Australian tennis player
Clive Eric Wilderspin , OAM (3 April 1930 – 13 November 2021) was an Australian former tennis player who was active from the late 1940s until the mid-1950s.
Tennis career
Wilderspin began playing at age nine and joined Hensman Park club when he was 11. Until 1946 he was coached by his father Eric, an engineer by profession.[2] [3] [4] He was ranked No. 1 in Western Australia from 1946 to 1963.[5] In 1949, Wilderspin won the Australian Boys' Singles and Doubles championships and was the dominant player in the Western Australian team that won the Linton Cup for the junior interstate competition.[5] [6] [7]
Wilderspin's best singles result at a Grand Slam tournament was reaching the quarterfinal round at the 1953 Australian Championships , in which he lost to Ian Ayre in four sets.[8] That year Wilderspin was part of the Australian team that toured internationally and participated in the Grand Slam tournaments.[9] At the 1953 French Championships he reached the second round in the singles where he was beaten by Staffan Stockenberg . In the doubles event he teamed up with Mervyn Rose to finish as runner-ups after losing the final to teenagers Ken Rosewall and Lew Hoad . He was beaten in the third round of the 1953 Wimbledon Championships in three sets by his countryman Ayre.[10] At the U.S. National Championships he defeated Atsushi Miyagi in the first round of the singles event but lost in the second in four sets to Art Larsen .
Wilderspin and Hoad won the doubles title at the Dutch Championships in July 1953, defeating Enrique Morea and Hans van Swol in the final in four sets.[11]
In 1954, Wilderspin partnered Neale Fraser in the doubles event of the Australian Championships . They reached the final in which they were beaten in three straight sets by their compatriots Rex Hartwig and Mervyn Rose .[12] [8]
Wilderspin was named Australian Tennis Veteran of the Year in 1979.[13] He was inducted into the Western Australian Hall of Champions in 1988.[5]
Wilderspin was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the 2021 Australia Day Honours for "service to tennis."[14]
Grand Slam finals
Doubles: (2 runner-ups)
Personal life
On 11 September 1954 he married Enid Bott in Perth .[15]
References
^ "Vale Clive Wilderspin, a Western Australian Great" . tennis.com.au .
^ "Peter Wilson's" . The Daily News . Vol. LXIV, no. 22, 187 (Home ed.). Western Australia. 20 May 1946. p. 5. Retrieved 12 March 2016 – via National Library of Australia .
^ "Sport" . The Daily News . Vol. LXV, no. 22, 396 (Home ed.). Western Australia. 20 January 1947. p. 1. Retrieved 12 March 2016 – via National Library of Australia .
^ "Wilderspin Sr Is A Proud Man" . Sunday Times (Perth) . No. 2862. Western Australia. 11 January 1953. p. 21 (Sporting Section). Retrieved 12 March 2016 – via National Library of Australia .
^ a b c "Clive Wilderspin" . www.wais.org.au . Western Australian Institute of Sport. Archived from the original on 12 March 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2016 .
^ "Wilderspin Wins Aust. Boys Title" . The Daily News . Vol. LXVII, no. 23, 027. Western Australia. 29 January 1949. p. 14 (First). Retrieved 12 March 2016 – via National Library of Australia .
^ "First Linton Cup win to W.A." The Sydney Morning Herald . No. 34, 659. 21 January 1949. p. 8. Retrieved 12 March 2016 – via National Library of Australia .
^ a b "Australian Open player profile – Clive Wilderspin" . www.ausopen.com . Tennis Australia .
^ "Wilderspin in Aust. O'seas Tennis Team" . The Examiner . Vol. CXI, no. 167. Tasmania, Australia. 20 January 1953. p. 14. Retrieved 12 March 2016 – via National Library of Australia .
^ "Wimbledon player profile – Clive Wilderspin" . www.wimbledon.com . AELTC .
^ "Argentijn Morea in topvorm" . De Telegraaf (in Dutch). 13 July 1953. p. 6.
^ "Rose, Hartwig Win Doubles" . Daily Examiner . No. 7355. New South Wales, Australia. 30 January 1954. p. 3. Retrieved 12 March 2016 – via National Library of Australia .
^ "Annual Awards" . www.tennisseniors.org.au . Tennis Seniors Australia.
^ "Australia Day 2021 Honours List" (PDF) . Governor General of Australia . Retrieved 25 January 2021 .
^ "Wedding of Wilderspin" . The Age . No. 31, 002. Victoria, Australia. 13 September 1954. p. 15. Retrieved 12 March 2016 – via National Library of Australia .
External links