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Mark Cox (tennis)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mark Cox
Country (sports)United Kingdom United Kingdom
Born (1943-07-05) 5 July 1943 (age 81)
Leicester, England
Height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Turned pro1970 (amateur from 1958)
Retired1981
PlaysLeft-handed (one-handed backhand)
Singles
Career record593–370 (61.5%) in pre Open-Era & Open Era[1]
Career titles24[1][2][3]
Highest rankingNo. 12 (3 October 1977)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenQF (1967, 1971)
French Open3R (1968)
Wimbledon4R (1968, 1977, 1979)
US OpenQF (1966)
Other tournaments
WCT FinalsQF (1975)
Doubles
Career record142–157 (Open era)
Career titles3 (Open era)
Team competitions
Davis CupF (1978)

Mark Cox (born 5 July 1943) is a former tennis player from England, who played professional and amateur tennis in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He was ranked as high as world No. 12 on the ATP rankings, achieving that ranking in October 1977.

Education

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Cox was educated at Wyggeston Grammar School in Leicester and Millfield School in Somerset. He obtained an economics undergraduate degree from Downing College, Cambridge, where he was a member of the Cambridge University Lawn Tennis Club.

Career

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Cox played his first tournament on 3 November 1958 at the Torquay Indoor Championship.[4] During his career, he won twenty-four singles titles[4][2][3] and three doubles titles spanning both the pre-Open Era and Open Era, and reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. National Championships (in 1966) and the Australian Open (in 1971). He also played for Great Britain's Davis Cup team, and was on the team that reached the 1978 final against the United States.[5]

Following the establishment of the Open Era in men's tennis in 1968, Cox went down in history as the first amateur player to beat a professional when he defeated the American Pancho Gonzales in the first round of the British Hard Court Championships at Bournemouth in May of that year, in a match that went to five sets and lasted two and a quarter hours.[6][7] Cox also achieved big upset wins over No. 1 seed, Rod Laver, at the 1971 Australian Open,[8] and over No. 2 seed, Ken Rosewall, at the 1972 US Open.[9] Cox also defeated future world No. 1 Jimmy Connors in his debut Grand Slam match at the 1970 US Open.

Some of Cox's finest victories came relatively late in his career; a notable moment was at the 1976 Stockholm Open, when at the age of 33 he won the title after knocking out Connors and Manuel Orantes (respectively the reigning and previous US Open champions) in succession. Although able to win on all surfaces he was especially adept at playing on indoor carpet courts, and was the last British player to win back-to-back professional titles (at the Washington Indoor WCT and London WCT events in 1975) until Andy Murray repeated the feat in 2008.[10] To date, Cox is also the last English-born male to win a top level UK tournament on grass (Eastbourne in 1973). After his final title in 1977 it would take another 17 years for a British player to win a top-level tour title (Jeremy Bates at Seoul in 1994). Cox retired from playing in 1981, losing to Yannick Noah in his last ever competitive match at that year's Paris Indoor Open.[11] During his latter playing years and after his retirement, Cox worked as a coach and also as a television commentator for the BBC.

Personal life

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Cox is a Patron of a charity "CRY" (Cardiac Risk in the Young) and an ambassador for the Win Tennis Academy at Bisham. He lives with his wife Susie in London.[citation needed]

Career finals

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Singles: 42 (24 titles, 18 runner-ups)

