Tennisarchives.com

General Date1971-11-19 - 1971-11-26
Tournament typeWCT Circuit
SurfaceUnknown
Rounds3
CityHouston & Dallas, Texas
Country-

Source World Tennis

Report Although the first Singles Final of the WCT Finals is by now almost completely overshadowed by the all-time classic both players performed almost 6 months later,it was nevertheless a magnificent and worthy end of the first WCT Series.
During the 1970 US Open WCT Inc. announced its $ 1 Million Series of 20 tournaments, interconnected by a point system which would lead to a big Final
Play-Off of the best 8 players in Dallas. The circuit was created by WCT executive director Mike Davies,the well known former british Davis Cup player and
Wimbledon doubles finalist,and largely financed by WCT owner Lamar Hunt,a Texas oil multi-millionaire.
The Series consisted of 20 tournaments:
1. PHILADELPHIA International INDOORS
2. Dunlop AUSTRALIAN OPEN
3. Sportface International:CHICAGO WCT
4. Aventura Classic:WCT MIAMI
5. Rawlings Classic:WCT DALLAS
6. ITALIAN OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS
7. Aryamehr Cup:WCT TEHERAN
8. W.D.&H.O.WILLS West of England CHAMPIONSHIPS,Bristol
9. WASHINGTON STAR INTERNATIONAL
10. First National Tennis Classic:LOUISVILLE
11. Rothmans International:QUEBEC WCT
12. U.S.Professional Championships:WCT BOSTON
13. Rothmans CANADIAN OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS,Toronto
14. COLONIAL PRO INVITATION,Fort Worth
15. Redwood Bank PACIFIC COAST Open Championships,San Francisco
16. ROTHMANS international VANCOUVER
17. Profi-Tennis Weltmeisterschaft:WCT COLOGNE
18. Trofeo CONDE DE GODO-Spanish Open,Barcelona
19. STOCKHOLM OPEN
20. Rothmans Open Italian Indoor Championships:WCT BOLOGNA

The Series not only included tournaments which were filled by the WCT contract pros,but also 8 open events where amateurs and independent pros
could compete (Australian Open,Italian Open,Washington,Canadian Open,Pacific Coast Open,Barcelona,Stockholm and Bologna). Two of them were also part of the ITLF Grand Prix Circuit (Washington,Pacific Coast Open).

The Final Standings of the WCT Series:
1. Rod Laver 87,25
2. Tom Okker 75
3. Ken Rosewall 74
4. Cliff Drysdale 69,25
5. Arthur Ashe 68,25
6. John Newcombe 60
7. Marty Riessen 55
8. Bob Lutz 41
9. Roy Emerson 34
10. Andres Gimeno 30
11. Charles Pasarell 22
12. John Alexander 21
13. Dennis Ralston 17
14. Niki Pilic 16
Ray Ruffels 16
Ismail El Shafei 16
17. Bob Maud 15,25
18. Mark Cox 15
19. Roger Taylor 14
20. Fred Stolle 11
21. Tony Roche 10
22. Bob Carmichael 9
Brian Fairlie 9
24. Jeff Borowiak 8
Owen Davidson 8
26. Bill Bowrey 6
Phil Dent 6
28. Allan Stone 5
29. Torben Ulrich 4
30. Dick Crealy 3
Frew McMillan 3
Graham Stilwell 3
33. Roy Barth 2
Tom Leonard 2

Since WCT Inc. offered the better players and managed to include some of the traditional tennis championships like the Australian Open,Italian Open,
Canadian Open and Pacific Coast Open,the series threatened to eclipse the 1971 ITLF Grand Prix Circuit. Consequently,the International Lawn Tennis Federation decided to ban all WCT contract players from all their tournaments and courts from 1 January 1972. Only the Anti-Trust laws made the continuation of the WCT Series possible in the United States,elsewhere no WCT players were permitted to play. The ban was finally lifted after the 1972 Wimbledon Championships and WCT was given the months of January to May of the following year for staging their own series.

Media


Winner Player Kenneth Robert (Ken) Rosewall


Players

Rounds
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Final

Tournament