Allen Fox - Tennis Career

Tennis Career

Fox attended Beverly Hills High School, and played tennis for the school.

In 1960, he teamed up with Larry Nagler to capture the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) doubles title for the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). In 1961, as team captain, Fox won the NCAA singles title. During his college career, Fox lost only two dual matches. "One was to Rafael Osuna and the other was to Chuck McKinley," he said. He was a three-time All-American (1959–61), and also earned All-UCLA and All-University of California Athlete of the Year honors, which are presented to the Best Scholar-Athlete. Fox helped lead UCLA to NCAA team championships in 1960 and 1961.

He was one of Arthur Ashe's closest friends during Ashe's freshman year, when Fox was a senior. Fox is Jewish. As Ashe put it, "In those days, to be Jewish in the top ranks of tennis was to encounter a certain amount of prejudice." Fox graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in physics in 1961, and later earned a Ph.D. there in psychology.

When he graduated, Fox was the 4th-ranked singles player in the United States. He won the singles title at Cincinnati in 1961. He won also the 1962 US National Hard Court title. That year, he reached the singles final in Cincinnati, falling to Marty Riessen. In 1965 he reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.

He won the Canadian Nationals in 1966. That year Fox also won the (40th annual) Mercedes-Benz Cup, formerly known as the Pacific Southwest Championships, when he was a graduate student, beating the then-current champions of all four majors – Manuel Santana aka "Manolo" Santana, Fred Stolle, Tony Roche, and Roy Emerson in the finals. Fox rode his motorcycle each day from UCLA to the Los Angeles Tennis Club.

In his career, Fox defeated many of the world's top-ranked players, including Arthur Ashe, Jimmy Connors, Stan Smith, and John Newcombe.