Name Alex Olmedo Turned pro 1960 Role Tennis player Retired 1977 | Career record 64–50 Height 1.79 m Highest ranking No. Australian Open W (1959) Grand slams won (singles) 2 | |
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Full name Alejandro Rodriguez Olmedo Born March 24, 1936 (age 88)
Arequipa, Peru ( 1936-03-24 ) Plays Right-handed (one-handed backhand) Education University of Southern California | ||
Country (sports) Peru
United States Int. Tennis HoF 1987 (member page) | ||
Alex Olmedo, un tenista arequipeño reconocido
Alejandro "Alex" Olmedo Rodríguez (born March 24, 1936) is a former tennis player from Peru with American citizenship. He helped win the Davis Cup for the USA in 1958 and was the No. 2 ranked amateur in 1959. Olmedo won two Majors in 1959 (Australia and Wimbledon) and was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987.
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Biography
Although born and raised in Peru, he moved to Southern California and was mentored by Perry T. Jones, President of the Southern California Tennis Association at the Los Angeles Tennis Club (LATC). George Toley recruited him to play for the University of Southern California (USC), as he wrote in his book "The Golden Age of College Tennis, 2009". Olmedo graduated with a Business Degree from USC. While there, he won the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Singles and Doubles Championships in 1956 and 1958. (In 1957, USC was excluded from NCAA competition due to a financial contribution violation involving the football program which also suspended the tennis team.)
Olmedo was ranked Amateur World No. 2 in 1959 by Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph.
Perry T. Jones became Davis Cup Captain in 1958 and recruited Olmedo from Modesto Junior College to play on the team. He represented the U.S. in Davis Cup competition in 1958 and 1959, winning in both singles and doubles – achieving all 3 of the 3 points required to win the Cup in 1958 (two singles & one doubles). His teammates were Ham Richardson and Barry MacKay, when they won the Cup in 1958. Though he was not a U.S. citizen, he was technically eligible to represent the U.S. in Davis Cup because he had lived in the country for at least five years and because his country of citizenship, Peru, did not have a Davis Cup team. His participation was very controversial, however. Sports columnist Arthur Dailey at the New York Times wrote, "This would seem to be the saddest day in the history of American tennis. A few more such rousing victories and the prestige of this country in tennis will sink to a new low." Olmedo himself refused to file for U.S. citizenship, said he was content to remain a Peruvian citizen, and denied he was ducking U.S. citizenship to avoid being drafted into the Army. Still, many Americans "took a dim view of the largest nation in the competition stooping to borrow a little player from Peru to win the Cup".
Olmedo won the Australian Championships and the Wimbledon singles titles in 1959 and was the runner-up at the 1959 U.S. Championships, losing to Neale Fraser, who he defeated in the Australian Championships earlier that year. At 1959 Wimbledon, he defeated Rod Laver in 71 minutes 6–4, 6–3, 6–4. Olmedo turned professional in 1960, and that year won the US Pro title by beating Tony Trabert in the final
Olmedo was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987. He spent over 40 years teaching tennis at the Beverly Hills Hotel in California.