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{{Short description|American tennis player (1893–1953)}}
'''William Tatem Tilden II''' ([[February 10]], [[1893]] - [[June 5]], [[1953]]), often called "Big Bill", was an [[United States|American]] [[tennis]] player. Born in [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]], to a wealthy family, he was a "Junior" at birth but changed his name to "II" when he was in his mid-20s.
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Use American English|date=September 2023}}
{{Infobox tennis biography
|name = Bill Tilden
|fullname = William Tatem Tilden Jr.
|image = Bill Tilden in color.jpg
|image_size = 200px
|country = {{USA}}
|birth_date = {{birth date|1893|2|10}}
|birth_place = [[Philadelphia]], Pennsylvania, US
|death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|1953|6|5|1893|2|10}}
|death_place = [[Los Angeles]], California, US
<!-- invalid parameter |resting_place = [[Ivy Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia)|Ivy Hill Cemetery]], Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.-->
|height = {{height|ft=6|in=1+1/2}}
|plays = Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
|turnedpro = 1931 (amateur from 1912)
|retired = 1946
|tennishofyear = 1959
|tennishofid = bill-tilden
|singlesrecord = 1726–506 (77.3%)
|singlestitles = 138
|highestsinglesranking = [[World number 1 ranked male tennis players|No. '''1''']] (1920<small>, [[A. Wallis Myers]]</small>)<ref name="USLTAEncyclopedia">United States Lawn Tennis Association (1972). ''Official Encyclopedia of Tennis'' (First Edition), p. 423.</ref>
|AustralianOpenresult =
|FrenchOpenresult = F ([[1927 French Championships – Men's singles|1927]], [[1930 French Championships – Men's singles|1930]])
|Wimbledonresult = '''W''' ([[1920 Wimbledon Championships – Men's singles|1920]], [[1921 Wimbledon Championships – Men's singles|1921]], [[1930 Wimbledon Championships – Men's singles|1930]])
|USOpenresult = '''W''' ([[1920 U.S. National Championships – Men's singles|1920]], [[1921 U.S. National Championships – Men's singles|1921]], [[1922 U.S. National Championships – Men's singles|1922]], [[1923 U.S. National Championships – Men's singles|1923]], [[1924 U.S. National Championships – Men's singles|1924]], [[1925 U.S. National Championships – Men's singles|1925]], [[1929 U.S. National Championships – Men's singles|1929]])
|Othertournaments = yes
|WHCCresult = '''W''' ([[World Hard Court Championships|1921]])
|Promajors = yes
|USProresult = '''W''' ([[U.S. Pro Tennis Championships#1931|1931]], [[U.S. Pro Tennis Championships#1935|1935]])
|WembleyProresult = F ([[Wembley Championship#1935|1935]], [[Wembley Championship#1937|1937]])
|FrenchProresult = '''W''' ([[French Pro Championship#1934|1934]])
|doublesrecord=
|doublestitles=
|highestdoublesranking=
|currentdoublesranking =
|AustralianOpenDoublesresult =
|FrenchOpenDoublesresult =
|WimbledonDoublesresult = '''W''' (1927)
|USOpenDoublesresult = '''W''' (1918, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1927)
|Mixed = <!-- adds mixed information-->
|mixedrecord =
|mixedtitles =
|AustralianOpenMixedresult =
|FrenchOpenMixedresult = '''W''' (1930)
|WimbledonMixedresult =
|USOpenMixedresult = '''W''' (1913, 1914, 1922, 1923)
|Team = Yes
|DavisCupresult = '''W''' ([[1920 Davis Cup|1920]], [[1921 Davis Cup|1921]], [[1922 Davis Cup|1922]], [[1923 Davis Cup|1923]], [[1924 Davis Cup|1924]], [[1925 Davis Cup|1925]], [[1926 Davis Cup|1926]])
|caption=Tilden in the 1920s}}
'''William Tatem Tilden II''' (February 10, 1893 – June 5, 1953), nicknamed "'''Big Bill'''", was an American [[tennis]] player. He was the [[World number one male tennis player rankings|world No. 1]] amateur for six consecutive years, from 1920 to 1925, and was ranked as the world No. 1 professional by Ray Bowers in 1931 and 1932 and [[Ellsworth Vines]] in 1933. Tilden won 14 Major singles titles, including 10 [[Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments|Grand Slam events]], one [[World Hard Court Championships]] and three [[Major professional tennis tournaments before the Open Era|professional majors]]. He was the first American man to win [[The Championships, Wimbledon|Wimbledon]], first claiming the title in [[1920 Wimbledon Championships – Men's singles|1920]]. He also won a joint-record seven [[US Open (tennis)|U.S. Championships]] titles (shared with [[Richard Sears (tennis)|Richard Sears]] and [[Bill Larned]]).
 
