Lorne Main
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| Bio | He is a former world-class amateur tennis player who competed 11 Grand Slam tournaments in singles. He won the singles title of the prestigious Monte Carlo tennis championship in 1954 and was an integral Canada Davis Cup team member during the early 1950s. Still competing competitively into his 80s, Main has been a highly ranked ITF Veterans, Seniors (Masters), and Super Seniors player during the 1990s and 2000s. Main was credited by tennis historian Bud Collins as the first player to use two hands on both forehand and backhand. In his senior tennis career, he switched to one hand for both forehand and backhand. He started playing tennis at the age of 9. He attended the University of California at Berkeley on a tennis scholarship from 1949-1951and played No. 1 in singles and doubles before committing full-time to tennis. He competed in the Canadian championships in doubles and won the event in 1951 with Brendan Macken and in 1954 with Luis Ayala. Main reached the round of 32 in singles five times in a major - at the 1951, '53, and '54 U.S. National, as well as the 1954 French Championships and Wimbledon. At Roland Garros, Main defeated his first two opponents, Frenchmen, handily to set up a third round encounter with No. 7 seed Mervyn Rose. Rose won the first and third sets with Main drawing level twice, taking the second and fourth sets, before Rose prevailed in the fifth, 6-3. Similarly at Wimbledon, Main breezed through his first round opposition and handily won his second match before falling in five sets to his third round foe, American Gilbert Shea. At the U.S. Nationals, as a result of his very solid year to that point, Main was seeded No. 18. Despite being seeded however, Main faced No. 1 seed Tony Trabert in the third round. Lorne played the World No. 1 tight in the first two sets, falling 9-11 and 6-8, before running out of steam and losing the third, 2-6. Main was runner-up at the 1949 Canadian National, losing the final to compatriot Henri Rochon in four sets. His 1954 title win at Monte Carlo is the only one ever in singles by a Canadian of a major tennis tournament (Grand Slam or Masters Series) aside from the Canadian championship. Further singles titles that Main won include 1949 Vancouver City, 1950 British Columbia for both lawn and clay courts, 1950 Western Canada lawn, 1951 Quebec indoor and Ontario, 1953 Quebec, and 1954 Ontario, Quebec, St. Petersburg, Florida, and Belgium. In doubles, he won, in 1954, Orlando with Gilbert Shea, Jamaica with Harold Burrows, and Ireland with Shea. He was ranked No. 1 in British Columbia in 1949, No. 1 in Canada in 1951, 53 and 54, and No. 2 in 1952. In the Davis Cup, Main compiled a win-lose record of 14 and 14. Canada did not progress beyond the America Zone Final stage during Main's time, losing either to the United States or Australia in that round. Main failed to defeat an American or Australia opponent in eleven rubbers, he was a member of the team (1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954 and 1955) and a non-playing captain (1958, 1959, 1960 and 1961). Main is still a competitive player and has been ranked high in the veteran, seniors and now the super-seniors categories. He has been ranked No. 1 in the ITF under every seniors category from 55 age category to the 80 age category. He has won 12 singles and 13 doubles senior world championship titles, 12 with Ken Sinclair and one with Gordon Verge (world record). He broke the world singles record for most singles senior world championship titles in 2010. Main won each of the World Cups from 55 to 80 in doubles play with partner, Ken Sinclair. He is currently ranked World No. 3 by the ITF in the over-80 category, and No. 40 in the over-75 bracket. In 2000, he was World No. 1 in the over-70 category. Main was inducted into the British Columbia Sport Hall of Fame in 1975 and the Canadian Tennis Hall of Fame in 1991. |
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