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Finals by surface
Hard (7–5)
Grass (4–4)
Clay (3–6)
Carpet (10–3)
Result No. Year Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Loss 1. 1962 Budleigh Salterton, England Grass United Kingdom Jaroslav Drobny 4–6, 6–0, 2–6[2]
Loss 2. 1962 Eastbourne, England Grass United Kingdom Roger Becker 6–4, 2–6, 4–6[2]
Loss 3. 1963 Manly, Australia Grass Australia Martin Mulligan 2–6, 2–6[12]
Win 1. 1963 Eastbourne, England Grass Australia Warren Jacques 1–6, 7–5, 6–2[3]
Loss 4. 1965 Chingford, England Clay United Kingdom Bobby Wilson 2–6, 6–8[2]
Win 2. 1966 Baltimore, U.S. Grass United States Jim McManus 6–3, 6–2, 6–3[12]
Loss 5. 1967 East London, South Africa Clay Netherlands Tom Okker 7–9, 5–7[12]
Win 3. 1968 San Juan, Puerto Rico Hard United States Allen Fox 6–2, 6–1, 4–6, 2–6, 6–2[12]
Open era
Loss 6. 1968 London, England Carpet (i) United States Stan Smith 4–6, 4–6[12]
Win 4. 1968 Eastbourne, England Grass Australia Owen Davidson 6–4, 6–4[12]
Win 5. 1968 Istanbul, Turkey Clay Chile Patricio Rodríguez 6–3, 6–3, 2–6, 6–4[12]
Win 6. 1968 Perth, Scotland Carpet (i) South Africa Bob Hewitt 6–3, 6–4[12]
Win 7. 1969 Bloemfontein, South Africa Hard South Africa Bob Maud 6–2, 7–5[12]
Loss 7. 1968 Buffalo, New York, U.S. Hard (i) United States Clark Graebner 8–6, 9–7, 6–2[12]
Loss 8. 1969 Macon, U.S. Carpet (i) Spain Manuel Orantes 8–10, 5–7, 6–4, 7–9[12]
Loss 9. 1969 Caracas, Venezuela Clay Brazil Thomaz Koch 6–8, 3–6, 6–2, 4–6[12]
Loss 10. 1969 Willemstad, Curaçao Clay United States Cliff Richey 4–6, 3–6, 3–6[12]
Win 8. 1969 Charlotte, U.S. Clay Czechoslovakia Jan Kodeš 13–11, 6–2[12][13]
Win 9. 1969 Stalybridge, England Carpet (i) South Africa Bob Hewitt 6–4, 6–3[12]
Win 10. 1969 Torquay, England Hard (i) United Kingdom John Clifton 8–6, 6–3[12]
Win 11. 1969 London, England Carpet (i) South Africa Bob Hewitt 4–6, 9–7, 6–2[12]
Win 12. 1969 Perth, Scotland Carpet (i) Egypt Ismail El Shafei 3–6, 14–12, 6–1[12]
Win 13. 1970 Hutt Valley, Australia Hard New Zealand Brian Fairlie 6–2, 6–4
Win 14. 1970 Bournemouth, England Clay South Africa Bob Hewitt 6–1, 6–2, 6–3
Loss 11. 1971 Midland, U.S. Hard Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Nikola Pilić 6–7, 6–7, 3–6[2]
Win 15. 1972 Macon WCT, U.S. Carpet (i) Australia Roy Emerson 6–3, 6–7, 6–3
Loss 12. 1972 Louisville WCT, U.S. Clay United States Arthur Ashe 4–6, 4–6
Win 16. 1972 Cleveland WCT, U.S. Hard Australia Ray Ruffels 6–3, 4–6, 4–6, 6–3, 6–4
Loss 13. 1973 London WCT, England Hard (i) New Zealand Brian Fairlie 6–2, 2–6, 2–6, 6–7
Win 17. 1973 Denver WCT, U.S. Carpet (i) United States Arthur Ashe 6–1, 6–1
Win 18. 1973 Eastbourne, England Grass France Patrice Dominguez 6–2, 2–6, 6–3
Win 19. 1973 Dublin, Ireland Hard South Africa John Yuill 7–5, 3–6, 11–9[2]
Loss 14. 1974 Bologna WCT, Italy Carpet (i) United States Arthur Ashe 4–6, 5–7
Loss 15. 1974 London WCT, England Hard (i) Sweden Björn Borg 7–6, 6–7, 4–6
Win 20. 1975 Washington Indoor WCT, U.S. Carpet (i) United States Dick Stockton 6–2, 7–6
Win 21. 1975 London WCT, England Carpet (i) New Zealand Brian Fairlie 6–1, 7–5
Win 22. 1975 Atlanta WCT, U.S. Carpet (i) Australia John Alexander 6–3, 7–6
Win 23. 1976 Stockholm, Sweden Hard (i) Spain Manuel Orantes 4–6, 7–5, 7–6
Win 24. 1977 Helsinki, Finland Carpet (i) Sweden Kjell Johansson 6–3, 6–3
Loss 16. 1977 Queen's Club, England Grass Mexico Raúl Ramírez 7–9, 5–7
Loss 17. 1977 Cincinnati, U.S. Clay United States Harold Solomon 2–6, 3–6
Loss 18. 1980 Stuttgart, West Germany Hard (i) Czechoslovakia Tomáš Šmíd 1–6, 3–6, 7–5, 6–1, 4–6