Tilden dominated the world of international tennis in the first half of the 1920s, and during his 20-year amateur period from 1911 to 1930, won 138 of 192 tournaments he contested. He owns a number of all-time tennis achievements, including the career match-winning record and the career winning percentage at the U.S. Championships. At the [[1929 U.S. National Championships – Men's singles|1929 U.S. National Championships]], Tilden became the first player to reach ten finals at the same Grand Slam event. Tilden, who was frequently at odds with the rigid [[United States Lawn Tennis Association]] about his amateur status and income derived from newspaper articles, won his last Grand Slam event in 1930 at Wimbledon at the age of 37. He turned professional at the end of that year and toured with other professionals for the next 15 years.
[[Image:Bill_Tilden_Hitting_a_Backhand.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Bill Tilden hitting a backhand, rights granted by the Chicago Historical Society]]
 
==Personal life==
==Tilden's importance to tennis==
William Tatem Tilden Jr.{{efn|1=From birth he was known as William Tatem Tilden Jr. to distinguish him from his father, but he disliked being called "Junior", and preferred to be known as William Tilden II.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Robertson |first1=Orlo |title=Close up of Bill Tilden |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063730/1931-02-27/ed-2/seq-10/ |work=[[The Brownsville Herald]] |agency=[[Associated Press|AP]] |date=February 27, 1931 |___location=Brownsville, TX |page=10}}</ref>}} was born on February 10, 1893, in [[Germantown, Philadelphia|Germantown]], Philadelphia into a wealthy family bereaved by the death of three older siblings. His father was William Tatem Tilden, a wool merchant and local politician; and his mother, Selina Hey, was a pianist.<ref name="anbo">{{cite web |last1=Phelps |first1=Frank V. |title=Tilden, Bill (1893-1953), tennis player |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1900219 |website=American National Biography |access-date=2 April 2021 |language=en |doi=10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1900219 |date=2000}}</ref> His semi-invalid mother, who suffered from [[Bright's disease]], died when he was 18; and, even though his father was still alive and maintained a large house staffed with servants, Bill was sent a few houses away to live with a maiden aunt. The loss at 22 of his father and an older brother [[Herbert M. Tilden|Herbert]] marked him deeply. After several months of deep depression and, with encouragement from his aunt, tennis, which he had taken up at age six or seven at the family summer house in the [[Catskill Mountains]] of [[Upstate New York]],{{sfnp|Deford|1976|p=19|ps=}}<ref name="anbo"/> became his primary means of recovery. According to his biographer, [[Frank Deford]], because of his early family losses, Tilden spent all of his adult life attempting to create a father-son relationship with a long succession of ball boys and youthful tennis protégés, of whom [[Vinnie Richards]] was the most noted. In spite of his worldwide travels, Tilden lived at his aunt's house until 1941, when he was 48 years old.
 
Tilden was initially home-schooled by his overprotective mother and a team of private tutors; but, in 1908, he went to [[Germantown Academy]].{{sfnp|Hornblum|2018|pp=16–17|ps=}} In October 1910 he entered the [[University of Pennsylvania]], where he joined [[Delta Kappa Epsilon]], and enrolled at [[Peirce College]] but did not graduate.{{sfnp|Hornblum|2018|p=28|ps=}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fassl |first1=Carl |title=Peirce means Business |date=1990 |publisher=Peirce Junior College |___location=Philadelphia |isbn=9780685332207 |page=82}}</ref>
Tilden was a champion player of the 1920s and 1930s who was the single most influential person in the history of tennis. He was also perhaps the most paradoxical figure in the history of any sport -- a [[homosexual]] who almost single-handedly changed the image of tennis from that of a "sissy" country-club sport played only by rich white people in long white pants or ankle-length skirts to that of a major sport played by robust, world-class athletes. In the sports-mad decade of the "Roaring Twenties", Tilden was one of the five dominant figures, along with [[Babe Ruth]], [[Red Grange]], [[Bobby Jones]], and [[Jack Dempsey]]. Although Tilden was deeply closeted most of his life, many of his fellow players knew of his inclinations; it was only the public that ironically never learned of his orientation until many years later, by which time he had made tennis the major sport it now is.
 
