player – Tennisarchives.com

General First nameLazaros
LastnameStalios
GenderMale
CountryGreece
Date of birth1912-08-02
Place of birthXanthi, Greece
Date of death1977-00-00
Place of deathSaloniki, Greece

About

Lazaros Stalios was born in Xanthi, in 1912. After the death of his father and at the age of ten, the family moved and resided permanently in Thessaloniki. Their home was a magnificent villa on Vasilissis Olgas Street, where almost all the houses of prominent Thessalonians were located (Villa Allatini, Villa Ahmet and Mehmet Kapantzis, etc.).

Nearby, he will receive his first tennis lessons, at the court of the Thessaloniki Tennis Club (founded in 1927). Lazaros Stalios' career begins in the 1930s and lasts continuously and uninterruptedly until the early 1960s. Specifically, he has won 7 consecutive Panhellenic championships, from 1934 to 1940, when all sports activities were interrupted due to the start of World War II and the attack of the Italo-German axis against Greece. In 1946, he returned to active action and won another ten consecutive Panhellenic championships, from 1947 to 1956. At the same time, he also starred in men's doubles, with Panhellenic victories (1933, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1958, 1959, 1960). Eighteen Panhellenic victories in mixed doubles. At the same time, he also had very important international distinctions, scoring a total of 116 (!) international victories. In 1936, he became the Balkan champion, participated and advanced to the third round of Roland Garros, where he was eliminated by the Frenchman Jacques Zamen.

Typical are the comments of the press at that time, that "Greek tennis starts with him and ends with him". This was characterized as the "Stalios Dictatorship", an obvious allusion to the political situation of our country at that time (Dictatorship of Ioannis Metaxas, August 4th regime). With the outbreak of World War II, his sports activity was interrupted. In April 1941, the Germans entered Thessaloniki. At some point, a German Captain with a group of soldiers came with orders to commandeer the Stalios house. The Germans began to loot the house, throw out the furniture and look for valuable objects to loot. At some point near the internal stairs, the German Captain came across a photograph of Lazarus Stalios with the German tennis champion, Gottfried von Kram, and even with a handwritten dedication to him, in French. Amazed, the Captain turned to Lazarus Stalios' mother to tell him who was next to their champion. His mother, in fluent German, replied that it was her son. After Lazarus Stalios himself arrived, the impressed German Captain, in an attitude of attention and awe, asked him if they could play a game of tennis together, as he considered it a great honor to play with someone who had competed with their champion. Lazaros Stalios, uncompromising and a fighter by nature, did not even think for a moment of giving in to the German officer, although he did not know what his reaction would be to an expected defeat. They played two sets and, naturally, he won both with a score of 6-0! The German officer appreciated Lazaros Stalios' fighting spirit and in the end, only the first floor of the house was requisitioned, where a hospital was housed. The family was allowed to live in the rest of the house, and in fact, they were fed from the hospital's canteen, which caused concern in the family, as there was always the fear that they would be labeled as traitors.

In 1963 he retired permanently from active activity, but he never stopped playing tennis and exercising systematically. For many years he was the manager of the “OLYMPION” cinema in Thessaloniki, where people would go to meet him and get to know him up close. Later he became involved in oil brokerage. Married to Meropi – Miranda Louvari, they had their only son, Petros Stalios. Petros Stalios, influenced by his father’s love for this sport, followed in his footsteps and was himself Greek champion for three consecutive years (1977, 1978, 1979). After a short career, he continued as a tennis coach for fifteen years.

The title, however, that held a special place in the heart of Lazaros Stalios, was, as his son, Petros, tells us, but also a publication of the time, when, at the age of 56 (according to the publication 59 years old), with a partner in the men's doubles, the then champion and much younger than him, Nick Kalogeropoulos, they managed to conquer the Panhellenic Championship. This title was what launched the fame of Lazaros Stalios, but also highlighted his technical training and physical condition. Characteristic are the words of the well-known sports writer of the time, Lakis Michaelides, who, full of admiration, writes verbatim: "He deserves warmest congratulations! I think that our city's tennis club SHOULD honor him for this unparalleled feat, with which he "closed" his glorious career! Well done, old Stalios!"

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