Clark Graebner

Clark Graebner

Country (sports)	United States
Residence	New York City
Born	(1943-11-04) November 4, 1943 (age 77) Cleveland, Ohio, US
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Turned pro	1968 (amateur from 1960)
Retired	1976
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Singles
Career record	181-104 (Open era)
Career titles	7
Highest ranking	No. 7 (1968, Lance Tingay)[1]
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	QF (1966)
French Open	4R (1966)
Wimbledon	SF (1968)
US Open	F (1967)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals	RR (1971)
Doubles
Career record	141-68 (Open era)
Career titles	10 (Open era)

Clark Graebner (born November 4, 1943) is a retired American professional tennis player.

Early life[]

Graebner was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the only child of Paul Graebner, a doctor, and his wife, the former Janice Clark. Paul had been a moderately successful youth player.^[2] Clark won the state high-school tennis championship three times. He graduated from Northwestern University, where he joined the Delta Upsilon fraternity.

In 1964 he married rising American tennis player Carole Caldwell. They had two children, a daughter, Cameron, and a son, Clark. The couple separated in 1974 and eventually divorced. In 1975, Graebner married Patti Morgan. Caldwell died of cancer in New York City on November 19, 2008.^[3]

Tennis career[]

Graebner was considered to be one of the fastest servers in his time. In the 1967 United States Championship, the last time the event, today's U.S. Open, was open only to amateur players, Graebner lost in the final to John Newcombe.^[4] The following year he reached the semifinals in singles at both Wimbledon and the inaugural U.S. Open.

Graebner and Arthur Ashe led the U.S. Davis Cup team to victory in the 1968 Davis Cup, its first in five years. The Americans won four more titles in as many years. John McPhee's book, Levels of the Game, is about a semifinal match played between Graebner and Ashe at the 1968 U.S. Open at Forest Hills. Ashe won the match.

Graebner's most significant title was probably the men's doubles title at the 1966 French Championships, where he and Dennis Ralston beat Ion Ţiriac and Ilie Năstase in the final. He also won the 1968 U.S. Men's Clay Court singles Championship in Milwaukee, the 1969 and 1970 U.S. Men's Clay Court doubles Championship (with William Bowrey and Ashe, respectively), and the 1963 doubles title at Cincinnati.

Graebner also reached the singles quarterfinals in Cincinnati in 1970, falling to eventual champion Ken Rosewall.

Graebner ranks No. 32 on the list of best career set win/loss records in Grand Slam events, at 108-58, for a 65% record.^[5]

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline[]

Singles[]

Career finals[]

Singles: 11 (4 wins, 7 losses)[]

Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1.	1971	New York, U.S.	Indoor	Željko Franulović	2–6, 7–5, 4–6, 5–7
Win	1.	1971	Salisbury, U.S.	Hard (i)	Cliff Richey	2–6, 7–6, 1–6, 7–6, 6–0
Loss	2.	1971	Hampton, U.S.	Hard (i)	Ilie Năstase	5–7, 4–6, 6–7
Loss	3.	1971	Houston, U.S.	Hard	Cliff Richey	1–6, 2–6, 2–6
Win	2.	1971	Merion, U.S.	Hard	Dick Stockton	6–2, 6–4, 6–7, 7–5
Win	3.	1971	South Orange, U.S.	Hard	Pierre Barthès	6–3, 6–4, 6–4
Loss	4.	1972	London Indoor, England	Hard (i)	Cliff Richey	5–7, 7–6, 5–7, 0–6
Loss	5.	1972	Jacksonville, U.S.	Hard (i)	Jimmy Connors	5–7, 4–6
Win	4.	1973	Des Moines, U.S.	Hard (i)	Nicholas Kalogeropoulos	7–5, 4–6, 6–4
Loss	6.	1973	Paramus, U.S.	Hard (i)	Jimmy Connors	1–6, 2–6
Loss	7.	1974	Baltimore, U.S.	Carpet	Sandy Mayer	2–6, 1–6

Doubles finals: 21 (10 wins, 11 losses)[]

Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1.	1969	Indianapolis, U.S.	Clay	Bill Bowrey	Dick Crealy Allan Stone	6–4, 4–6, 6–4
Win	2.	1970	Indianapolis, U.S.	Clay	Arthur Ashe	Ilie Năstase Ion Ţiriac	2–6, 6–4, 6–4
Loss	1.	1971	Salisbury, U.S.	Hard (i)	Thomaz Koch	Juan Gisbert Sr. Manuel Orantes	3–6, 6–4, 6–7
Win	3.	1971	Macon, U.S.	Hard	Thomaz Koch	Željko Franulović Jan Kodeš	6–3, 7–6
Loss	2.	1971	Hampton, U.S.	Hard (i)	Thomaz Koch	Ilie Năstase Ion Ţiriac	4–6, 6–4, 5–7
Loss	3.	1971	Indianapolis, U.S.	Clay	Erik van Dillen	Željko Franulović Jan Kodeš	6–7, 7–5, 3–6
Win	4.	1971	Merion, U.S.	Hard	Jim Osborne	Robert McKinley Dick Stockton	7–6, 6–3
Loss	4.	1971	South Orange, U.S.	Hard	Erik van Dillen	Bob Carmichael Tom Leonard	4–6, 6–4, 4–6
Loss	5.	1971	Los Angeles, U.S.	Hard	Frank Froehling	John Alexander Phil Dent	6–7, 4–6
Loss	6.	1972	Washington, U.S.	Carpet	Thomaz Koch	Tom Edlefsen Cliff Richey	4–6, 3–6
Loss	7.	1972	Bristol, England	Grass	Lew Hoad	Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan	3–6, 2–6
Win	5.	1973	Baltimore, U.S.	Hard (i)	Jimmy Connors	Paul Gerken Sandy Mayer	3–6, 6–2, 6–3
Loss	8.	1973	Birmingham, U.S.	Hard	Ion Ţiriac	Pat Cramer Jürgen Fassbender	4–6, 5–7
Win	6.	1973	Salisbury, U.S.	Hard (i)	Ilie Năstase	Jürgen Fassbender Juan Gisbert Sr.	2–6, 6–4, 6–3
Win	7.	1973	Hampton, U.S.	Hard (i)	Ilie Năstase	Jimmy Connors Ion Ţiriac	6–2, 6–1
Loss	9.	1973	Louisville, U.S.	Clay	John Newcombe	Manuel Orantes Ion Ţiriac	6–0, 4–6, 3–6
Loss	10.	1974	Baltimore, U.S.	Carpet	Owen Davidson	Jürgen Fassbender Karl Meiler	6–7, 5–7
Loss	11.	1974	St. Petersburg WCT, U.S.	Hard	Charlie Pasarell	Owen Davidson John Newcombe	6–4, 3–6, 4–6
Win	8.	1974	La Costa WCT, U.S.	Hard	Charlie Pasarell	Roy Emerson Dennis Ralston	6–4, 6–7, 7–5
Win	9.	1975	Boca Raton, U.S.	Hard	Juan Gisbert Sr.	Jürgen Fassbender Juan Gisbert Sr.	6–2, 6–1
Win	10.	1976	Boca Raton, U.S.	Hard	Vitas Gerulaitis	Bruce Manson Butch Walts	6–2, 6–4

See also[]

• Professional Tennis Championships

References[]

Further reading[]

• Clark Graebner, Carole Graebner, Mixed Doubles Tennis (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1973)
• McPhee, John A. (1969). Levels of the Game. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 0-374-51526-3.

External links[]

• Clark Graebner at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Clark Graebner at the International Tennis Federation
• Clark Graebner at the Davis Cup