Stan Smith

At 77 years old, Stan Smith has this physical status:

Smith grew up in Pasadena, California and was coached mainly by Pancho Segura. He played collegiate tennis at the University of Southern California (USC), under Coach George Toley, where he was a three-time All-American and won the 1968 NCAA Singles Championship as well as the 1967 and 1968 doubles titles. At USC, Smith was a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity's Gamma Tau chapter.

As a kid, he went to get a job as a ball boy for the Davis Cup, but was turned down because the organizers thought he was too clumsy.

In 1971 Smith and John Newcombe were joint recipients of The Martini and Rossi Award, voted for by 11 journalists and were co-ranked world No. 1 by Judith Elian. In 1972 Smith won the 'Martini and Rossi' Award, voted for by a panel of journalists and was ranked world No. 1 by Elian, Tingay, World Tennis, Collins, Frank Rostron and Rex Bellamy.

In his 1979 testing autobiography, Jack Kramer, the long-time tennis promoter and great player himself, ranked Smith as one of the 21 best players of all time.

In 2005, TENNIS magazine ranked Smith as 35th in its "40 Greatest Players of the TENNIS Era".

Smith was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987.

Following his playing career, Smith became active as a coach for the United States Tennis Association. He has his own tennis academy with Billy Stearns, located on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.

In 1974, Smith married Princeton University tennis player Marjory Gengler. They later mentored South African tennis player Mark Mathabane, helping increase pressure on the South African government to end apartheid. Smith lives in Hilton Head with his wife and four children, all of whom competed in collegiate tennis.

Career finals

Note: Smith won 10 titles before the Open Era

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