Vic Seixas was a champion tennis player who won 15 Grand Slam titles and took victory in men’s singles at Wimbledon in 1953.
Vic Seixas’ legacy
Growing up in Philadelphia, Seixas learned to play tennis as a young boy, and he quickly fell in love with it. It wasn’t his only chosen sport; he also played basketball, squash and baseball, the latter of which he especially loved. He dreamed of Major League Baseball stardom, but he had to choose between that and tennis since the sports are played at the same time of year. Seixas chose the one in which he most excelled: tennis.
By the time he was leaving high school, Seixas had already begun to make a splash on the national tennis stage, but his career was put on hold for World War II. He joined the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1943 and served as a test pilot in New Guinea, putting newly assembled planes through their paces before they were put into service. When he returned from the war, Seixas enrolled at the University of North Carolina, where he became a star of the tennis team.
Seixas began his most notable decade in tennis with his first trip to Wimbledon in 1950. Three years later, he became a Wimbledon champion, and in 1954, he won the U.S. Open. Not just a singles player, Seixas also excelled in doubles and mixed doubles, with many of his Grand Slam victories coming with partners. He logged four Wimbledon wins in mixed doubles in the 1950s, as well as doubles and mixed doubles wins at the U.S. Open, French Open, Australian Open and Davis Cup.
Seixas continued playing tennis through the 1960s and won several impressive victories while he was in his 40s, sometimes two decades older than his opponents. He also worked as a stockbroker during his tennis-playing years. After his retirement in 1970, Seixas worked as a tennis coach and pro, most recently at the Club at Harbor Point in the San Francisco area. He was the oldest living Grand Slam champion in the years before his death.
Notable quote
“To be a pilot, you have to be alert and aware of everything that’s going on. You have to be that way in tennis.” — from a 2023 interview for Stars and Stripes
