Grant, Bryan

Bryan Moral Grant, Jr. “Bitsy”
Born: December 25, 1910
Died: June 05, 1986
Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Citizenship: United States
Handed: Right
Inducted: 1972

Tournament Record
Davis Cup Team Member 1935-37

A scrappy little guy, 5-foot-4, 120-pound Bryan Morel “Bitsy” Grant was the smallest American man to attain championship stature. A right-hander retriever supreme, he was able to beat such heavy-hitting greats as Don Budge and Ellsworth Vines even on grass. Between 1930 and 1941 he was ranked nine times in the U.S Top Ten, No. 3 in 1935 and 1936. In 1936 and 1937 he was in the World Top Ten, Nos. 8 and 6 respectively.

Reared on the clay of his native Georgia, he won the U.S. title on that surface thrice (1930, 1934, 1935) but he had his moments on the grass at Forest Hills, reaching the U.S. semis in 1935 by beating second-seeded Budge, 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, and in 1936, losing to eventual champion Fred Perry, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. He was a quarterfinalist in 1937, losing to Gottfried von Cramm, 9-7, 2-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, and reached the same round a year later.

He played Davis Cup 1935, 1936 and 1937, helping the U.S. regain the prize in 1937 after a 10-year slump. He continued to compete as a senior, winning 19 U.S. singles titles on the four surfaces: Grass Court-45s (1956 and 1957), 55s(1965, 1966, 1967 and 1968); Indoor 55s(1966); Clay Court-45s (1959, 1960, 1961 and 1963), 55s (1965, 1966, 1967, 1968 and 1969), 65s (1976 and 1977); Hard Court-65s (1976).

He was born in Atlanta, December 25, 1910, and died there June 5, 1986. Named for him, the Bitsy Grant Tennis Center in his hometown is one of the finest public court complexes. He entered the Hall of Fame in 1972.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 26th, 2008 at 9:54 am and is filed under Hall of Famer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.