Sidney Welby Van Horn (September 8, 1920 - September 17, 2014) is a retired professional American tennis player who then continued his career as a premier tennis coach.
As a 19-year-old player, Van Horn reached the final of 1939 Americans defeated John Bromwich only to lose to Bobby Riggs in just 56 minutes (6-4, 6-2, 6-4). One of the high points of his career was a 6-0 6-2 6-2 6-1 defeat by Bill Tilden in a match between the US and British imperial service teams at Wimbledon in July 1945, presumably the worst defeat of Tilden's career - Tilden, however, was 52 years old at the time while Van Horn was 25. Van Horn also won the US Pro Championship in 1945. He was ranked as high as World No. 5 in the professional ranks ( Professional Players Association , formed by Bill Tilden) in 1946. Gordon Lowe rated Van Horn as Number 9 of the World for 1939 at amateur rank.
He stayed briefly in Atlanta, Ga., Where he was hired as the Professional Tennis Chief at the Piedmont Driving Club. In 1951, he moved to Puerto Rico as a coach at the Caribe Hilton Swim and Tennis Club, where he worked with many promising junior, the most prominent being Charlie Pasarell who was ranked No.1 in the US in 1967 which he continued to train on the main tour, another notable junior is Manuel Diaz, who later became a star on the Georgia University tennis team and UGA coach.
His career as a coach gave birth to institutions such as Welby Van Horn Tennis Academy in the Boca Raton, Florida, and Welby Van Horn Tennis programs in several locations.
Video Welby Van Horn
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Source of the article : Wikipedia
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