Roscoe Tanner

Leonard Roscoe Tanner (born October 15, 1951) is an American former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4 on July 30, 1979.

Roscoe Tanner

Country (sports)	United States
Residence	Kiawah Island, South Carolina
Born	(1951-10-15) October 15, 1951 Chattanooga, Tennessee
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Turned pro	1972 (amateur from 1969)
Retired	1985
Plays	Left-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money	$1,696,198
Singles
Career record	592–293
Career titles	15
Highest ranking	No. 4 (July 30, 1979)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	W (1977Jan)
French Open	4R (1978)
Wimbledon	F (1979)
US Open	SF (1974, 1979)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals	RR (1976, 1977, 1979, 1981)
WCT Finals	SF (1981)
Doubles
Career record	272-182
Career titles	13
Highest ranking	No. 14 (August 23, 1977)

Tanner was famous for his big left-handed serve, which was reportedly clocked at 153 miles per hour (246 km/h) at the Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California on February 19, 1978 during the 1978 American Airlines Tennis Games singles final against Raúl Ramírez. He is also known for winning the men's singles title at the first of two Australian Open tournaments held in 1977. Tanner won the tournament held in January. Tanner reached the Wimbledon final in 1979, losing to Björn Borg in five sets.

After his retirement, Tanner received media attention in the 2000s for legal problems that included stretches of imprisonment, arrests for missing child support payments, allegations of financial misdeeds, and bankruptcy (see § Criminal record).

Early life

Leonard Roscoe Tanner III hailed from Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, graduated from Baylor School in Chattanooga, and with teammate Sandy Mayer helped to lead Stanford University's rise to national prominence in collegiate tennis. Tanner played number one singles, with Mayer playing number two. In 1972, Tanner and Mayer won the NCAA doubles championship, and the Stanford team finished second in the NCAA tournament, behind Trinity (TX). The team also featured Chico Hagey, Rick Fisher, Jim Delaney, Gery Groslimond, Chip Fisher, Paul Sidone, and Tim Noonan.

Playing history

Tanner defeated Haroon Rahim 10–8 in the fifth set to win the 1970 United States Amateur Championships.

Tanner defeated Guillermo Vilas in three straight sets in the 1977 Australian Open (January) final, to win his first and only grand slam title. Tanner lost a five set match to Björn Borg in the 1979 Wimbledon final, which was the first Wimbledon final to be broadcast live in the United States as part of NBC's Breakfast at Wimbledon. Tanner avenged this loss to Borg by beating him in four sets in the US Open quarterfinals two months later, a match where Tanner's 140 mph serve brought the net down during the fourth set. Tanner lost to Vitas Gerulaitis in the semifinals. Tanner described his 1979 US Open win over Borg and loss to Gerulaitis in his autobiography as "the highest of my highs and the lowest of my lows on a tennis court within two days of each other".

Tanner's unorthodox but very strong left-handed serve was tossed very low and struck with a lunge involving the whole body, earning him the nickname "The Rocket". His booming 153 mph serve was the fastest ever recorded in tournament competition from February 1978 until Andy Roddick posted a 155 mph serve in a Davis Cup semifinal in September 2004 against Vladimir Voltchkov.

He won the Davis Cup in 1981 playing with John McEnroe, Eliot Teltscher and Peter Fleming on a team captained by Arthur Ashe that defeated Argentina in the final, played at Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati.

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

Key

W

F

SF

QF

#R

RR

Q#

DNQ

A

NH

(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Tournament	1969	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977		1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	SR	W–L
Australian Open1	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	W	1R	A	A	A	2R	A	3R	A	1 / 4	9–3
French Open	A	A	A	A	A	1R	3R	A	A		4R	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 3	5–3
Wimbledon	A	A	A	3R	A	4R	SF	SF	1R		4R	F	QF	2R	4R	QF	A	0 / 11	36–11
US Open	1R	2R	3R	QF	3R	SF	3R	4R	4R		4R	SF	QF	QF	2R	3R	1R	0 / 16	40–16
Win–loss	0–1	0–1	2–1	6–2	2–1	8–3	9–3	8–2	9–3		9–3	11–2	8–2	6–3	4–2	8–3	0–1	1 / 34	90–33

¹The Australian Open was played twice in 1977, in January and December.

Grand Slam finals

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

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1977	Australian Open (Jan.)	Grass	Guillermo Vilas	6–3, 6–3, 6–3
Loss	1979	Wimbledon	Grass	Björn Borg	7–6(7–4), 1–6, 6–3, 3–6, 4–6

Career finals

Singles (15 titles, 26 runner-ups)