==Early and amateur tennis career==
==Tilden's greatness as a player==
[[File:Tilden, Anderson (tennis) LCCN2014715015.jpg|thumb|Tilden (left) with [[James Anderson (tennis)|James Anderson]] at the [[1922 International Lawn Tennis Challenge]]]]
[[Image:Suzanne Lenglen and Bill Tilden.jpg|right|thumb|[[Suzanne Lenglen]] (1899–1938) and Bill Tilden (1893–1953)]]
Tilden went to the prep school [[Germantown Academy]] where he wasn't known for his tennis nor was he eventually good enough to play on his college team. The shy, self-absorbed, sometimes arrogant young man dropped out of the University of Pennsylvania and in 1910 began to practice his game against a backboard, and he also became a dedicated student of the game.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Schickel|first1=Richard|author-link=Richard Schickel|title=The World of Tennis|date=1975|publisher=Random House|___location=New York|isbn=0-394-49940-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/worldoftennis00schi/page/59 59]|url=https://archive.org/details/worldoftennis00schi/page/59}}</ref> The following year he won his first tournaments; the junior singles and doubles title of Germantown.<ref name=prescott>{{cite news|title=American tennis stars begin battle for overseas honors on Parisian courts tomorrow|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ObFaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9U8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5963%2C5113649|newspaper=[[Prescott Evening Courier]]|date=May 27, 1921|page=5|via=[[Google News Archive]]}}</ref> In just three years, he worked his way up the ranks. His first national title was winning the mixed doubles championships with [[Mary Browne]] in 1913 and they successfully defended the title in 1914.
 
From 1914 to 1917, Tilden won the Philadelphia championship.<ref name=prescott/> Prior to 1920, he had won a number of Canadian doubles titles,{{Citation needed|date=September 2009}} but at the U.S. National Championships in 1918 and 1919 he lost the singles final to [[Robert Lindley Murray]] and [[Bill Johnston (tennis player)|"Little Bill" Johnston]], respectively in straight sets. He won six consecutive U.S. singles championships from 1920 to 1925 and seven in total, making him the co-record holder with [[Richard Sears (tennis)|Richard Sears]] and [[Bill Larned]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Tilden Retains His National Net Title|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1921/09/20/98756184.pdf|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=September 20, 1921}}</ref><ref name="espn">{{cite web|author1=Larry Schwartz|title=Tilden won with style|url=http://www.espn.com/sportscentury/features/00016511.html|website=[[ESPN]]}}</ref> In the winter of 1919–1920, he moved to Rhode Island, where, on an indoor court, he devoted himself to remodeling his relatively ineffective [[backhand]] into a much more effective one. With this change, he became the world No. 1 tennis player and the first male American to win the Wimbledon singles championship. In the mid-1920s, Tilden came into conflict with the USLTA regarding alleged violations of the amateur rule, specifically relating to the monetary compensation he received for writing tennis articles.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Stephan Wallis Merrihew|title=The Amateur at Bay|journal=[[The Atlantic]]|date=October 1, 1924|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1924/10/the-amateur-at-bay/304278/}}</ref>
Except for an extended period in the 1950s when [[Pancho Gonzales]] completely ruled the men's professional tour, there has never been an era in tennis more dominated by a single player. During a 7-year period in the 1920s it was said that Tilden never lost a single important match, particularly in the Davis Cup matches, which in those days had far more importance than they do today. Among his many achievements, he won the United States amateur championship 6 times in succession and 7 times altogether. And from 1920 through 1926 he led the United States team to 7 consecutive Davis Cup victories, a record that is still unequalled.
 
