Clive Wilderspin

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.

Clive Wilderspin
Full nameClive Eric Wilderspin
Country (sports) Australia
Born(1930-04-03)3 April 1930
Perth, Western Australia
Died13 November 2021(2021-11-13) (aged 91) [1]
Australia
Singles
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenQF (1953)
French Open2R (1953)
Wimbledon3R (1953)
US Open2R (1953
Doubles
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian OpenF (1954)
French OpenF (1953)
Wimbledon2R (1953)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian OpenSF (1954)
Wimbledon2R (1953)

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)
Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss1953French ChampionshipsClayAustralia Mervyn RoseAustralia Lew Hoad
Australia Ken Rosewall		2–6, 1–6, 1–6
Loss1954Australian ChampionshipsGrassAustralia Neale FraserAustralia Rex Hartwig
Australia Mervyn Rose		3–6, 4–6, 2–6

Personal life

On 11 September 1954 he married Enid Bott in Perth.[15]

References
  1. "Vale Clive Wilderspin, a Western Australian Great". tennis.com.au.
  2. "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.
  3. "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.
  4. "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.
  5. "Clive Wilderspin". www.wais.org.au. Western Australian Institute of Sport. Archived from the original on 12 March 2016. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  6. "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.
  7. "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.
  8. "Australian Open player profile – Clive Wilderspin". www.ausopen.com. Tennis Australia.
  9. "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.
  10. "Wimbledon player profile – Clive Wilderspin". www.wimbledon.com. AELTC.
  11. "Argentijn Morea in topvorm". De Telegraaf (in Dutch). 13 July 1953. p. 6.
  12. "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.
  13. "Annual Awards". www.tennisseniors.org.au. Tennis Seniors Australia.
  14. "Australia Day 2021 Honours List" (PDF). Governor General of Australia. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  15. "Wedding of Wilderspin". The Age. No. 31, 002. Victoria, Australia. 13 September 1954. p. 15. Retrieved 12 March 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
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