12 September 1984(1984-09-12) (aged 68) Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
Height
1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)
Turned pro
1948 (amateur from 1935)
Retired
1955
Plays
Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Int. Tennis HoF
2016 (member page)
Singles
Career record
179-65 (73.3%)[1]
Career titles
18[1]
Highest ranking
No. 4 (1946, A. Wallis Myers)[2]
Grand Slam singles results
French Open
SF (1946)
Wimbledon
W (1946)
US Open
4R (1936, 1937, 1938)
Professional majors
US Pro
1R (1950)
Doubles
Career record
0–1
Grand Slam doubles results
French Open
W (1938, 1946)
Wimbledon
QF (1947)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
French Open
W (1937)
Wimbledon
F (1937)
US Open
F (1937)
Yvon Petra (French pronunciation:[ivɔ̃petʁa]; 8 March 1916 – 12 September 1984) was a French male tennis player. He was born in Cholon, French Indochina.
Petra is best remembered as the last Frenchman to win the Wimbledon Championships men's singles title (in 1946), beating Geoff Brown in five sets in the final. In doubles, he won the French Championships twice, in 1938 with Bernard Destremau, defeating the best pair in the world Budge-Mako, and in 1946 with Marcel Bernard. In 1938, he won the singles and doubles title at the French Covered Court Championships.[3] He was a prisoner of war in World War II and after his release won three Tournoi de France singles titles from 1943 through 1945.[4][5] He emigrated to the United States and worked as a tennis pro at the Saddle and Cycle Club in Chicago and a country club in Connecticut towards the end of his life. Petra was ranked world No. 4 for 1946 by A. Wallis Myers and world No. 8 for 1947 by Harry Hopman.[2][6] He was the last man to wear long trousers in a Wimbledon final and was the last Frenchman to win the singles title.[7]
Petra joined the tour of professional players in 1948.[8] He was inducted into International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2016.[9]
^ ab"Yvon Petra: Career match record". The Tennis Base. Tennismem SL.
^ abUnited States Lawn Tennis Association (1972). Official Encyclopedia of Tennis (First Edition), p. 425.
^G.P. Hughes, ed. (1947). Dunlop Lawn Tennis Annual and Almanack 1947. London: Ed. J. Burrow & Co. Ltd. p. 281.
^Harold Bubil (23 December 1974). "Petra: POW Camp to Wimbledon Champ". Sarasota Journal. pp. 1-D, 4-D.
^Henry D. Fetter (6 June 2011). "The French Open During World War II: A Hidden History". The Atlantic.
^"World's Best 10 in Tennis", The Courier-Mail, 3 February 1947.
^Paul Newman (15 July 2016). "Remembering Yvon Petra: Hall of Famer, WWII veteran and Wimbledon champion". wimbledon.com. AELTC.
^McCauley, Joe (2000). The History of Professional Tennis. Windsor: The Short Run Book Company Limited. p. 47.
^"Class of 2016". International Tennis Hall of Fame. 7 March 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
YvonPetra (French pronunciation: [ivɔ̃ petʁa]; 8 March 1916 – 12 September 1984) was a French male tennis player. He was born in Cholon, French Indochina...
1936: Fred Perry 1937: Don Budge 1938: Don Budge 1939: Bobby Riggs 1946: YvonPetra 1947: Jack Kramer 1948: Bob Falkenburg 1949: Ted Schroeder 1950: Budge...
Bernard Destremau / YvonPetra 1939: Don McNeill / Charles Harris 1940–1945: No competition (World War II) 1946: Marcel Bernard / YvonPetra 1947: Eustace Fannin...
Pro at Scarborough in July. In the final he won in four sets against YvonPetra, who had won the Wimbledon men's singles two years earlier. "Perry, noted...
Bernard Destremau / YvonPetra 1939: Don McNeill / Charles Harris 1940–1945: No competition (World War II) 1946: Marcel Bernard / YvonPetra 1947: Eustace Fannin...
Bernard Destremau / YvonPetra 1939: Don McNeill / Charles Harris 1940–1945: No competition (World War II) 1946: Marcel Bernard / YvonPetra 1947: Eustace Fannin...
Bernard Destremau / YvonPetra 1939: Don McNeill / Charles Harris 1940–1945: No competition (World War II) 1946: Marcel Bernard / YvonPetra 1947: Eustace Fannin...
1936: Fred Perry 1937: Don Budge 1938: Don Budge 1939: Bobby Riggs 1946: YvonPetra 1947: Jack Kramer 1948: Bob Falkenburg 1949: Ted Schroeder 1950: Budge...
1936: Fred Perry 1937: Don Budge 1938: Don Budge 1939: Bobby Riggs 1946: YvonPetra 1947: Jack Kramer 1948: Bob Falkenburg 1949: Ted Schroeder 1950: Budge...
September 9 – Yılmaz Güney, Turkish film director (b. 1937) September 12 – YvonPetra, French tennis player (b. 1916) September 14 Richard Brautigan, American...