In the late 1920s, the great [[France Davis Cup team|French]] players known as the "[[The Four Musketeers (tennis)|Four Musketeers]]" finally wrested the Davis Cup away from Tilden and the [[United States Davis Cup team|United States]], as well as his domination of the singles titles at [[The Championships, Wimbledon|Wimbledon]] and [[US Open (tennis)|Forest Hills]]. In 1928, he won the men's singles in the [[Ojai Tennis Tournament]].<ref name="ojai">{{cite web |author1=Steve Pratt |title=The 'Jai Life |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-apr-27-sp-23887-story.html |website=The Los Angeles Times |date=April 27, 2000}}</ref> Tilden had long been at odds with the rigid amateur directors of the [[United States Tennis Association|United States Lawn Tennis Association]] about his income derived from newspaper articles about tennis.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Kamakshi Tandon|title=It all changed in 1973 for the ATP|url=https://www.espn.com/tennis/wimbledon13/story/_/id/9436082/wimbledon-tandon-all-changed-1973|website=[[ESPN]]|date=July 1, 2013}}</ref> He won his last major championship at Wimbledon in 1930 at the age of 37, but was no longer able to win titles at will.
Unique among tennis players, Tilden became a great player only at the relatively advanced age of 27. Prior to 1920 he had won a number of national doubles titles but had lost to Lindley Murray and [[Bill Johnston|"Little Bill" Johnston]] in the 1918 and 1919 singles championships. In the winter of 1919-20 he moved to Rhode Island where, on an indoor court, he devoted himself to remodeling his relatively ineffective backhand. It was all he needed. He emerged with a new grip and a powerful new backhand in the summer of 1920 and for the rest of the decade dominated world tennis.
 
==Professional tennis career==
Tall, lean, and gangly, with long arms, enormous hands, and exceptionally broad shoulders, Tilden possessed what was called at the time a "cannonball" service. Although he could serve aces almost at will, he had little interest in advancing to the net behind his serve. He primarily used spin and slice serves, reserving his famous cannonball for crucial moments in the match.
On December 31, 1930, in need of money, he turned professional and joined the fledgling pro tour, which had begun only in 1927. For the next 15 years, he and a handful of other professionals such as [[Hans Nüsslein]] and [[Karel Koželuh]] barnstormed across the United States and Europe in a series of one-night stands, with Tilden still the player that people primarily paid to see. Tilden beat Koželuh 50–17 on the 1931 tour. Even with greats such as [[Ellsworth Vines]], [[Fred Perry]], and [[Don Budge]] as his opponents, all of them current or recent [[World number one male tennis player rankings|world No. 1]] players, it was often Tilden who ensured the box-office receipts—and who could still hold his own against the much younger players for a first set or even an occasional match. Tilden was ranked world No. 1 pro by Ray Bowers in 1931<ref>{{cite web|last=Bowers|first=Ray|title=History of the Pro Tennis Wars, Chapter 3: Tilden's Year of Triumph: 1931|url=http://www.tennisserver.com/lines/lines_02_03_03.html|url-status=live|via=tennisserver.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020615221935/http://tennisserver.com:80/lines/lines_02_03_03.html |archive-date=June 15, 2002 }}</ref> and 1932<ref name="bowersIV">{{cite web|author=Bowers|first=Ray|title=History of the Pro Tennis Wars Chapter IV: Tilden and Nusslein, 1932-1933|url=http://www.tennisserver.com/lines/lines_02_10_05.html|url-status=live|via=tennisserver.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021027170348/http://www.tennisserver.com:80/lines/lines_02_10_05.html |archive-date=October 27, 2002 }}</ref> and Ellsworth Vines in 1933.<ref name=":6">{{cite web|work=The Cincinnati Enquirer|date=5 November 1933|title=Vines steps out to name ten best tennis players in world|page=32|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/99719557/|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=limited}}</ref>
 
