Ellsworth Vines

Ellsworth Vines as an amateur in 1933

Ellsworth Vines (September 28, 1911 â€" March 17, 1994) was an American tennis champion of the 1930s, the World No. 1 player for 3 years, twice as an amateur and once as a professional. In the opinion of Jack Kramer, himself a great player, Vines was, along with Don Budge one of the two greatest players who ever lived.

Budge was consistently the best, according to Kramer's 1979 autobiography, but, at the very top of his game, Vines was unbeatable by anyone: "...On his best days, Vines played the best tennis ever. Hell, when Elly was on, you'd be lucky to get your racket on the ball once you served it."In his 1979 autobiography Kramer considered the best player ever to have been either Don Budge (for consistent play) or Ellsworth Vines (at the height of his game). The next four best were, chronologically, Bill Tilden, Fred Perry, Bobby Riggs, and Pancho Gonzales. After these six came the "second echelon" of Rod Laver, Lew Hoad, Ken Rosewall, Gottfried von Cramm, Ted Schroeder, Jack Crawford, Pancho Segura, Frank Sedgman, Tony Trabert, John Newcombe, Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith, BjÃ¶rn Borg, and Jimmy Connors. He felt unable to rank Henri Cochet and RenÃ© Lacoste accurately but felt they were among the very best.

Vines as an amateur in 1932 on the cover of Time Magazine

Tall and thin, Vines possessed a game with no noticeable weaknesses, except, according to Kramer, because of his great natural athletic ability, laziness. He was particularly known for his powerful forehand and his very fast serve, both of which he generally hit absolutely flat with no spin. Although he could play the serve-and-volley game, he generally played an all-court game, preferring to hit winners from the baseline. Playing in the white flannel trousers that were standard dress for the time, he greatly impressed the youthful Kramer in a 1935 match in Southern California: "And here is Ellsworth Vines, 6'2-1/2" tall, 155 pounds, dressed like Fred Astaire and hitting shots like Babe Ruth." Kramer made up his mind on the spot to concentrate on tennis.

Vines had "the perfect slim body," according to Kramer, "that was coordinated for anything. Elly won Forest Hills the first time when he was still only nineteen, but at the same time he was also devoting himself to basketball at the University of Southern California. He went there, on a basketball scholarship." (However, he would never play on the basketball team; the school's official all-time roster does not list him.)

After becoming bored with tennis while only in his late twenties, Vines became a professional golfer and, over the years, had a number of high finishes in tournaments, including one professional victory and a semi-final position in the prestigious 1951 PGA Championship when it was a match-play tournament. "He was twice in the top ten of golf money winnings," writes Kramer, "and he was surely the best athlete ever in the two sports." He compares Vines, however, to another great tennis player, Lew Hoad. "Both were very strong guys. Both succeeded at a very young age.... Also, both were very lazy guys. Vines lost interest in tennis (for golf) before he was thirty, and Hoad never appeared to be very interested. Despite their great natural ability, neither put up the outstanding records that they were capable of. Unfortunately, the latter was largely true because both had physical problems."

Vines was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1962.