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Harold Solomon

Country (sports)	United States
Residence	Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States
Born	(1952-09-17) September 17, 1952 (age 66) Washington D.C., United States
Height	1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Turned pro	1972 (amateur tour from 1971)
Retired	1986
Plays	Right-handed (2-handed backhand)
Prize money	$1,802,769
Singles
Career record	576–325 (63.93%)
Career titles	22
Highest ranking	No. 5 (September 8, 1980)
Grand Slam Singles results
French Open	F (1976)
Wimbledon	1R (1972, 1974, 1977, 1986)
US Open	SF (1977)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals	SF (1976)
WCT Finals	QF (1975, 1976)
Doubles
Career record	73–129
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	No. 4 (1976)

Harold Solomon (nicknamed the "Human Backboard";^[1] born September 17, 1952) is an American former professional tennis player whose career was during the 1970s and 1980s. He achieved career-high world rankings of No. 5 in singles in 1980, and No. 4 in doubles in 1976.^[2] Over the course of his career he won 22 singles titles.

Solomon was inducted into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Hall of Fame, the USTA Mid Atlantic Section Hall of Fame, the D.C. Sports Hall of Fame, and the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

Early and personal life

Solomon was born in Washington, DC, grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, and attended Springbrook High School, has lived in Pompano Beach, Florida, and is Jewish.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} He lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has a wife named Jan, a daughter named Rachel, and a son named Jesse.^[3]

Tennis career

He began playing tennis when he was five.^[1] He attended Springbrook High School.^[8] He was ranked as high as second in the United States in his junior career, and won the Clay Court Championship when he was 18.^[9] He was named an All-American at Rice University,^[2][10] where he was a political science major^[3] and a member of Wiess College.

He turned professional when he finished university in 1972,^[2] and first won pro matches in 1974.^[9] Among his shots was the moonball—a high and deep shot, normally hit with a lot of spin.^[10][11]

At the French Open, Solomon's best showing was when he reached the finals in singles play in 1976. He reached the quarterfinals in 1972 and 1976, and made it to the semifinals in 1974 and 1980.^[9] At the U.S. Open, he was a semifinalist in 1977.^[9][10] He also won the tournament now known as the Cincinnati Masters twice (in 1977 and 1980), and was a finalist at the 1976 and 1978 United States Pro Championships.

Solomon captured a total of 22 professional singles titles.^[12] His lifetime professional win-loss record is 564–315, and he has earned over $1.8 million.^[2] He was ranked in the top 10 singles players worldwide in 1976, 1978, 1979, and 1980, and was among the top 20 from 1974 to 1980.^[2] His best year was in 1980, when his win-loss record was 64–23, and he was ranked # 5 in the world.^[10] He appeared in Playgirl Magazine' list of 10 sexiest men that same year.^[9]

Solomon played doubles with Eddie Dibbs. In 1976 they were ranked No. 4 worldwide, and were among the top ten in 1974, 1975, and 1976. They were nicknamed "The Bagel Twins."^[2]

Over his career he won 22 singles titles.^[10]

Davis Cup

Solomon played in the Davis Cup on the American team in 1972, 1973, 1974, and 1978.^[2] He has a record of 9 wins and 4 losses in this competition.^[10] The US team won the Davis Cup final in 1972 (3–2 against Romania) and 1978 (4–1 against Great Britain) although Solomon did not play in either final.^[10]

ATP

Solomon served as president of the Association of Tennis Professionals from 1980 to 1983,^[2] and later on its board of directors.^[9][10]

Halls of Fame

Solomon was inducted into the USTA Mid Atlantic Section Hall of Fame in 1994^[13] and the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.^[2] He was named to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Hall of Fame (player) in 2013. He was inducted into the D.C. Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.^[14]

Coaching career

Solomon began coaching in the 1990s, working with Jennifer Capriati, Mary Joe Fernandez, Shahar Pe'er, Justin Gimelstob, Eugenie Bouchard, Allie Kiick, Jim Courier, Monica Seles, Anna Kournikova and others.^{[15][16][17][18][2][10]} Some of his players participated in Grand Slam events and the Olympic Games.^[12] He founded and runs the Harold Solomon Tennis Center, now known as the Florida Tennis SBT Academy, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.^[10][19]

Grand Slam singles finals

Runners-up (1)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1976	French Open	Adriano Panatta	1–6, 4–6, 6–4, 6–7

Singles finals 38 (22/16)