Tilden thought he reached the apogee of his whole career in 1934 at 41 years old; nevertheless, that year he was dominated in the pro ranks by [[Ellsworth Vines]]. ''American Lawn Tennis'' reported that Vines had an edge of 11–9 in the first phase of their tour from January 10 through February 16 and that Vines led Tilden by 19 matches after the second phase of their tour, played from March 21 through May 17. Tilden had won 17 times for the entire year, per an Associated Press report,<ref>{{cite news |last= Stahr|first= John|date= June 3, 1934|title= Big Bill Tilden, Prodigy Picker, Clips Coupons On Vines Venture|newspaper= The Index-Journal (Greenwood, SC)}}</ref> so a probable win–loss record at tour's end was 36–17 in Vines' favor. Both players then met at least 6 times during the rest of the year (Ray Bowers has listed 5 tournament matches and 1 one-night program), all lost by Tilden.
It was little known at the time, but mid-way through the 20s the tip of Tilden's middle finger on his hand that gripped the racquet became infected and had to be amputated. He also had a chronic knee problem that hindered him seriously from time to time. This too was concealed from the public and hardly seemed to impede him in his long string of victories.
In spite of his powerful serve, Tilden preferred to play from the backcourt, where he dazzled opponents with his ever-changing tactics: a mixture of guile, of chopped and sliced shots, of dropshots and lobs, and of sudden powerful ground strokes deep to the corners. He hit superbly angled shots on nearly impossible returns and liked nothing better than to face an opponent who threw powerful serves and ground strokes at him and who rushed the net -- one way or another Tilden would find a way to hit the ball past him.
==Tilden the intellect==
 
In May 1931 he won the inaugural [[U.S. National Indoor Professional Championships]],<ref>{{cite news |title=begin Play In Pro Tennis Tournament |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/796623437/?terms=U.S.%20National%20Indoor%20Professional%20Championships%2C%20tennis&match=1 |access-date=24 January 2024 |work=[[El Paso Herald-Post]] |publisher=newspapers.com |date=27 Dec 1933 |___location=El Paso, Texas |page=6 |language=en}}</ref> held at the Penn Athletic Club, Philadelphia against Vincent Richards. Later in July that year Tilden won his first [[U.S. Pro Tennis Championships|U.S. Pro]] title, beating Vincent Richards in the final in straight sets at the Forest Hill Stadium in New York.<ref>{{cite news |title=Tilden beats Richards in straight sets and wins Pro Tennis Championship |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/173808237/ |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=July 13, 1931 |page=13 |via=Newspapers.com |url-access=limited}}</ref> Tilden also won the French Pro title in 1934. In 1935, he took his second US Pro title beating Kozeluh in the final.<ref>The Akron Beacon Journal, September 16, 1935</ref> The same season he was beaten in the final of the [[Pacific Southwest Indoor Professional Championships]] in November by [[Lester Stoefen]].<ref>{{cite news |title="Big Bill" UPSET IN NET FINAL |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/380365557/?terms=pacific%20southwest%20professional%20tournament%2C%20tennis&match=1 |access-date=19 January 2024 |work=The Los Angeles Times |publisher=newspapers.com |date=28 Nov 1935 |___location=Los Angeles, California |page=24 |language=en}}</ref> By the late 1930s, Tilden was in his mid 40s and past his prime, but he was capable of playing excellent tennis in patches. Tilden lost easily to [[Don Budge]] in the 1941 World Series. Budge said of Tilden "Bill could invariably manage to keep things close for a while. It was seldom, however, that he could extend me to the end, and I swamped him on the whole tour".<ref>Don Budge, A Tennis Memoir, 1969</ref>
Tilden may have spent more time analyzing the game of tennis than anyone before or since. He wrote two books about the game, [[The Art of Lawn Tennis]] ([http://www.tops4tennis.com/tilden/tilden-intro.html online text]) and [[Match Play and the Spin of the Ball]], the latter of which is still in print and is the definitive work on the subject. Besides his great physical abilities, he was an extremely cerebral player, a master of both strategy and tactics, adept at adapting himself to his opponent's style and turning his strengths against him. He was also known for his showmanship, which occasionally veered into what his opponents might have called [[gamesmanship]]. He always tried to give his paying audience its money's worth and it was frequently written, though never confirmed by Tilden himself, that he would deliberately lose the opening sets of a match in order to prolong the battle and to make it more interesting for both himself and the spectators. (This ploy was confirmed in 1963 by William Lufler, who played on Tilden's pro tour for several years. Lufler, who had become a highly regarded teaching pro -- he was intstrumental in forming the USPTA, and served as its president 1963-1966 -- claimed that Tilden threw the early sets in most matches.) In spite of his occasional overly colorful behavior he was a devout believer in sportsmanship at all costs and above all other aspects of the game, including the final score; he would readily (and dramatically) cede points to his opponent if he thought the umpire had miscalled a shot in Tilden's favor.
 
