Andrés Gimeno facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Andrés Gimeno

Country (sports)	Spain
Residence	Barcelona
Born	(1937-08-03)3 August 1937 Barcelona, Spain
Died	9 October 2019(2019-10-09) (aged 82) Barcelona, Spain
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Turned pro	1960
Retired	1974
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Int. Tennis HoF	2009 (member page)
Singles
Career record	935-535 (63.6%)
Career titles	41 (11 open era titles listed by ATP)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	F (1969)
French Open	W (1972)
Wimbledon	SF (1970)
US Open	4R (1969, 1972)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals	RR (1972)
Professional majors
US Pro	F (1967)
Wembley Pro	F (1965)
French Pro	F (1962, 1967)
Doubles
Career record	94–60
Career titles	3
Grand Slam doubles results
French Open	F (1960)
Wimbledon	QF (1959)
US Open	F (1968)

Andrés Gimeno Tolaguera (3 August 1937 – 9 October 2019) was a Spanish tennis player. His greatest achievement came in 1972, when he won the French Open and became the oldest first-time Grand Slam champion in the Open era at 34 years of age.

Early years

Andrés came from a family which loved tennis, and his father Esteban supported his efforts to play the game. Esteban had been a good tennis player and he became Andres' coach. They practiced at Real Club de Tenis Barcelona. At an early age Andres started to become a really good tennis player, winning some important tournaments in his region. At age sixteen, he won the U-18 Championship of Spain. In 1954, he won the Championship of Spain in the doubles category playing with Juan Manuel Couder. At the same time, he stopped studying to focus on his tennis career.

He was not only a successful tennis player in Spain, but also represented his country throughout Europe. He played in the Galea's Cup, the European Championship U21, and won it in 1956 and 1957. He was the runner-up in 1958. After that, he decided to go to Australia to play with the man who was considered the best tennis coach in the world, Harry Hopman. He improved his tennis level and soon, he had two important victories in the championships in Perth and in Sydney.

Tennis career

Gimeno went back to Spain in 1960 where he then had his best year as an amateur, winning the titles in Barcelona, Caracas, Monte Carlo, and at Queen's Club. In Barcelona, he became the first Spanish player to win the Torneo Conde de Godó, beating the Italian player Giuseppe Merlo. That same year he reached the doubles final of the French Open too, losing to an Australian duo. After that year, he joined the professional group World Championship Tennis, where Jack Kramer offered him $50,000 for three years, and more money for each victory. The group consisted of some of the best tennis players in history such as Rod Laver, Pancho Gonzales and Ken Rosewall.

Gimeno won the Poertschach pro tournament in August 1963 beating Rosewall and Frank Sedgman. He also won the Genoa Pro in September 1963 beating Laver and Rosewall. Gimeno won the College Park Pro in May 1964 beating Lew Hoad in the final. He won tournaments in Noordwijk and Munich in August and September 1964 beating Laver and Rosewall in both events. Gimeno won the Milan Pro in September 1965 over Laver and Rosewall and beat Laver in the final of the pro event at Port Elizabeth in October 1965. Gimeno won the US Pro hardcourt event at St. Louis in June 1966 beating Laver in the final. He won the World pro championships in Oklahoma City in July 1966 beating Laver and Rosewall. He also won the Geneva and Barcelona pro tournaments in September 1966 (both over Laver). He won the Cincinnati Pro in July 1967 beating Laver and Rosewall. In September 1967, Gimeno won the Border Pro at Selborne (over Rosewall and Fred Stolle) and the Eastern Province Pro at Port Elizabeth (over Laver and Rosewall).

Gimeno's best Grand Slam results as a singles player came in 1968 when the Open era started and the professional could participate in Grand Slams. His first good result was the final in Australian Open in 1969, where he lost to Rod Laver in three sets. Gimeno won events at Barcelona, Cologne and New York in 1969, Dallas in 1970 and Hamburg in 1971.

Gimeno's best year was in 1972, when he was a finalist in Brussels and in Paris, and he won in Los Angeles, in Eastbourne, in Gstaad, and the French Open. The Catalan won his first and only Grand Slam in 1972. He held the record for the oldest male player to win the French Open (at the age of 34) until 2022, and remains the oldest first-time Grand Slam champion. In the final, he beat the French player Patrick Proisy in four sets. In addition, he reached the semifinals at Wimbledon in 1970. In 1973, he reached the final of the Dutch Open in Hilversum, where Tom Okker beat him in five sets.

Gimeno was an active Davis Cup player, recording an 18–5 singles record and 5–5 doubles record. His debut was in the match that Spain played against Egypt with one of the most important players in Spain, Manuel Santana. He could not play the competition while he was a part of the professional group, but he participated as coach in 1966. In 1973, he injured his meniscus and decided to quit playing tennis. He became the tennis coach in the RFET, Tennis' Spanish Federation and then in the Suisse Federation.

