Uberto De Morpurgo Explained

Uberto De Morpurgo
Fullname:Hubert Louis (Uberto Luigi) De Morpurgo
Country: Austria-Hungary (−1920)
Italy (1920–)
Birth Date:1896 1, df=y
Birth Place:Trieste, Austria-Hungary
Death Place:Geneva, Switzerland
Turnedpro:1914 (amateur tour)
Retired:1939
Plays:Right-handed (1-handed backhand)
Highestsinglesranking:No. 8 (1930, A. Wallis Myers)[1]
Frenchopenresult:SF (1930)
Wimbledonresult:QF (1928)
Othertournaments:yes
Whccresult:3R (1921, 1923)
Wcccresult:SF (1922)
Wimbledonmixedresult:F (1925)
Medaltemplates-Expand:yes

Uberto De Morpurgo (11 January 1896 – 26 February 1961) was an Italian tennis player.[2]

Uberto De Morpurgo was born in Trieste when it was part of Austria, but became an Italian citizen when the city changed hands after World War I. His world rankings were ninth in 1928, tenth in 1929, and eighth in 1930.[3] Bill Tilden ranked him 10th in the world in 1924,[4] and 6th in 1929.[5]

Tennis career

De Morpurgo was junior champion in Great Britain in 1911, and student champion in Paris in 1915. He was ranked as Italy's top tennis player in 1927, and again in 1929 through 1931. Tennis magazine called him "the Tilden of his country". De Morpurgo reached the semifinals of the 1930 French championships (beating Edgar Moon before losing to Henri Cochet).[6]

He was named Italian Commissioner of Tennis by Benito Mussolini in 1929.[7]

Olympics

De Morpurgo participated in the singles event at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. He won his first four matches to reach the semifinal which he lost to eventual gold medal winner Vincent Richards in four sets. De Morpurgo won the bronze medal after a five-set victory in the play-off against Jean Borotra of France.

Davis Cup

De Morpurgo played on Italy's Davis Cup team each year from its inaugural year in 1922 through 1933. He won 39 singles matches and lost 14, while in doubles he was 16–10.[8]

Playing style

De Morpurgo used a very fast serve on his first ball, and an exaggerated American Twist serve on the second serve which was of extreme contortion. His baseline game consisted of flat drives. He had an excellent net attack, owing to his great reach. His overhead, like his service, was hard but erratic.[9]

Recognition

De Morpurgo, who was Jewish, was inducted as a member of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1993.[10]

Grand Slam finals

Mixed doubles (1 runners-up)

Career finals

Singles (1 win 2 runner-ups)

ResultNo.DateTournamentSurfaceOpponentScore
Win 1.1928Genoa International, GenoaClay6–2, 8–6, 6–1
Loss2.1929Monte Carlo Championships, MonacoClay6–8, 4–6, 4–6
Loss3.1930Italian Championships, Rome, ItalyClay Bill Tilden1–6, 1–6, 1–6

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Béla Kehrling. Béla Von Kehrling. tennis and golf. II. 21. Tennisz és Golf. November 20, 1930. Bethlen Gábor irod. és Nyomdai RT. Budapest, Hungary. hu. December 3, 2012.
  2. Web site: Uberto De Morpurgo . Olympedia . 21 November 2021.
  3. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YhQuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SYwFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6484,4310344&dq=wallis-myers&hl=en "Big Bill Tilden is Second Only to Henri Cochet"
  4. Sport: A World and . https://web.archive.org/web/20070318005427/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,719427,00.html . dead . 18 March 2007 . Time. 1924-11-17 . 2012-12-26.
  5. Béla Kehrling. Béla Von Kehrling. Tilden világranglistája. I. 13. 309. Tennisz és Golf. November 10, 1929. Tilden's world rankings. Bethlen Gábor irod. és Nyomdai RT. Budapest, Hungary. hu. October 18, 2012.
  6. Web site: French Open 1930. www.tennis.co.nf.
  7. Web site: Umberto Louis de Morpurgo. 2004. International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. January 11, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20060111141615/http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/UmbertoLouisdeMorpurgo.htm. January 11, 2006.
  8. Web site: Player profile - Umberto DE MORPURGO (ITA) . Davis Cup . 2012-12-26.
  9. Web site: The Art of Lawn Tennis - Chapter XV . Worldwideschool.org . 2012-12-26 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070922172434/http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/tech/sports/TheArtofLawnTennis/chap19.html . 2007-09-22 .
  10. Book: Jewish Sports Legends: The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame - Joseph Siegman - Google Books . 9781574882841 . 2012-12-26. Siegman . Joseph . 2000 . Brassey's .