In 1945, the 52-year-old Tilden and his long-time doubles partner [[Vinnie Richards]] won the professional doubles championship—they had won the United States amateur title 27 years earlier in 1918.
Tilden the consummate showman on the court was also a ham and showman in the larger world. He wrote many unsuccessful short stories and novels about misunderstood but sportsman-like tennis players, and dreamed of being a star on Broadway and in Hollywood. Much of his off-the-court time -- as well as his money -- was devoted to these pursuits, with failure the inevitable result.
 
After playing the pro tournament circuit in 1946, the 53-year-old Tilden served a jail term. He returned to pro tennis briefly in 1948, playing a short series of matches against Wayne Sabin.<ref>The Los Angeles Times, April 3, 1948</ref> Tilden's final farewell came in 1951. He faced George Lyttleton Rogers in a tour in April and May.<ref>The Miami News, April 11, 1951</ref> Tilden lost in the quarterfinals to [[Frank Kovacs]] at the Cleveland tournament in June 1951. Tilden was 58 years old.<ref>Tyler Morning Telegraph, June 15, 1951</ref> It had been 35 years earlier, in 1916, that he had made his singles debut at the US (Amateur) championships.
==Tilden the pro==
 
===Davis Cup coach===
In the late [[1920s]] the great French players known as the [["Four Musketeers"]] finally wrested the Davis Cup away from Tilden and the United States, as well as his domination of the singles titles at [[Wimbledon Championships|Wimbledon]] and [[Forest Hills]]. Tilden had long been at odds with the draconianly rigid amateur directors of the [[United States Tennis Association|United States Lawn Tennis Association]] about his income derived from newspaper articles about tennis. He won his last major championship at Wimbledon in 1930 at the age of 37 but was no longer able to win titles at will. In 1931, in need of money, he turned professional and joined the fledgling pro tour, which had begun only in [[1927]]. For the next 15 years he and a handful of other professionals barnstormed across the United States and Europe in a series of one-night stands, with Tilden still the player that people primarily paid to see. Even with such greats as [[Ellsworth Vines]], [[Fred Perry]], and [[Don Budge]] as his opponents, it was Tilden who ensured the box-office receipts -- and who could still hold his own against the much younger players for a first set or even an occasional match. In [[1945]] the 52-year old Tilden and his long-time doubles partner [[Vinnie Richards]] won the professional doubles championship -- they had won the United States amateur title 27 years earlier in 1918.
Tilden coached [[Germany Davis Cup team|Germany's tennis team]] in the 1937 [[Davis Cup]]. In the inter-zone finals, the U.S. team won after the deciding singles clash between [[Gottfried von Cramm]] and [[Don Budge]], a match which has been called "The Greatest Tennis Match Ever Played".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/en/germany-vs-the-us-in-1937-the-greatest-tennis-match-ever-played/a-4455340|title=Germany vs. the US in 1937: The "greatest tennis match ever played" &#124; DW &#124; 05.07.2009|website=DW.COM}}</ref>
 
==Tilden's placePlace in sports history==
Tilden is considered by some to be the greatest tennis player of all time.<ref>{{cite news |title=Top 10 Men's Tennis Players of All Time|publisher=Sports Illustrated |url=https://www.si.com/tennis/photos/2012/07/09top-10-mens-tennis-players-of-all-time|access-date=February 29, 2016}}</ref>[[File:1-scedu tilden1919.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Bill Tilden in 1919]]
[[Allison Danzig]], the main tennis writer for ''The New York Times'' from 1923 through 1968, and the editor of ''The Fireside Book of Tennis'', called Tilden the greatest tennis player he had ever seen. "He could run like a deer," Danzig once told [[CBS Sports]]. An extended Danzig [[encomium]] to Tilden's tennis appears in the July 11, 1946 issue of ''[[The Times]]'', in which he reports on a 1920s-evoking performance in the first two sets of a five-set loss by the 53-year-old Tilden to [[Wayne Sabin]], at the 1946 Professional Championship at Forest Hills.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1946/07/11/archives/sabin-rally-halts-tilden-in-five-sets-big-bill-eliminated-from-pro.html | work=The New York Times | title=Sabin Rally Halts Tilden In Five Sets; 'Big Bill' Eliminated From Pro Tennis Tourney | date=July 11, 1946 | access-date=April 26, 2010 | first=Allison | last=Danzig}}</ref>
 
