William Franklin Talbert was an American tennis player and administrator.
11 Facts About Bill Talbert
1.
2.
Bill Talbert was ranked in the US top 10 from 1941 to 1954, and he was ranked World No 3 in 1949 by John Olliff of The Daily Telegraph.
3.
Bill Talbert won nine Grand Slam doubles titles, and reached the men's doubles finals of the US National Championship nine times, mainly with Gardnar Mulloy, his favorite partner.
4.
Bill Talbert was a Davis Cup player and one of the more successful Davis Cup captains in US history.
5.
Bill Talbert was a Type 1 diabetic, one of the few known to be in sports at a highly competitive level, and for many years he was held up as an example of how this disease could be surmounted.
6.
Bill Talbert's records are for most doubles titles, most total finals appearances, and most singles finals appearances.
7.
Bill Talbert won three singles titles, and his six doubles titles came in 1943,1944,1945,1947,1951 and 1954.
8.
Bill Talbert reached the final of the US Championships in 1944 and 1945.
9.
Bill Talbert won the singles title at the US Clay Court Championships in 1945 defeating Pancho Segura in a five set final, and was a finalist in 1946 and 1943.
10.
Bill Talbert won the Eastern Clay Court Championships in 1949.
11.
Bill Talbert was enshrined into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1967 and was in the first class, along with his former protege Tony Trabert, enshrined into the Cincinnati Tennis Hall of Fame in 2002.