Kurt Nielsen

For the Danish football (soccer) player and manager, see Kurt "Nikkelaj" Nielsen. For the Norwegian singer, see Kurt Nilsen.

Kurt Nielsen (19 November 1930 – 11 June 2011)^[2] was a Danish tennis player. He was born in Copenhagen, and was the first Danish tennis player ever to have played in a men's singles final in a Grand Slam tournament.

Kurt Nielsen

Nielsen in 1999
Country (sports)	Denmark
Born	(1930-11-19)19 November 1930 Copenhagen, Denmark
Died	11 June 2011(2011-06-11) (aged 80)
Turned pro	1960 (amateur tour from 1948)
Retired	1966
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Coach	Don Tregonning (1955)
Singles
Career record	205–103
Career titles	13
Highest ranking	No. 7 (1953, Lance Tingay)[1]
Grand Slam singles results
French Open	4R (1952, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959)
Wimbledon	F (1953, 1955)
US Open	QF (1953)
Professional majors
Wembley Pro	1R (1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1966)
French Pro	1R (1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965)
Doubles
Grand Slam doubles results
Wimbledon	3R (1953, 1957)
Mixed doubles
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Wimbledon	F (1958)
US Open	W (1957)

Nielsen reached the singles finals of Wimbledon in 1953 (beating Ken Rosewall and Jaroslav Drobný, then losing to Vic Seixas)^[3] and 1955 (beating Rosewall, then losing to Tony Trabert). Both times he reached the final, he was unseeded. Before this, he won the boys' singles at Wimbledon in 1947 (defeating Sven Davidson). Besides his successes at Wimbledon, he won the boys' singles at the French Open and reached the quarterfinals in the U.S. Championships in 1953.

With Althea Gibson, Nielsen won the U.S. Open mixed doubles in 1957, thereby becoming the first Dane to have won a Grand Slam event. During his long career, he won around 30 international titles, played 96 Davis Cup matches for Denmark (with a 53–43 record), and holds the record of having won the most Danish national tennis championships (50). Nielsen turned professional in 1960 and played on the pro circuit.^[4]

After ending his active career, Nielsen held numerous honourable positions in leading international tennis associations as well as served as the supervisor and referee at many Grand Slam events. He was a commentator on the Danish version of the TV channel Eurosport until late 2006.^[5]

Nielsen was the grandfather of Danish tennis player Frederik Løchte Nielsen.^[6] His grandson, at the 2012 Wimbledon men's doubles event, became the second Dane to win a Grand Slam tournament.

Grand Slam finals

Singles: (2 runner-ups)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1953	Wimbledon	Grass	Vic Seixas	7–9, 3–6, 4–6
Runner-up	1955	Wimbledon	Grass	Tony Trabert	3–6, 5–7, 1–6

Mixed doubles: (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	1957	US Championships	Grass	Althea Gibson	Darlene Hard Robert Howe	6–3, 9–7
Runner-up	1958	Wimbledon	Grass	Althea Gibson	Lorraine Coghlan Robert Howe	3–6, 11–13

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.

The following lists main draw appearances for Grand Slam and pre-Open Era Professional Major tournaments only.

Tournament	1948	1949	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	W–L
Grand slam tournaments
Australian Championships	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	Absent; had turned pro						0–0
French Championships	3R	A	A	1R	4R1	A	2R	4R1	4R	4R	1R	4R	1R							16–10
Wimbledon Championships	2R	A	1R	3R	3R	F	4R	F	3R	3R	SF	2R	3R							31–12
U.S. National Championships	A	A	A	A	3R	QF	A	3R	A	4R	1R	A	A							11–5
Win–loss	3–2	0–0	0–1	2–2	6–3	10–2	4–2	10–3	5–2	7–3	5–3	4–2	2–2	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	58–27
Professional majors
U.S. Pro Tennis Championships	Absent; had not turned pro												A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0–0
French Pro Championship													1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	1R	A	0–6
Wembley Championships													1R	1R	1R	1R	PR	A	1R	0–5
Win–loss	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–2	0–2	0–2	0–2	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–11

Note: ¹ First round bye

References

1. "Trabert is Seeded Top", The Sydney Morning Herald, 16 September 1953.
2. Dansk tennislegende er død, tv2.dk 11. juni 2011 (in Danish)
3. "Wimbledon 1953". www.tennis.co.nf.
4. "Rosewall Downs Kurt Nielsen". The Canberra Times. 15 September 1960. p. 32 – via National Library of Australia.
5. Femte sæt, b.dk 17. februar 2011 (in Danish)
6. F. Løchte tættere på Wimbledon Archived 19 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine, tv2.dk 20. juni 2007 (in Danish)

External links

• Kurt Nielsen at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Kurt Nielsen at the International Tennis Federation
• Kurt Nielsen at the Davis Cup
• Kurt Nielsen and Torben Ulrich (in dark sweater) play Tony Trabert and Vic Seixas at Kjøbenhavns Boldklub, Frederiksberg, Denmark in 1954. Link to video stream.