Dick Savitt was mostly ranked world No 2 the same year behind fellow amateur Frank Sedgman, though was declared world No 1 by The New York Times following his Wimbledon victory.
27 Facts About Dick Savitt
2.
Dick Savitt retired the following year to concentrate on a career in business.
3.
Dick Savitt is one of four American men who have won both the Australian and British Championships in one year, following Don Budge and preceding Jimmy Connors and Pete Sampras.
4.
Dick Savitt won gold medals in both singles and men's doubles at the 1961 Maccabiah Games in Israel.
5.
Dick Savitt is enshrined in the International Tennis Hall of Fame, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Men's Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame, the USTA Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame, the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, and the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
6.
Dick Savitt taught himself tennis at the age of 14, but never took a tennis lesson in his life.
7.
Dick Savitt's first love was basketball, though, and when his family moved to Texas, he was an All-State forward and a co-captain of El Paso High School, his El Paso, Texas high school basketball team in 1944.
8.
Dick Savitt ranked in the world's top 10 four times between 1951 and 1957 ; and in the US top 10 six times between 1950 and 1959.
9.
Dick Savitt won the 1952,1958, and 1961 USLTA National Indoor Championships, becoming the first player to win that crown three times, and won the Italian doubles.
10.
Dick Savitt won the Canadian singles and doubles championships in 1952.
11.
Dick Savitt won the Australian Open Singles title, winning in straight sets in the 61-minute final.
12.
Dick Savitt became the first American since Don Budge, 13 years earlier, to win both Wimbledon and the Australian Open in one season.
13.
Dick Savitt became the first Jewish player to win either tournament.
14.
Dick Savitt made it to the semifinals of the Australian Open in January 1952.
15.
Dick Savitt won the Canadian singles and doubles championships in 1952, defeating Kurt Nielsen in the singles final in three straight sets.
16.
Dick Savitt had played and won his three early 1951 matches in an exhibition against the Australian Davis Cup team, winning 9 of 10 sets as the American team beat Australia in the event.
17.
Dick Savitt had defeated Australia's best player, Frank Sedgman, in the 1951 Australian Open.
18.
Dick Savitt was ranked the No 2 player in the US by the US Lawn Tennis Association, behind Vic Seixas and directly ahead of Tony Trabert.
19.
Dick Savitt later explained that there was insufficient money in the amateur game to support his needs, requiring him to pursue his business career.
20.
Dick Savitt did not believe that anti-Semitism was the cause of his problems with Shields.
21.
Dick Savitt had beaten Shields badly in the quarterfinals of the New Jersey State Championships in 1948.
22.
Dick Savitt returned to the competitive tennis scene part-time in 1956.
23.
Dick Savitt was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1976.
24.
Dick Savitt was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1979.
25.
Dick Savitt was inducted into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Men's Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame in 1986.
26.
Dick Savitt was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1998, and into the USTA Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame in 1999.
27.
Dick Savitt then worked for Lehman Brothers on Wall Street, and in 1985 joined Schroders.