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'William "Bill" Augustus Larned' (born December 30, 1872 – died December 16, 1926) was an American male tennis player.
He was raised in Summit, New Jersey on the estate of his father, William Zebedee Larned. Larned Road in Summit honors both father and son. William came from a family that could trace its American roots to shortly after the arrival of the Mayflower. He was the eldest child of a wealthy lawyer and his wife. In 1890 he came to Cornell to study mechanical engineering. He first gained fame in his junior year, when he became the first (and to this day, the only) Cornellian to win the intercollegiate tennis championship.
An all-around athlete, Larned captained the St. Nicholas hockey team in 1896-97 and was also a fine horseman, golfer, and rifle shot. He invented the steel-framed racquet in 1922 and founded a company to manufacture it.
As one of the "Big Three of the U.S. men's championship", Larned won the title seven times, as did Richard Sears before him and Bill Tilden after. He was inducted in the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1956.
Before Larned could finish his tennis career, the Spanish-American war had begun, and Larned thought it more important to serve as one of Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders. While serving in the war, Larned caught rheumatism (1912) and when he returned, was unable to play tennis. Partially paralized by spinal meningitis, he was unable to do any of the activities he loved most, and became depressed. On the evening of December 15, 1926, the 53 year old man William Augustus Larned raised a .45 caliber pistol to his head, and committed suicide.

Contents

Grand Slam record

★ 'Singles champion': '1901, 1902, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911 ★ Singles finalist: 1900, 1903

Runner-ups (2)

External links

Grand Slam record

===U.S. Championships=

★ 'Singles champion': '1901, 1902, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911

★ Singles finalist: 1900, 1903

Grand Slam singles finals==

Wins (7)

'Year	'Championship	'Opponent in Final	'Score in Final
1901	U.S. Championships	Beals Wright	6-2, 6-8, 6-4, 6-4
1902	U.S. Championships (2)	Reginald Doherty	4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 8-6
1906	U.S. Championships (2)	Beals Wright	6-3, 6-0, 6-4
1907	U.S. Championships (3)	Robert LeRoy	6-2, 6-2, 6-4
1908	U.S. Championships (4)	Beals Wright	6-1, 6-2, 8-6
1909	U.S. Championships (5)	William Clothier	6-1, 6-2, 5-7, 1-6, 6-1
1910	U.S. Championships (6)	Thomas Bundy	6-1, 5-7, 6-0, 6-8, 6-1
1911	U.S. Championships (7)	Maurice McLoughlin	6-4, 6-4, 6-2

Runner-ups (2)

'Year	'Championship	'Opponent in Final	'Score in Final
1900	U.S. Championships	Malcolm Whitman	6-4, 1-6, 6-2, 6-2
1903	U.S. Championships	Hugh Doherty	6-0, 6-3, 10-8

External links

★ Tennis Hall of Fame profile

★ Biography

★ Spanish-American War Military Service Record

★ Biography

★ Biography