Doubles: 11 (3 titles, 8 runner-ups)

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Result No. Year Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 1. 1973 Copenhagen, Denmark Carpet (i) United Kingdom Graham Stilwell United States Erik van Dillen
United States Tom Gorman
4–6, 4–6
Win 1. 1973 Cologne, West Germany Carpet (i) United Kingdom Graham Stilwell Netherlands Tom Okker
United States Marty Riessen
7–6, 6–3
Win 2. 1973 London, England Carpet (i) Australia Owen Davidson United Kingdom Gerald Battrick
United Kingdom Graham Stilwell
6–4, 8–6
Loss 2. 1974 Denver WCT, U.S. Carpet (i) Japan Jun Kamiwazumi United States Arthur Ashe
United States Roscoe Tanner
3–6, 6–7
Loss 3. 1975 San Antonio WCT, U.S. Hard South Africa Cliff Drysdale Australia John Alexander
Australia Phil Dent
6–7, 6–4, 4–6
Loss 4. 1975 Memphis, U.S. Carpet (i) South Africa Cliff Drysdale United States Erik van Dillen
United States Dick Stockton
6–1, 5–7, 4–6
Loss 5. 1975 Atlanta WCT, U.S. Carpet (i) South Africa Cliff Drysdale India Anand Amritraj
India Vijay Amritraj
3–6, 2–6
Loss 6. 1975 World Doubles WCT, Mexico Carpet (i) South Africa Cliff Drysdale United States Brian Gottfried
Mexico Raúl Ramírez
6–7, 7–6, 2–6, 6–7
Loss 7. 1976 Washington WCT, U.S. Carpet South Africa Cliff Drysdale United States Eddie Dibbs
United States Harold Solomon
4–6, 5–7
Loss 8. 1977 London WCT, England Hard (i) United States Eddie Dibbs Romania Ilie Năstase
Italy Adriano Panatta
6–7, 7–6, 3–6
Win 3. 1977 Basel, Switzerland Carpet (i) United Kingdom Buster Mottram United Kingdom John Feaver
Australia John James
7–5, 6–4, 6–3

References

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  1. ^ a b "Mark Cox: Career match record". thetennisbase.com. Tennismem SL. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Mark Cox [GBR] - Titles/Finals". tennisabstract.com. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
  3. ^ a b c "Cox Rallies to Beat Australian". Liverpool Daily Post. 16 September 1963. p. 8.
  4. ^ a b "Mark Cox: Tournament activity/results". thetennisbase.com. Tennismem SL. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
  5. ^ Wilmington Morning Star. "Davis Cup players named". 17 November 1978, p. 3-C. Retrieved on 15 July 2013.
  6. ^ Spartanburg Herald-Journal. "Mark Cox Is Tennis Champ". 3 May 1970, p. B4. Retrieved on 15 July 2013.
  7. ^ Montreal Gazette. He followed this up for good measure by beating two times Wimbledon Champion Roy Emerson in the next round. "British Tennis Amateur Mark Cox Upsets U.S. Pro Pancho Gonzales". Associated Press, 25 April 1968, p. 14. Retrieved on 15 July 2013.
  8. ^ Stone, Peter. "Laver leaves tired, beaten". The Age, 12 March 1971, p. 24. Retrieved on 15 July 2013.
  9. ^ Times Daily (Florence, South Carolina). "The 'Giant Killer': Mark Cox Upsets Rosewall In U.S. Open Tennis Play". Associated Press, 3 September 1972, p. 16. Retrieved on 15 July 2013.
  10. ^ "Mark Cox". atptour.com. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  11. ^ "1981 Paris – Singles draw". Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r "Mark Cox: Tournament results titles/finals". thetennisbase.com. Tennismem SL. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
  13. ^ "Britain's Cox Wins Charlotte Tennis Tourney". The Shreveport Journal. Shreveport, Louisiana: The Wikipedia Library - newspapers.com. 14 April 1969. p. 18. Retrieved 10 November 2024.
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