Robert Wrenn

Robert Wrenn

Full name	Robert Duffield Wrenn
Country (sports)	United States
Born	September 20, 1873 Highland Park, IL, USA
Died	November 21, 1925 (aged 52) New York, NY, USA
Retired	1903
Plays	Left-handed (1-handed backhand)
Int. Tennis HoF	1955 (member page)
Singles
Highest ranking	No. 1 (1897, Karoly Mazak)[1]
Grand Slam Singles results
US Open	W (1893, 1894, 1896, 1897)
Doubles
Grand Slam Doubles results
US Open	W (1895)
Last updated on: September 17, 2012.

Robert "Bob" Wrenn

Robert "Bob" Duffield Wrenn (September 20, 1873 – November 21, 1925) was a former co-World No. 1 left-handed American tennis player, four-time U.S. singles championship winner, and one of the first inductees in the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Biography

Wrenn was born in Highland Park, Illinois. Wrenn attended Harvard University where he was a prominent quarterback on the football team. He won his tennis titles in 1893, 1894, 1896 and 1897 (losing out to Fred Hovey in 1895). In 1898, he was serving in Cuba with Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders in the Spanish–American War. He contracted yellow fever while in Cuba.

Wrenn played for the U.S. Davis Cup team in 1903 together with his brother George. In the final against the British Isles at the Longwood Cricket Club, Boston, MA they were defeated 1–4 and Wrenn lost both his singles matches against Reginald and Lawrence Doherty as well as the doubles against the Doherty brothers.^[2]

He was arrested in 1914 when his chauffeur-driven car ran over and killed Herbert George Loveday, the choir director of St Mary's Church, in Tuxedo Park, New York.^[3] Wrenn was exonerated when, according to The New York Times (May 21, 1914), "The Grand Jury, finding from testimony that the mechanism of the car had become disarranged, and the steering gear powerless, declined to find an indictment, and the complaint was dismissed."

Wrenn was vice-president of the United States Tennis Association from 1902 until 1911 and president from 1912 until 1915.^[4] He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1955.

Grand Slam finals

Singles (4 titles, 1 runner-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Partner	Score in final
Winner	1893	U.S. Championships	Fred Hovey	6–4, 3–6, 6–4, 6–4
Winner	1894	U.S. Championships	Manliff Goodbody	6–8, 6–1, 6–4, 6–4
Runner-up	1895	U.S. Championships	Fred Hovey	3–6, 2–6, 4–6
Winner	1896	U.S. Championships	Fred Hovey	7–5, 3–6, 6–0, 1–6, 6–1
Winner	1897	U.S. Championships	Wilberforce Eaves	4–6, 8–6, 6–3, 2–6, 6–2

Doubles (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Partner	Opponents in final	Score in final
Winner	1895	U.S. Championships	Malcolm Chace	Clarence Hobart Fred Hovey	7–5, 6–1, 8–6
Runner-up	1896	U.S. Championships	Malcolm Chace	Carr Neel Sam Neel	3–6, 6–1, 1–6, 6–3, 1–6

References

1. Mazak, Karoly (2010). The Concise History of Tennis, p. 25.
2. "Davis Cup - Profile Robert Wrenn". ITF. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
3. "Exonerates R.D. Wrenn". The New York Times. May 21, 1914. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
4. USTA (1979). Bill Shannon, ed. Official Encyclopedia of Tennis (Rev. and updated 1st ed.). New York: Harper & Row. p. 379. ISBN 0060144785.

External links

• Robert Wrenn at the International Tennis Hall of Fame
• Robert Wrenn at the International Tennis Federation
• Robert Wrenn at the Davis Cup