Dinny Pails

Dennis "Dinny" Pails (4 March 1921 – 22 November 1986) was an Australian tennis champion.

Dinny Pails
Full nameDennis Robert Pails
Country (sports) Australia
Born4 March 1921
Nottingham, England
Died22 November 1986(1986-11-22) (aged 65)
Sydney, Australia
Turned pro1947 (amateur tour from 1937)
Retired1969
PlaysRight-handed (one-handed backhand)
Singles
Career record322-226 (58.7%) [1]
Career titles18 [2]
Highest rankingNo. 6 (1947, John Olliff)[3]
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian OpenW (1947)
WimbledonSF (1947)
US Open4R (1947)
Professional majors
US ProQF (1948, 1957)
Wembley ProQF (1949, 1952)
Doubles
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian OpenSF (1946)
WimbledonF (1946)
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
WimbledonQF (1946)

Pails was born in England, but moved to Australia in 1922 aged 1. Pails won the men's singles championship at the Australian Championships in 1947. Pails defeated John Bromwich in the final in five sets: 4–6, 6–4, 3–6, 7–5, 8–6, saving a match point in the process.[4] Pails played eight Davis Cup matches between 1946 and 1947, winning three matches and losing five.

Pails turned professional at the end of 1947.[5][6] He played on the pro tour off and on for many years, Bud Collins ranking him the World No. 4 pro in 1948, whilst he reached as high as World No. 6 in the 1947 amateur rankings.[3] According to tennis great and long-time promoter Jack Kramer, Pails beat Pancho Segura 41 to 31 matches in the 1948 tour, "but that was when Segoo was still learning how to play fast surfaces." Kramer himself beat Pails "55 times with 1 draw, but somehow we were able to forget that off the court."

Grand Slam finals

Singles (1 title, 1 runner-up)
Result Year Championship Surface Opponent Score
Loss1946Australian ChampionshipsGrass John Bromwich7–5, 3–6, 5–7, 6–3, 2–6
Win1947Australian ChampionshipsGrass John Bromwich4–6, 6–4, 3–6, 7–5, 8–6

Doubles (1 runner-up)
Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss1946WimbledonGrass Geoff Brown Tom Brown
Jack Kramer		4–6, 4–6, 2–6

References
  1. Garcia, Gabriel. "Dinny Pails: Career match record". thetennisbase.com. Madrid: Tennismem SL. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  2. Garcia, Gabriel. "Dinny Pails: Career match record". thetennisbase.com. Madrid: Tennismem SL. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  3. United States Lawn Tennis Association (1972). Official Encyclopedia of Tennis (First Edition), p. 426.
  4. "Dinny Pails". www.tennis.co.nf.
  5. ""Pails' Critics Sore" Says Kramer". The Sydney Morning Herald. 14 November 1947. p. 12 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. "Pails Joins Kramer And Riggs In US Pro Tennis Troupe From our own correspondent and AAP". The Argus. Melbourne. 21 November 1947. p. 24 – via National Library of Australia.
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