Cincinnati Tennis Club - Nat Emerson and Tony Trabert

Nat Emerson and Tony Trabert

The Club has had a number of nationally ranked players, the first being Nat Emerson who won the Tri-State Tournament when it was first played in 1899, and was a finalist several times afterward. He was ranked No. 7 in Men's Singles by the USTA in 1908. Another nationally prominent player in the early years was Reuben A. Holden, Jr., who won the NCAA Singles Championship in 1910 while a student at Yale University. It was 41 years later in 1951, when Club member Tony Trabert playing for the University of Cincinnati won the NCAA Singles title. Barry MacKay of Dayton also won the NCAA Singles title in 1957, while at the University of Michigan.

Trabert was one of the most prominent players in the modern history of tennis. He played on the United States Davis Cup team and was later the captain. He was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1970. Court 2 at the tennis club has been dedicated in this honor.

Bill Talbert was ranked in the U.S. Top 10 13 times between 1941 & 1954. He won nine Grand Slam doubles titles, and also reached the men’s doubles finals of the U.S. National Championship nine times. He also was a Davis Cup player and one of the most successful Davis Cup captains in U.S. history. He was enshrined into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1967 and was in the first class, along with his former protégé Tony Trabert, enshrined into the Cincinnati Tennis Hall of Fame. After his playing career, he was Tournament Director of the US Open. Talbert and Trabert were both coached by Howard Zaeh, as well as many hundreds of others who went on to play around the world.