Result	No.	Year	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1.	1972	Albany, U.S.	Hard (i)	Jimmy Connors	2–6, 6–7
Loss	2.	1972	Los Angeles, U.S.	Hard	Stan Smith	4–6, 4–6
Loss	3.	1973	Milan WCT, Italy	Carpet (i)	Marty Riessen	6–7, 0–6, 6–7
Loss	4.	1974	Palm Desert WCT, U.S.	Hard	Rod Laver	4–6, 2–6
Win	1.	1974	Denver WCT, U.S.	Carpet (i)	Arthur Ashe	6–2, 6–4
Loss	5.	1974	Columbus, U.S.	Hard	Raúl Ramírez	6–3, 6–7, 4–6
Loss	6.	1974	Maui, U.S.	Hard	John Newcombe	6–7, 6–7
Win	2.	1974	Christchurch, New Zealand	Carpet (i)	Ray Ruffels	6–4, 6–2
Loss	7.	1975	St. Petersburg WCT, U.S.	Hard	Raúl Ramírez	0–6, 6–1, 2–6
Loss	8.	1975	St. Louis WCT, U.S.	Clay	Vitas Gerulaitis	6–2, 2–6, 3–6
Loss	9.	1975	Charlotte, U.S.	Clay	Raúl Ramírez	6–3, 4–6, 3–6
Win	3.	1975	Las Vegas WCT, U.S.	Hard	Ross Case	5–7, 7–5, 7–6
Win	4.	1975	Chicago, U.S.	Carpet (i)	John Alexander	6–1, 6–7, 7–6
Loss	10.	1975	Los Angeles, U.S.	Hard	Arthur Ashe	6–3, 5–7, 3–6
Loss	11.	1976	Birmingham, U.S.	Carpet (i)	Jimmy Connors	4–6, 6–3, 1–6
Loss	12.	1976	Rancho Mirage, U.S.	Hard	Jimmy Connors	4–6, 4–6
Win	5.	1976	Cincinnati, U.S.	Clay	Eddie Dibbs	7–6, 6–3
Win	6.	1976	Columbus, U.S.	Hard	Stan Smith	6–4, 7–6
Loss	13.	1976	South Orange, U.S.	Clay	Ilie Năstase	4–6, 2–6
Win	7.	1976	San Francisco, U.S.	Hard (i)	Brian Gottfried	4–6, 7–5, 6–1
Win	8.	1976	Tokyo Outdoor, Japan	Clay	Corrado Barazzutti	6–3, 6–2
Loss	14.	1976	Wembley, U.K.	Carpet (i)	Jimmy Connors	6–3, 6–7, 4–6
Win	9.	1977 (Jan.)	Australian Open, Melbourne	Grass	Guillermo Vilas	6–3, 6–3, 6–3
Loss	15.	1977	South Orange, U.S.	Clay	Guillermo Vilas	4–6, 1–6
Loss	16.	1977	Hilton Head, U.S.	Clay	Björn Borg	4–6, 5–7
Loss	17.	1977	WCT Challenge Cup, Las Vegas	Carpet (i)	Jimmy Connors	2–6, 6–5, 6–3, 2–6, 5–6
Win	10.	1977	Sydney Outdoor, Australia	Grass	Brian Teacher	6–3, 3–6, 6–3, 6–7, 6–4
Loss	18.	1978	Philadelphia, U.S.	Carpet (i)	Jimmy Connors	2–6, 4–6, 3–6
Win	11.	1978	Rancho Mirage, U.S.	Hard	Raúl Ramírez	6–1, 7–6
Win	12.	1978	New Orleans, U.S.	Carpet (i)	Victor Amaya	6–3, 7–5
Win	13.	1979	Rancho Mirage, U.S.	Hard	Brian Gottfried	6–4, 6–2
Win	14.	1979	Washington Indoor, U.S.	Carpet (i)	Brian Gottfried	6–4, 6–4
Loss	19.	1979	New Orleans, U.S.	Carpet (i)	John McEnroe	4–6, 2–6
Loss	20.	1979	Wimbledon, U.K.	Grass	Björn Borg	7–6, 1–6, 6–3, 3–6, 4–6
Loss	21.	1979	Cincinnati, U.S.	Hard	Peter Fleming	4–6, 2–6
Loss	22.	1980	Richmond WCT, U.S.	Carpet (i)	John McEnroe	1–6, 2–6
Win	15.	1981	Philadelphia, U.S.	Carpet (i)	Wojtek Fibak	6–2, 7–6, 7–5
Loss	23.	1981	Memphis, U.S.	Carpet (i)	Gene Mayer	2–6, 4–6
Loss	24.	1981	Bristol, U.K.	Grass	Mark Edmondson	3–6, 7–5, 4–6
Loss	25.	1981	Sydney Indoor, Australia	Hard (i)	John McEnroe	4–6, 5–7, 2–6
Loss	26.	1982	La Costa WCT, U.S.	Hard	Johan Kriek	0–6, 6–4, 0–6, 4–6

Doubles titles (13 titles, 16 runner-ups)

