Home » 23 Facts About South African Tennis Players and the US Open

23 Facts About South African Tennis Players and the US Open

Since many people are arguing online about which South Africans have or have not played in the Final at the US Open, and since we’re all very excited about Kevin Anderson’s match against Spaniard Rafael Nadal in New York on Sunday, here are a few stats that may help: Kevin Anderson is the first South […]

By SAPeople
10-09-17 00:28
in Fab South African Stuff

Since many people are arguing online about which South Africans have or have not played in the Final at the US Open, and since we’re all very excited about Kevin Anderson’s match against Spaniard Rafael Nadal in New York on Sunday, here are a few stats that may help:

  1. Kevin Anderson is the first South African to reach the US Open in the Open era.
  2. The Open era began in 1968 when Professional players were allowed to participate too. Until then only amateurs could play.
  3. Three years previously, in 1965, South African player (Eric) Cliff Drysdale HAD reached the final in New York… but it was before the Open era, and was called the US Championships.
  4. Drysdale did play in the very first US Open, in 1965, but he didn’t make it to the Final.
  5. Drysdale won at the US Open – in the Doubles in 1972 with Roger Taylor. He became a naturalised US Citizen after retiring.
  6. Eric Sturgess also reached the final pre the Open era – back in 1948, and lost. The following year he won the Mixed Doubles.
  7. Wayne Ferreira won the Junior Doubles Title in 1989 at the US Open, and in terms of Grand Slam events, he did reach the Australian Open Semi-Finals in 1992 and 2003.
  8. Ferreira holds the record for the third most consecutive Grand Slam tournament appearances in men’s tennis – he participated in 56 consecutive Grand Slams between 1991 and 2004. The record of 65 is held by Roger Federer (who was Ferreira’s doubles partner at Wimbledon in 2001).
  9. Although we’re all very proud that Roger Federer‘s mom is South African, and we’d love to claim him as our own since he won a record-breaking five consecutive wins at the US Open… BUT, despite holding dual nationality (Swiss and South African), he plays under his Swiss citizenship (which makes sense since he’s only ever holidayed in SA).
  10. Johan Kriek is the last and only South African to have won a Grand Slam – he won the Australian Open in 1981. (Kriek won again in 1982… but by then as an American citizen.)
  11. Kriek became a naturalised American citizen in 1982.
  12. Before Anderson’s awesome achievement this week, Kriek was the only other South African to have gone as far as a Semi-Final at the US Open, which he did in 1980.
  13. In early 2015, Anderson (whose wife is American) said he had applied for his American citizenship and was expecting it later that year. There has been no news since then of his citizenship status.
  14. Anderson is definitely entered into the US Open under his South African nationality.
  15. The last South African in a Grand Slam final was Kevin Curren at the 1984 Australian Open.
  16. Curren won the US Open Doubles in 1982, and the US Open Mixed Doubles in 1981 and 1982.
  17. Curren became an American citizen in 1985. He and Brian Norton (in 1921) are the only South Africans to have reached the Men’s Singles Final at Wimbledon. (He was beaten by 17-year-old Boris Becker in 1985.) After retiring, Curren was briefly captain of South Africa’s  Davis Cup Team.
  18. Curren is credited by many for the transformation of New York’s Flushing Meadows venue, after he complained bitterly in 1985 about the noise of nearby planes, saying “they should drop an A-bomb on this place”. (This week Nadal has complained about the echoing noise of the crowds when the stadium roof is shut.)
  19. Five-time Grand Slam winner Arthur Ashe, after whom the new (inaugurated in 1997) Stadium is named, fought for the rights of those around the world… particularly in South Africa, suffering under the then apartheid system.
  20. At 31 Anderson is the oldest first-time Grand Slam finalist since 1973 (Nikki Pilic in Paris at 33.)
  21. Anderson and Nadal, are both 31 (they met when they were 12) – making this the first time since 2002 that both players in the US Open are over 30. In 2002 it was Pete Sampras (31) and Andre Agassi (32). Sampras won.
  22. Anderson is the only South African – in the men’s or women’s format – who is ranked among the top 250 Singles players in the world. (Hopefully the attention he’s bringing to the sport right now will change this!)
  23. Ferreira, Drysdale, Kriek, Curren and Anderson all live in the USA.