Ultimate Goals

CB27 · 1414070. Thu Jun 30, 2022 7:35 am

What year did Stanley Matthews in at Wimbledon?

Klaxons for 1953 or various other years when Sir Stanley Matthews won trophies in Wembley, because the question is about Wimbledon.

The answer is 1962, and refers to his son, also called Stanley Matthews, who won the Wimbledon Boys' Singles tournament, and was the last British boy to win this trophy (Gerald Battrick, Buster Mottram, James Bailey and Andy Murray have all won Boys' titles at other grand slams).

Matthews never converted his success to the senior tour, but the trophy he's won has since been won by the likes of Bjorn Borg, Ivan Lendl, Pat Cash, Stefan Edberg and Roger Federer, so he's among very illustrious company.

suze · 1414091. Thu Jun 30, 2022 11:52 am

Mr Matthews did play a bit on the main circuit (not officially professional until 1968, but this is a polite fiction).

He played in the main draw at Wimbledon eleven times, although he only ever won two matches there. One of those was against an Italian named Sergio Tacchini, who became much better known for his sportswear business than he ever was as a journeyman tennisist. He also beat a then-little known Romanian named Ilie Năstase in the first riund at Roland Garros in 1969.

Mr Matthews retired from professional tennis at the age of 27 and went into business. He is now the owner (and more-or-less-retired manager) of a tennis club in Connecticut.

CB27 · 1414096. Thu Jun 30, 2022 12:14 pm

When I said he never converted his success, I meant in winning a grand slam. The best he managed was round 2, which might not sound like much, but I'd wager it's probably a lot better than any of us on this board could have managed in our prime :)

crissdee · 1414120. Thu Jun 30, 2022 3:58 pm

As I believe I mentioned once before, a blind, one-legged, one-armed person who knew all (any of) the rules would be seeded higher than me.....

Alexander Howard · 1414124. Thu Jun 30, 2022 4:41 pm

AlmondFacialBar · 1416808. Wed Aug 17, 2022 8:49 am