Bill Tilden won 10 Grand Slam titles during a brilliant but controversial career, including seven at the US Open.
HISTORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Bill Tilden holds the record for six consecutive US Open crowns, but was a controversial figure
- Tilden dominated tennis in the 1920s, winning 10 Grand Slam titles
- The American legend served two prison sentences on morality charges in the 1940s.
- Tilden was shunned by the tennis community and died at the age of 60.
(CNN) — Bill Tilden was a controversial tennis legend who dominated the sport in the 1920s but died in disgrace.
The American gained fame and fortune through his tennis exploits and befriended Hollywood stars such as Charlie Chaplin, but he spent more than a year in prison in the 1940s on a morality charge, which ruined his reputation before his untimely death in 1953.
Tilden won his six consecutive US Open titles from 1920 to 1925, a record since the tournament abolished the challenge system – where the champion automatically qualified for the final – in 1911.
Under this system, Richard Sears won the first seven editions of the US Open (then the United States National Tennis Championships) in the 1880s.
Last year, world number one Roger Federer failed to match Tilden’s record when he was beaten in the final by Juan Martin Del Potro.
Tilden, who won his seventh US Open title in 1929 and was twice a losing finalist, goes down in the history books as one of the greatest tennis players of all time.
A relatively late starter, Tilden struggled to make his college tennis team in Pennsylvania, but years of dedicated training began to pay off after World War I when he reached the finals of the 1918 and 1919 U.S. Open.
He reached his peak in the 1920s, winning his first US Open title and holding the world No. 1 spot for seven consecutive years.
Tilden also led the United States to a record seven consecutive Davis Cup titles and three Wimbledon titles.
His famous “cannonball” serves worked particularly well on the fast grass surfaces on which the US Open and Wimbledon were held.
Tilden never won the French Open, being a losing finalist the last year it was held on grass, in 1927 and 1930 on clay.
He won the last of his 10 Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon in 1930 before deserting the amateur ranks for the fledgling professional circuit.
Eventually joined by Ellsworth Vines, Fred Perry and Don Budge, Tilden remained a star attraction well into his forties, filling arenas such as Madison Square Garden in big-money matches.
But off the court, Tilden was a controversial figure, fighting with tennis officials as his amateur status was questioned and he was accused of being arrogant and inconsiderate.
Tilden, who never married, saw his reputation destroyed in the 1940s when he was convicted of a morality charge relating to a minor.
He served seven and a half months of a one-year prison sentence, but was arrested again in 1949 after picking up a 16-year-old hitchhiker.
Tilden served an additional 10 months for violating his probation and was shunned by the tennis community.
His friendship with Hollywood stars such as Chaplin and his love of the theatrical world allowed Tilden to devote much of his wealth to less than successful Broadway productions.
He died tragically in 1953, following a stroke in Los Angeles while preparing for a trip to compete in the American professional championships despite being 60 years old.
Tilden was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1959, and in every poll of the all-time great tennis players, he always ranks first.
