George Hardie (tennis) explained

George Hardie
Birth Date:19 February 1953
Birth Place:Long Beach, California, U.S.
Turnedpro:1975
Plays:Left-handed
Singlesrecord:76-141
Singlestitles:0
Highestsinglesranking:No. 80 (January 30, 1978)
Australianopenresult:2R (1978)
Frenchopenresult:2R (1978)
Wimbledonresult:1R (1978, 1980)
Usopenresult:2R (1973)
Doublesrecord:68-137
Doublestitles:1
Australianopendoublesresult:2R (1973, 1977, 1978)
Frenchopendoublesresult:1R (1976, 1978, 1980)
Wimbledondoublesresult:2R (1976)
Usopendoublesresult:2R (1973, 1974, 1977)

George Hardie (born February 19, 1953) is a former professional tennis player from the United States.[1]

Tennis Career

Hardie went to college at Southern Methodist University and was runner-up to Billy Martin in the 1975 NCAA Division One final. He had dropped just one game in winning the first two sets, but Billy Martin ultimately came back to win the match in five.[2]

He later lost to Billy Martin again at the Arkansas International Tennis Tournament that year.[3] It would remain the only final that he reached on the Grand Prix tennis circuit. He made semi-finals at Baltimore in 1978 (where he defeated Adriano Panatta) and Costa Rica in 1979. His quarter-final appearances included Stockholm in 1977, Guadalajara in 1978, Philadelphia in 1979 (where he had a win over Ilie Năstase), Palm Harbor in 1980 and San Juan in 1981.

Hardie appeared in the main singles draw of 16 Grand Slam tournaments over the course of his career and won three of his matches.

Post tennis

Hardie settled in Dallas, Texas and founded and ran multiple wind development companies.[4] [5]

Early Wind Development:

1991 - George founded his first wind company, International Wind Companies (which would ultimately become today's EDP Renewables). In 1998, the company was sold to the Zilkha family where George remained the CEO for almost four years.[6] Later, Goldman Sachs bought Zilkha renewables (2005) and then sold to EDP in 2007. [7]

2003 - After his departure as CEO from Zilkha renewables, George founded G3 Energy. in 2005 G3 Energy was acquired by Babcock and Brown. While at Babcock and Brown, George developed the famous George Hardie renewable cash flow model which was instrumental in large scale renewable energy developments.

Pattern Energy Career:

2009 - In 2009, Riverstone Holdings acquired Babcock and Brown's North American wind energy group and its development pipeline and was renamed to Pattern Energy Group LP.[8] George stayed on and became the VP of North American Business Development.

2019 - After a decade with Pattern, George transitioned to VP of Business Development to be more project specific focused for senior leadership, and was instrumental in the development of the Green Fuels group.

2023 - After nearly 30 years in the wind industry, George retired from Pattern, but had been retained as an advisor to support ongoing work.

Grand Prix/WCT career finals

Doubles: 2 (1–1)

ResultW/L DateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Win1–0Mar 1978Lagos, NigeriaClay Sashi Menon Colin Dowdeswell
Jürgen Fassbender
6–3, 3–6, 7–5
Loss1–1Mar 1978Cairo, EgyptClay Lito Álvarez Ismail El Shafei
Brian Fairlie
3–6, 5–7, 2–6

Challenger titles

Doubles: (1)

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Player Profile - HARDIE, George (USA). ITF Tennis. 2016-05-15.
  2. Web site: A Hardie Last Hurrah As A Tennis Amateur. Heufelder. Bill. 1975-06-25. Google News Archive Search. The Pittsburgh Press. 2016-05-15.
  3. Web site: George Hardie. ATP World Tour. en. 2016-05-15.
  4. Web site: George Hardie Remembers... . Hardie . George . March 1988 . . 2016-05-15 .
  5. Web site: Q&A: Wind energy pioneer George Hardie. 2007-10-01. Lakewood/East Dallas Advocate Magazine. 2016-05-15.
  6. Web site: Pattern Energy :: About . 2023-11-20 . Pattern Energy . en.
  7. News: 2007-08-09 . EDP to buy $2.2 bln U.S. Horizon Wind Energy . en-GB . Reuters . 2023-11-20.
  8. News: 2009-06-25 . Riverstone buys Babcock & Brown's N.A. wind business . en . Reuters . 2023-11-20.