Tom Okker

Tennis career

Okker was the Dutch champion from 1964 through 1968. In 1968, his first year as a professional, he won in singles and in doubles (with Marty Riessen) at the Italian Open. At Wimbledon, Okker reached the quarterfinals in 1968 and the semifinals in 1978. He achieved his best result in a Grand Slam tournament at the 1968 US Open, where he competed as a registered player, an amateur allowed to compete for prize money but playing under the control of their national associations. Okker reached the final after defeating Pancho Gonzales in the quarterfinal and Ken Rosewall in the semifinal. He lost the final to American Arthur Ashe in five sets, 12–14, 7–5, 3–6, 6–3, 3–6. Okker turned professional in February 1969 when he signed a four-year contract with the Lamar Hunt's World Championship Tennis.

Okker won 31 singles titles. He also was the runner-up in 24 singles tournaments.

Okker is also among the most successful men's doubles players of all time. Okker won two Grand Slam doubles titles, the US Open in 1976 (with Riessen) and the French Open (with John Newcombe) in 1973. In total, Okker won 78 doubles events, a record that was finally broken by Todd Woodbridge in 2005. Okker's other doubles titles include the 1973 Italian Open, 1973 London Grass Courts (with Riessen), 1973 Spanish Open (with Ilie Năstase), 1975 Opel International (with Arthur Ashe), and 1978 WCT World Doubles (with Wojtek Fibak).

One of the first tennis professionals to win at least US $1 million in career prize money, Okker's WTC career earnings stood at US $1,257,200 when he retired in 1980 ($3,654,309 today).

Davis Cup

Between 1964 and 1981, Okker represented The Netherlands in the Davis Cup, playing in 13 ties and accumulating a 15–20 win-loss record. [1]

Maccabiah Games

In 1965 Okker won both the singles and the mixed doubles titles at the Maccabiah Games in Israel. This event is open to all Israelis and to non-Israeli Jews.

Style of play

He was among the first players of his era to hit the ball with heavy topspin.

International Jewish Hall of Fame

Okker, who is Jewish on his father's side, was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2003.

Personal life

Since the mid-1980s Okker has been involved in art and was a founding partner in the Jaski art gallery in Amsterdam, specialising in works of the CoBrA movement. In 2005 he founded art gallery Tom Okker Art bv in Hazerswoude-Dorp, Netherlands, where he now lives.