Clark Graebner

Clark Graebner (born November 4, 1943 in Cleveland, Ohio), is a retired American professional tennis player, originally from Cleveland, Ohio, who won a number of championships. He graduated from Northwestern University, where he joined the Delta Upsilon fraternity. Graebner's deceased wife, Carole, was also a successful touring tennis professional.

Graebner also became known as one of the protagonists of John McPhee's book, Levels of the Game, which is about a semifinal match played between himself and Arthur Ashe at the 1968 US Open at Forest Hills that Ashe won. Graebner was considered to be one of the fastest servers in his time.

Graebner and Ashe went on to lead the U.S. team to victory in the 1968 Davis Cup, the first victory it had won in five years and the start of a string of five victories for the U.S.

Graebner's most significant title was probably the men's doubles title at the 1966 French Championships, where he and Dennis Ralston beat Ion Ţiriac and Ilie Năstase in the final. He also won the 1968 U.S. Men's Clay Court singles Championship in Milwaukee, the 1969 and 1970 U.S. Men's Clay Court doubles Championship (with William Bowrey and Ashe, respectively), and the 1963 doubles title at Cincinnati. He was runner-up to John Newcombe in the 1967 U.S. Men's singles Championship. He also reached the singles quarterfinals in Cincinnati in 1970, knocking off Bob McKinley, Barry MacKay, and Ray Ruffels before falling to eventual champ Ken Rosewall.

In 1964 he married rising American tennis player Carole Caldwell. They had two children, a daughter, Cameron, and a son, Clark. The couple separated in 1975 but never divorced. Caldwell died in New York City following a brief battle with cancer on November 19, 2008.^[1]

Graebner still ranks #32 on the list of best career set win/loss records in Grand Slam events, at 108-58, for a 65% record.^[2]

Grand Prix and WCT singles finals (11)

Titles (4)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	1971	Salisbury, U.S.	Hard (i)	Cliff Richey	2–6, 7–6, 1–6, 7–6, 6–0
2.	1971	Merion, U.S.	Hard	Dick Stockton	6–2, 6–4, 6–7, 7–5
3.	1971	South Orange, U.S.	Hard	Pierre Barthès	6–3, 6–4, 6–4
4.	1973	Des Moines, U.S.	Hard (i)	Nicholas Kalogeropoulos	7–5, 4–6, 6–4

Runner-ups (7)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	1971	New York, U.S.	Indoor	Željko Franulović	2–6, 7–5, 4–6, 5–7
2.	1971	Hampton, U.S.	Hard (i)	Ilie Năstase	5–7, 4–6, 6–7
3.	1971	Houston, U.S.	Hard	Cliff Richey	1–6, 2–6, 2–6
4.	1972	London Indoor, England	Hard (i)	Cliff Richey	5–7, 7–6, 5–7, 0–6
5.	1972	Jacksonville, U.S.	Hard (i)	Jimmy Connors	5–7, 4–6
6.	1973	Paramus, U.S.	Hard (i)	Jimmy Connors	1–6, 2–6
7.	1974	Baltimore, U.S.	Carpet	Sandy Mayer	2–6, 1–6

Grand Prix and WCT doubles finals (21)

Titles (10)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	1969	Indianapolis, U.S.	Clay	Bill Bowrey	Dick Crealy Allan Stone	6–4, 4–6, 6–4
2.	1970	Indianapolis, U.S.	Clay	Arthur Ashe	Ilie Năstase Ion Ţiriac	2–6, 6–4, 6–4
3.	1971	Macon, U.S.	Hard	Thomaz Koch	Željko Franulović Jan Kodeš	6–3, 7–6
4.	1971	Merion, U.S.	Hard	Jim Osborne	Robert McKinley Dick Stockton	7–6, 6–3
5.	1973	Baltimore, U.S.	Hard (i)	Jimmy Connors	Paul Gerken Sandy Mayer	3–6, 6–2, 6–3
6.	1973	Salisbury, U.S.	Hard (i)	Ilie Năstase	Jürgen Fassbender Juan Gisbert Sr.	2–6, 6–4, 6–3
7.	1973	Hampton, U.S.	Hard (i)	Ilie Năstase	Jimmy Connors Ion Ţiriac	6–2, 6–1
8.	1974	La Costa WCT, U.S.	Hard	Charlie Pasarell	Roy Emerson Dennis Ralston	6–4, 6–7, 7–5
9.	1975	Boca Raton, U.S.	Hard	Juan Gisbert Sr.	Jürgen Fassbender Juan Gisbert Sr.	6–2, 6–1
10.	1976	Boca Raton, U.S.	Hard	Vitas Gerulaitis	Bruce Manson Butch Walts	6–2, 6–4

Runner-ups (11)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	1971	Salisbury, U.S.	Hard (i)	Thomaz Koch	Juan Gisbert Sr. Manuel Orantes	3–6, 6–4, 6–7
2.	1971	Hampton, U.S.	Hard (i)	Thomaz Koch	Ilie Năstase Ion Ţiriac	4–6, 6–4, 5–7
3.	1971	Indianapolis, U.S.	Clay	Erik Van Dillen	Željko Franulović Jan Kodeš	6–7, 7–5, 3–6
4.	1971	South Orange, U.S.	Hard	Erik Van Dillen	Bob Carmichael Tom Leonard	4–6, 6–4, 4–6
5.	1971	Los Angeles, U.S.	Hard	Frank Froehling	John Alexander Phil Dent	6–7, 4–6
6.	1972	Washington, U.S.	Carpet	Thomaz Koch	Tom Edlefsen Cliff Richey	4–6, 3–6
7.	1972	Bristol, England	Grass	Lew Hoad	Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan	3–6, 2–6
8.	1973	Birmingham, U.S.	Hard	Ion Ţiriac	Pat Cramer Jürgen Fassbender	4–6, 5–7
9.	1973	Louisville, U.S.	Clay	John Newcombe	Manuel Orantes Ion Ţiriac	6–0, 4–6, 3–6
10.	1974	Baltimore, U.S.	Carpet	Owen Davidson	Jürgen Fassbender Karl Meiler	6–7, 5–7
11.	1974	St. Petersburg WCT, U.S.	Hard	Charlie Pasarell	Owen Davidson John Newcombe	6–4, 3–6, 4–6

See also

Tennis portal

• Professional Tennis Championships

References

1. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named tennisweek.com; see Help:Cite errors/Cite error references no text
2. ^ Set W/L% - Slams - Career

Further reading

• Clark Graebner, Carole Graebner, Mixed Doubles Tennis (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1973)
• McPhee, John A. (1969). Levels of the Game. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 0-374-51526-3. 

External links

• International Tennis Federation - Clark Graebner

Persondata
Name	Graebner, Clark
Alternative names
Short description	Tennis player
Date of birth	November 4, 1943
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death