1. William Tatem Tilden II, nicknamed "Big Bill", was an American tennis player.
33 Facts About Bill Tilden
1. 2.
Bill Tilden was the world No 1 amateur for six consecutive years, from 1920 to 1925, and was ranked as the world No 1 professional by Ray Bowers in 1931 and 1932 and Ellsworth Vines in 1933.
3.
Bill Tilden was the first American man to win Wimbledon, first claiming the title in 1920.
4.
Bill Tilden won a joint-record seven US Championships titles.
5.
Bill Tilden dominated the world of international tennis in the first half of the 1920s, and during his 20-year amateur period from 1911 to 1930, won 138 of 192 tournaments he contested.
6.
Bill Tilden owns a number of all-time tennis achievements, including the career match-winning record and the career winning percentage at the US Championships.
7.
At the 1929 US National Championships, Bill Tilden became the first player to reach ten finals at the same Grand Slam event.
8.
Bill Tilden, who was frequently at odds with the rigid United States Lawn Tennis Association about his amateur status and income derived from newspaper articles, won his last Grand Slam event in 1930 at Wimbledon at the age of 37.
9.
Bill Tilden turned professional at the end of that year and toured with other professionals for the next 15 years.
10.
Bill Tilden's father was William Tatem Tilden, a wool merchant and local politician; and his mother, Selina Hey, was a pianist.
11.
In spite of his worldwide travels, Bill Tilden lived at his aunt's house until 1941, when he was 48 years old.
12.
Bill Tilden was initially home-schooled by his overprotective mother and a team of private tutors; but, in 1908, he went to Germantown Academy.
13.
Bill Tilden went to the prep school Germantown Academy where he wasn't known for his tennis nor was he eventually good enough to play on his college team.
14.
Bill Tilden won six consecutive US singles championships from 1920 to 1925 and seven in total, making him the co-record holder with Richard Sears and Bill Larned.
15.
Bill Tilden had long been at odds with the rigid amateur directors of the United States Lawn Tennis Association about his income derived from newspaper articles about tennis.
16.
Bill Tilden won his last major championship at Wimbledon in 1930 at the age of 37, but was no longer able to win titles at will.
17.
Bill Tilden was ranked world No 1 pro by Ray Bowers in 1931 and 1932 and Ellsworth Vines in 1933.
18.
Bill Tilden thought he reached the apogee of his whole career in 1934 at 41 years old; nevertheless, that year he was dominated in the pro ranks by Ellsworth Vines.
19.
Bill Tilden lost easily to Don Budge in the 1941 World Series.
20.
Bill Tilden returned to pro tennis briefly in 1948, playing a short series of matches against Wayne Sabin.
21.
Bill Tilden faced George Lyttleton Rogers in a tour in April and May Tilden lost in the quarterfinals to Frank Kovacs at the Cleveland tournament in June 1951.
22.
Bill Tilden coached Germany's tennis team in the 1937 Davis Cup.
23.
Bill Tilden is considered by some to be the greatest tennis player of all time.
24.
An extended Danzig encomium to Bill Tilden's tennis appears in the July 11,1946 issue of The Times, in which he reports on a 1920s-evoking performance in the first two sets of a five-set loss by the 53-year-old Bill Tilden to Wayne Sabin, at the 1946 Professional Championship at Forest Hills.
25.
Bill Tilden was one of the most famous athletes in the world for many years.
26.
Bill Tilden was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1959.
27.
Bill Tilden was arrested again in January 1949 after picking up a 16-year-old hitchhiker who remained anonymous until years later when he filed a lawsuit claiming he had suffered severe mental, physical, and emotional damage from the encounter.
28.
Bill Tilden was unable to give lessons at most clubs and even on public courts, he had fewer clients.
29.
Bill Tilden had been born to wealth, and he earned large sums of money during his long career, particularly in his early years on the pro tour; he spent it lavishly, keeping a suite at the Algonquin Hotel in New York City.
30.
Bill Tilden died in his apartment at 2025 North Argyle in Los Angeles, California.
31.
Bill Tilden was preparing to leave for the United States Professional Championship tournament in Cleveland, Ohio in 1953 when he died from heart complications at age 60.
32.
Bill Tilden was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island in 1959.
33.
Bill Tilden joined professional tennis in 1931, making him then ineligible to compete in Grand Slam tournaments.