three books about his experiences as a player, his contemporaries in the sport and other tennis topics.[3][4][5] He died from COVID-19 on 9 December 2020, at age 86, during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa.[6]

Grand Slam finals[edit]

Doubles (1 runner-up)[edit]

Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 1963 French Championships Clay South Africa Abe Segal Australia Roy Emerson
Spain Manuel Santana		 2–6, 4–6, 4–6

Mixed doubles (1 title)[edit]

Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1955 French Championships Clay United States Darlene Hard Australia Jenny Staley
Chile Luis Ayala		 5–7, 6–1, 6–2

Bibliography[edit]

  • Forbes, Gordon (1979). A Handful of Summers. Mayflower Books. ISBN 978-0-8317-4362-8.
  • Forbes, Gordon (1995). Too Soon To Panic. Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-86329-7.
  • Forbes, Gordon (2017). I'll Take the Sunny Side: A Memoir. Bookstorm. ISBN 978-1928257448.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Plimpton, George (1992). The Norton Book of Sports. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 205. ISBN 978-0-393-03040-2. Abe Segal.
  2. ^ Forbes, Gordon (1997). A Handful of Summers (1st American ed.). London: HarperCollins. p. 22. ISBN 9780007291304.
  3. ^ Allen, Brook (8 June 1997). "Sports Books in Brief". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 June 2010.
  4. ^ Brent Shearer (6 September 2011). "New York Tennis Magazine's Literary Corner: A Handful of Summers by Gordon Forbes". New York Tennis Magazine.
  5. ^ David Southey (7 November 2017). "SA's raconteur racquet man aces another memoir". Business Day. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  6. ^ "Tennis legend and author Gordon Forbes passes away aged 86". Archived from the original on 11 December 2020. Retrieved 12 February 2021.

External links[edit]

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