Result	No.	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Loss	1.	1971	Cincinnati, U.S.	Clay	Sandy Mayer	Stan Smith Erik van Dillen	4–6, 4–6
Loss	2.	1971	Columbus, U.S.	Hard	Jimmy Connors	Jim McManus Jim Osborne	6–4, 5–7, 2–6
Loss	3.	1973	London WCT, U.K.	Hard (i)	Arthur Ashe	Tom Okker Marty Riessen	3–6, 3–6
Loss	4.	1973	Washington WCT, U.S.	Carpet (i)	Arthur Ashe	Tom Okker Marty Riessen	6–4, 6–7, 2–6
Loss	5.	1973	Houston WCT, U.S.	Clay	Arthur Ashe	Tom Okker Marty Riessen	5–7, 5–7
Win	1.	1973	Denver WCT, U.S.	Carpet (i)	Arthur Ashe	Tom Okker Marty Riessen	3–6, 6–3, 7–6
Loss	6.	1973	Paris Indoor, France	Hard (i)	Arthur Ashe	Juan Gisbert Sr. Ilie Năstase	2–6, 6–4, 5–7
Loss	7.	1974	Bologna Indoor, Italy	Carpet (i)	Arthur Ashe	Ove Bengtson Björn Borg	4–6, 7–5, 6–4, 6–7, 2–6
Win	2.	1974	Barcelona WCT, Spain	Carpet (i)	Arthur Ashe	Tom Edlefsen Tom Leonard	6–3, 6–4
Loss	8.	1974	Houston, U.S.	Clay	Arthur Ashe	Colin Dibley Rod Laver	6–4, 6–7, 4–6
Win	3.	1974	Denver WCT, U.S.	Carpet (i)	Arthur Ashe	Mark Cox Jun Kamiwazumi	6–3, 7–6
Win	4.	1974	Maui, U.S.	Hard	Dick Stockton	Owen Davidson John Newcombe	6–3, 7–6
Win	5.	1974	Christchurch, New Zealand	Carpet (i)	Ismail El Shafei	Syd Ball Ray Ruffels	w/o
Win	6.	1974	Jakarta, Indonesia	Hard	Ismail El Shafei	Jürgen Fassbender Hans-Jürgen Pohmann	7–5, 6–3
Loss	9.	1975	St. Petersburg WCT, U.S.	Hard	Charlie Pasarell	Brian Gottfried Raúl Ramírez	4–6, 4–6
Loss	10.	1975	La Costa WCT, U.S.	Hard	Charlie Pasarell	Brian Gottfried Raúl Ramírez	5–7, 4–6
Win	7.	1975	Nottingham, U.K.	Grass	Charlie Pasarell	Tom Okker Marty Riessen	6–2, 6–3
Loss	11.	1975	Stockholm, Sweden	Hard (i)	Charlie Pasarell	Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan	6–3, 3–6, 4–6
Loss	12.	1976	Memphis WCT, U.S.	Carpet (i)	Marty Riessen	Anand Amritraj Vijay Amritraj	3–6, 4–6
Win	8.	1976	La Costa WCT, U.S.	Hard	Marty Riessen	Peter Fleming Gene Mayer	7–6, 7–6
Win	9.	1976	Johannesburg WCT, South Africa	Hard	Marty Riessen	Frew McMillan Tom Okker	6–2, 7–5
Win	10.	1976	San Francisco, U.S.	Hard (i)	Dick Stockton	Brian Gottfried Bob Hewitt	6–3, 6–4
Loss	13.	1976	Maui, U.S.	Hard	Dick Stockton	Raymond Moore Allan Stone	7–6, 3–6, 4–6
Win	11.	1976	Perth, Australia	Hard (i)	Dick Stockton	Bob Carmichael Ismail El Shafei	6–7, 6–1, 6–2
Win	12.	1976	Wembley, U.K.	Carpet (i)	Stan Smith	Wojtek Fibak Brian Gottfried	7–6, 6–3
Loss	14.	1977	Palm Springs, U.S.	Hard	Marty Riessen	Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan	6–7, 6–7
Loss	15.	1977	Cincinnati, U.S.	Hard	Bob Hewitt	John Alexander Phil Dent	3–6, 6–7
Loss	16.	1977	Hong Kong	Hard	Marty Riessen	Syd Ball Kim Warwick	6–7, 3–6
Win	13.	1978	Palm Springs, U.S.	Hard	Raymond Moore	Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan	6–4, 6–4

Personal life

Tanner has been married three times, first to Nancy, then Charlotte, and last to Margaret. He has five children, Omega Anne Romano, Tamara Tanner, Lauren Tanner, Anne Monique, and Lacey Tanner.

Criminal record

Tanner has an extensive record of conflicts with the law. He was first arrested in 1997 for failure to pay child support. He was arrested again in June 2003 on a fugitive warrant on charges related to passing a bad check and to further nonpayment of child support. He pleaded guilty and received an initial sentence of probation. Tanner violated his probation and served one year in prison in Florida, but was then jailed for contempt of court in California.

In 2008, Tanner was again arrested for writing a bad check in Knoxville, Tennessee, but it was settled out of court. After being evicted from his home, Tanner was arrested in January 2012 for writing another bad check. In March 2013, Tanner was arrested in Florida for writing a bad check and grand theft, and in 2014, he served 10 days for driving with a suspended license. In 2015, Tanner was arrested for failure to appear in court on a previous warrant.

Tennis camps

Currently, Tanner has a venture in teaching tennis. He has taught at doubles tennis camps with other professionals, and is the camp director at his own training camp.

External links

• Roscoe Tanner at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Roscoe Tanner at the International Tennis Federation
• Roscoe Tanner at the Davis Cup