Outcome	No.	Date	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	1974	Washington, D.C., U.S.	Clay	Guillermo Vilas	1–6, 6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	1.	1974	Bretton Woods, U.S.	Clay	Rod Laver	4–6, 3–6
Runner-up	2.	1974	Los Angeles, U.S.	Hard	Jimmy Connors	3–6, 1–6
Winner	2.	1975	Toronto Indoor WCT, Canada	Carpet	Stan Smith	6–4, 6–1
Winner	3.	1975	Memphis, U.S.	Carpet	Jiří Hřebec	2–6, 6–1, 6–4
Runner-up	3.	1975	Washington, D.C., U.S.	Clay	Guillermo Vilas	1–6, 3–6
Runner-up	4.	1975	Melbourne Indoor, Australia	Grass (i)	Brian Gottfried	2–6, 6–7, 1–6
Winner	4.	1975	Perth, Australia	Hard	Alex Mayer	6–2, 7–6, 7–5
Winner	5.	1975	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Brian Gottfried	6–3, 6–2, 5–7, 6–2
Runner-up	5.	1976	Monterrey WCT, Mexico	Carpet	Eddie Dibbs	6–7, 2–6
Winner	6.	1976	Washington WCT, U.S.	Carpet	Onny Parun	6–3, 6–1
Winner	7.	1976	Houston WCT, U.S.	Clay	Ken Rosewall	6–4, 1–6, 6–1
Runner-up	6.	1976	French Open, Paris	Clay	Adriano Panatta	1–6, 4–6, 6–4, 6–7
Winner	8.	1976	Louisville, U.S.	Clay	Wojtek Fibak	6–2, 7–5
Runner-up	7.	1976	Boston, U.S.	Clay	Björn Borg	7–6, 4–6, 1–6, 2–6
Winner	9.	1976	Maui, U.S.	Hard	Bob Lutz	6–3, 5–7, 7–5
Winner	10.	1976	Johannesburg WCT, South Africa	Hard	Brian Gottfried	6–2, 6–7, 6–3, 6–4
Winner	11.	1977	Brussels, Belgium	Clay	Karl Meiler	7–5, 3–6, 2–6, 6–3, 6–4
Winner	12.	1977	Cincinnati, U.S.	Clay	Mark Cox	6–2, 6–3
Winner	13.	1977	WCT Tournament of Champions, Lakeway	Hard (i)	Ken Rosewall	7–6, 6–2, 2–6, 0–6, 6–3
Runner-up	8.	1978	Springfield, U.S.	Carpet	Heinz Günthardt	3–6, 6–3, 2–6
Winner	14.	1978	Las Vegas, U.S.	Hard	Corrado Barazzutti	6–1, 3–0, RET.
Winner	15.	1978	Louisville, U.S.	Clay	John Alexander	6–2, 6–2
Runner-up	9.	1978	Boston, U.S.	Clay	Manuel Orantes	4–6, 3–6
Runner-up	10.	1978	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Tim Gullikson	6–2, 6–7, 6–7, 7–6, 4–6
Winner	16.	1979	Baltimore WCT, U.S.	Carpet	Marty Riessen	7–5, 6–4
Runner-up	11.	1979	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	José Higueras	6–3, 1–6, 4–6, 1–6
Runner-up	12.	1979	Forest Hills WCT, U.S.	Clay	Eddie Dibbs	6–7, 1–6
Winner	17.	1979	North Conway, U.S.	Clay	José Higueras	5–7, 6–4, 7–6
Runner-up	13.	1979	Bordeaux, France	Clay	Yannick Noah	0–6, 7–6, 1–6, 6–1, 4–6
Winner	18.	1979	Paris Indoor, France	Hard (i)	Corrado Barazzutti	6–3, 2–6, 6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	14.	1979	Wembley, England	Carpet	John McEnroe	3–6, 4–6, 5–7
Winner	19.	1980	Baltimore WCT, U.S.	Carpet	Tim Gullikson	7–6, 6–0
Runner-up	15.	1980	Las Vegas, U.S.	Hard	Björn Borg	3–6, 1–6
Winner	20.	1980	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Guillermo Vilas	6–7, 6–2, 6–4, 2–6, 6–3
Winner	21.	1980	Cincinnati, U.S.	Hard	Francisco González	7–6, 6–3
Winner	22.	1980	Tel Aviv, Israel	Hard	Shlomo Glickstein	6–2, 6–3
Runner-up	16.	1981	Las Vegas, U.S.	Hard	Ivan Lendl	4–6, 2–6

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

NH = tournament not held.

A = did not participate in the tournament.

See also

• List of select Jewish tennis players

References

External links

• 
  Harold Solomon at the Association of Tennis Professionals
  


• 
  Harold Solomon at the International Tennis Federation
  


• 
  Harold Solomon at the Davis Cup