Dennis Ralston

Richard Dennis Ralston (born July 27, 1942 in Bakersfield, California) is an American former professional tennis player. He attended the University of Southern California (USC) and won NCAA championships under their legendary coach, George Toley. He was coached in his earlier years by the legendary tennis player, Pancho Gonzales. He was the highest ranked American player at the end of three consecutive years in 1960s with his highest world singles ranking of 5.^[1]

He lost in the 1966 Men's Singles Championship Finals of Wimbledon to Manuel Santana.^[2]

Ralston was a member of the Handsome Eight,^[3] and won 27 national doubles and singles titles, including five grand-slam doubles crowns.^[4]

Grand Slam finals, 13 (5 titles, 8 runner-ups)

Singles, 1 final (1 runner-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
Runner-Up	1966	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	Manuel Santana	6–4, 11–9, 6–4

Men's Doubles, 9 finals (5 titles, 4 runner-ups)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1960	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	Rafael Osuna	Mike Davies Bobby Wilson	7–5, 6–3, 10–8
Winner	1961	US Championships	Grass	Chuck McKinley	Rafael Osuna Antonio Palafox	6–3, 6–4, 2–6, 13–11
Runner-Up	1962	US Championships	Grass	Chuck McKinley	Rafael Osuna Antonio Palafox	6–4, 10–12, 1–6, 9–7, 6–3
Winner	1963	US Championships (2)	Grass	Chuck McKinley	Rafael Osuna Antonio Palafox	9–7, 4–6, 5–7, 6–3, 11–9
Winner	1962	US Championships (3)	Grass	Chuck McKinley	Mike Sangster Graham Stilwell	6–3, 6–2, 6–4
Winner	1966	French Championships	Clay	Clark Graebner	Ilie Năstase Ion Ţiriac	6–3, 6–3, 6–0
Runner-Up	1966	US Championships (2)	Grass	Clark Graebner	Roy Emerson Fred Stolle	6–4, 6–4, 6–4
Runner-Up	1969	US Open (3)	Grass	Clark Graebner	Ken Rosewall Fred Stolle	2–6, 7–5, 13–11, 6–3
Runner-Up	1971	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	Arthur Ashe	Roy Emerson Rod Laver	4–6, 9–7, 6–8, 6–4, 6–4

Mixed Doubles, 3 finals (3 runner-ups)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Runner-Up	1962	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	Ann Haydon Jones	Margaret Osborne duPont Neale Fraser	2-6, 6–3, 13–11
Runner-Up	1966	Wimbledon Championships (2)	Grass	Billie Jean King	Margaret Court Ken Fletcher	4–6, 6–3, 6–3
Runner-Up	1969	US Open	Grass	Françoise Durr	Margaret Court Marty Riessen	6–4, 7–5

References

1. ^ "Dennis Ralston". Tennis Hall of Fame. http://www.tennisfame.com/hall-of-famers/dennis-ralston. Retrieved 11 December 2010. 
2. ^ Harman, Neil (23 June 2008). "'I see Rafa playing tennis I do not believe'". The Times. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/tennis/article4192490.ece. Retrieved 11 December 2010. 
3. ^ Atkin, Ronald (5 March 2000). "Britain turn to passion of the handsome one". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/britain-turn-to-passion-of-the-handsome-one-723406.html. Retrieved 11 December 2010. 
4. ^ Porter, Ross. "Dennis Ralston". Real Sport Heroes. http://realsportsheroes.com/dennis-ralston/. Retrieved 11 December 2010. 

External links

• International Tennis Hall of Fame

Persondata
Name	Ralston, Dennis
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	27 July 1942
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death