Allison, Wilmer

Wilmer Lawson Allison, Jr.
Born: December 08, 1904
Died: April 20, 1977
Hometown: San Antonio, Texas, United States
Citizenship: United States
Handed: Right
Inducted: 1963

Grand Slam Record
U.S. National  Singles Champion 1935
   Doubles Champion 1931, 1935
   Mixed Doubles Champion 1929,1930
 
 Wimbledon Doubles Champion 1929, 1930

Tournament Record
Davis Cup Team Member 1929-1936 (14-2 doubles record)
 
 US Intercollegiate Champion 1927

Highest Ranking
World No. 4 in 1932, 1935 (U.S. No. 1 in 1934-1935)

Although the firm of Allison & Van Ryn was synonymous with doubles excellence, Wilmer Lawson Allison, who played the left court, had several singles triumphs at the game. Foremost, he won the U.S. Championship in 1935 when, at age 30, he shot through not only 23-year-old ex-Wimbledon champ Sidney Wood, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3, in one of the lopsided finals, but 1933, 1934 and 1936 champ Fred Perry in the semis, 7-5, 6-3, 6-3. That ended a Forest Hills streak of 18 matches for Perry, and eased some of Allison’s pain of losing the 1934 final to Fred, 8-6 in the fifth.

As a Davis Cupper, primarily in and Johnny Van Ryn–U.S. champs in 1935 and Wimbledon champs in 1929 and 1930–won 14 of 16 doubles between 1929 and 1936, the best record by a U.S. team until Peter Fleming and John McEnroe’s 14-1. Their 24 team matches (tied with Stan Smith and Vic Seixas)are second only to McEnroe’s 30 in U.S. annals. The topnotch French teams in Cup finales in Paris (Jean Borotra-Henri Cochet in 1929, Cochet-Jacques Brugnon in 1932) but could do no more than prolong successful French defenses.

A 5-foot-11, 155-pound right-hander, Allison experienced two extraordinary Cup singles matches in Paris in 1931 and 1932. Opening the 4-1 semifinal victory over Italy he made an all-time comeback to beat ambidextrous Giorgio de Stefani, 4-6, 7-9, 6-4, 8-6, 10-8. Allison squandered four set points of his own in the second, but the most exciting was to come; from 2-5 down in the fourth he saved two match points and in the last set, from 1-5 down, 16 more.

The following year, with France ahead, 2-1, and the Cup at stake, he lost a controversial match to Borotra, 1-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 7-5, after the Frenchman saved four match points in the fifth set. On the fourth, at 4-5 advantage out, Borotra double-faulted by a considerable margin. But the local linesman made no call, and it was a point against Allison, who was on his way to shake hands.

Objective Al Laney wrote for the consumption of U.S. readers: “The U.S. has won the Cup, but the trophy remains in France. A linesman [Gerard de Ferrier] kept Allison from his just victory.” Ellsworth Vines beat Cochet in the fifth match, to make the score 3-2, France, but nobody can know how that match would have gone had it been decisive.

Allison played 44 singles and doubles Cup matches, third for the U.S. behind McEnroe (69) and Seixas (55), and won 32. Allison, who had also been a U.S. semifinalist in 1932, did not defend his title, withdrawing from the scene after losing a 1936 quarterfinal to Bunny Austin, 6-1, 6-4, 7-5, at Wimbledon, where he’d lost the 1930 final to Bill Tilden, Big Bill’s last major title. He had been in the U.S. Top Ten from 1928, eight straight years, No. 1 in 1934 and 1935, and the World Top Ten five times between 1930 and 1935, No. 4 in 1932 and 1935. He was born December 8, 1904, in San Antonio, and won the U.S. Intercollegiate title for his alma mater, Texas, in 1927.

During World War II he was a colonel in the U.S. Army Air Force. He entered the Hall of Fame in 1963, and died April 20, 1977, in Austin, TX.

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