After retiring from tennis

After his professional career, he decided to join the tennis circuit for retired players called Legends Championship. He also founded a tennis club in 1974 called "Club de Tenis Andres Gimeno" in Castelldefels, Barcelona.

Gimeno, 1969

He was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2009, becoming the fourth Spanish tennis player in it, after Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Manuel Alonso and Manuel Santana.

Personal life

Gimeno married Cristina Corolla in 1962 and together they had three children: Alejo Gimeno, Andres Gimeno Jr. and Cristina Gimeno. In 2011, Gimeno lost all his money, and some of the best Spanish tennis players such as Rafael Nadal, Tommy Robredo, Feliciano López and David Ferrer played an exhibition tennis tournament in Palau Blaugrana to raise funds for him.

Death

Gimeno died following a long illness, on 9 October 2019, at the age of 82.

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1969	Australian Open	Grass	Rod Laver	3–6, 4–6, 5–7
Win	1972	French Open	Clay	Patrick Proisy	4–6, 6–3, 6–1, 6–1

Doubles: 2 (2 runner-ups)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1960	French Championships	Clay	José Luis Arilla	Roy Emerson Neale Fraser	2–6, 10–8, 5–7, 4–6
Loss	1968	US Open	Grass	Arthur Ashe	Bob Lutz Stan Smith	9–11, 1–6, 5–7

• Stats per ATP website bio

Career finals (Open era)

Singles (11 wins, 13 losses)

Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Mar 1968	Bogota NTL, Colombia	Clay (i)	Fred Stolle	11–13, 6–3, 6–4
Loss	1–1	Apr 1968	Paris NTL, France	Hard (i)	Ken Rosewall	3–6, 4–6
Win	2–1	Aug 1968	Binghamton NTL, USA	Hard	Fred Stolle	6–4, 6–1
Loss	2–2	Aug 1968	Fort Worth NTL, USA	Hard	Ken Rosewall	4–6, 3–6
Loss	2–3	Oct 1968	Corpus Christi NTL, USA	Hard	Rod Laver	2–6, 4–6
Loss	2–4	Oct 1968	São Paulo NTL-2, Brazil	Clay (i)	Rod Laver	2–6, 6–2, 3–6
Loss	2–5	Oct 1968	La Paz NTL, Bolivia	Clay	Rod Laver	4–6, 6–3, 5–7
Loss	2–6	Oct 1968	Lima NTL, Peru	Clay	Fred Stolle	6–2, 2–6, 3–6
Loss	2–7	Jan 1969	Australian Open, Australia	Grass	Rod Laver	3–6, 4–6, 5–7
Win	3–7	Mar 1969	New York-1, USA	Carpet (i)	Arthur Ashe	6–1, 6–2, 3–6, 6–8, 9–7
Loss	3–8	May 1969	Amsterdam, Netherlands	Clay	Tom Okker	4–6, 3–6
Win	4–8	Oct 1969	Cologne, Germany	Hard (i)	Roy Emerson	6–3, 19–17
Win	5–8	Nov 1969	Barcelona-2, Spain	Clay	Rod Laver	10–8, 2–6, 3–6, 6–4, 6–1
Loss	5–9	Feb 1970	Hollywood, FL, USA	Clay	Ken Rosewall	6–3, 2–6, 6–3, 6–7, 3–6
Win	6–9	Apr 1970	Dallas, USA	Carpet (i)	Roy Emerson	6–2, 6–3, 6–2
Loss	6–10	Jun 1970	Casablanca, Morocco	Clay	John Newcombe	4–6, 4–6, 4–6
Win	7–10	May 1971	Hamburg Open, Germany	Clay	Péter Szőke	6–3, 6–2, 6–2
Win	8–10	Feb 1972	Los Angeles, USA	Hard (i)	Pierre Barthes	6–3, 2–6, 6–3
Loss	8–11	May 1972	Brussels, Belgium	Clay	Manuel Orantes	4–6, 1–6, 6–2, 5–7
Win	9–11	May 1972	French Open, Paris	Clay	Patrick Proisy	4–6, 6–3, 6–1, 6–1
Win	10–11	Jun 1972	Eastbourne, England	Grass	Pierre Barthes	7–5, 6–3
Win	11–11	Jul 1972	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Adriano Panatta	7–5, 9–8, 6–4
Loss	11–12	Oct 1972	Paris, France	Hard (i)	Stan Smith	2–6, 2–6, 5–7
Loss	11–13	Jul 1973	Hilversum, Netherlands	Clay	Tom Okker	6–2, 4–6, 4–6, 7–6, 3–6

Source: ATP

Performance timeline

Professional Grand Slams

Source:

See also

In Spanish: Andrés Gimeno para niños