Doeg, John

John Thomas Godfray Hope Doeg
Born: December 07, 1908
Died: April 27, 1978
Hometown: Guayamas, Sonora, Mexico
Citizenship: Mexico
Handed: Left
Inducted: 1962

Grand Slam Record

U.S. Singles 1930
Doubles 1929-30

Wimbledon Doubles finalist 1930

Tournament Record

Davis Cup Team Member 1930

Junior Singles 1926

As the fourth left-handed U.S. champ (following Bob Wrenn, Beals Wright, Lindley Murray), sixth-seeded John Thomas Godfray Hope Doeg hit the title jackpot in 1930. As a collateral exploit, he exploded 28 aces in the semis to thwart top-seeded Bill Tilden’s fervent bid for a eighth title, 10-8, 6-3, 3-6, 12-10. That was Big Bill’s Forest Hills farewell. But there was more to Doeg’s championship than that. His was a strenuous serve-and-volley rush to the prize, a determination to keep pressure on foes with incessant in-your-face forays to the net. Quite different from his baselining Aunt May (Sutton), who’d won the women’s title 26 years before.

But at 6-foot-1, 170 pounds, 21-year-old blond Doeg could keep the pounding going. He lost seven sets in six matches, two to ex-Harvard football All American Barry Wood at the outset, and two more in the quarters to Frank Hunter, 11-13, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. He got past the last-hurrahing 37-year-old Tilden, the Wimbledon champ (Doeg had lost there in the semis to Wilmer Allison), and was fiercely opposed by 11th-seeded 19-year-old Frank Shields. Refusing to bend in the record-length closing set of a major singles final, Doeg won, 10-8, 1-6, 6-4, 16-14. An ace cancelled Shields’ set point at 13-14. The title won him the No. 1 U.S. ranking, No. 4 in the world, up from No. 7 in 1929. His brilliant serving, speed and spin made him a feared foe for five years as he ranked in the U.S. Top Ten between 1927 and 1931.

Doeg and George Lott were Wimbledon doubles finalists in 1930 and won the U.S. titles of 1929 and 1930. He was the U.S. junior champ in 1926, the first of eight males to make the transition from the 18s to the adult championship. Johnny was born in Guayamas, Sonora, Mexico, December 7, 1908, and grew up in California. He was a son of a Southern California champ, the former Violet Sutton.

He entered the Hall of Fame in 1962 and died April 27, 1978, in Redding, CA.

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