In 1975, Don Budge ranked his top five players of all time and rated Tilden number four behind Vines, Kramer and Perry.<ref>{{cite web|title=The South Bend Tribune, 10 August 1975|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/515677308/|website=newspapers.com |date=August 10, 1975 }}</ref>
For approximately 35 years, from about 1920 to 1955, Tilden was generally considered the greatest player who had ever lived, his only rivals being Vines and Budge. In the mid-1950s many people began to think that Gonzales had claimed that title. Since then, however, public opinion has swung away from the now nearly forgotten Gonzales to champions of the [[Open era]], first to [[Rod Laver]], then to [[John McEnroe]], and finally to [[Pete Sampras]].
 
In his 1979 autobiography, [[Jack Kramer]], the long-time tennis promoter and great player, included Tilden in his list of the six greatest players of all time.{{efn|name=kramer|Writing in 1979, Kramer considered the best ever to have been either [[Don Budge]] (for consistent play) or [[Ellsworth Vines]] (at the height of his game). The next four best were, chronologically, Tilden, [[Fred Perry]], [[Bobby Riggs]], and [[Pancho Gonzales]]. After these six came the "second echelon" of [[Rod Laver]], [[Lew Hoad]], [[Ken Rosewall]], [[Gottfried von Cramm]], [[Ted Schroeder]], [[Jack Crawford (tennis player)|Jack Crawford]], [[Pancho Segura]], [[Frank Sedgman]], [[Tony Trabert]], [[John Newcombe]], [[Arthur Ashe]], [[Stan Smith]], [[Björn Borg]], and [[Jimmy Connors]]. He felt unable to rank [[Henri Cochet]] and [[René Lacoste]] accurately, but felt they were among the very best.}} Kramer began playing tennis with Tilden at age 15 at the [[Los Angeles Tennis Club]] (LATC).
Tilden, who was one of the most famous athletes in the world for many years, today is not widely remembered despite his former renown. During his lifetime, however, he was a flamboyant character who was never out of the public eye, acting in both movies and plays as well as playing tennis. He also had two arrests for sexual misbehavior with teenage boys in the late 1940s; these led to incarcerations in the [[Los Angeles]] area. In 1950, in spite of his legal record, which caused him to be shunned by much of the tennis world, an Associated Press poll named Bill Tilden the greatest tennis player of the half-century by a wider margin than that given to any athlete in any other sport.
==Tilden's personal life==
Born to wealth, Tilden lost all of his immediate family in a very short period of time during his boyhood and was raised by a maiden aunt. The loss of his father apparently marked him deeply and he spent all of his adult life attempting to create a father-son relationship with a long succession of ballboys and youthful tennis protégés, of whom Vinnie Richards was the most noted. He had no relationships with women at all and apparently very few sexual encounters with members of his own sex until he was well into his 40s and becoming increasingly effeminate in his mannerisms, particularly in the more liberal atmosphere of 1930s Europe.
Although Tilden almost never drank, he smoked heavily and disdained what today would be considered a healthy life style for an athlete; for most of his life his diet consisted of 3 enormous meals a day of steak and potatoes, with, perhaps, the occasional lamb chop.
==Tilden's death==
Although Tilden had been born to wealth, and earned large sums of money during his long career, particularly in his early years on the pro tour, he spent it lavishly, with much of it going to Broadway shows that he wrote, produced, and starred in. He died penniless in [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]], [[California]] at the age of 60. He was preparing to leave for the [[United States Professional Championship]] tournament in [[Cleveland, Ohio]] when he fell dead of a stroke.
==Biographical reference==
''Big Bill Tilden, The Triumphs and the Tragedy'' - Frank DeFord, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1976, ISBN 0-671-22254-6
 
In 1983, Fred Perry ranked the greatest male players of all time and put them in to two categories, before World War 2 and after. Perry ranked Tilden number one in the pre-World War 2 list.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Miami Herald, 25 April 1983|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/624261568|website=newspapers.com |date=April 25, 1983 }}</ref>
Tilden was inducted into the [[International Tennis Hall of Fame]] in [[Newport, Rhode Island]], in [[1959]].
 
In the early years of the 21st century, [[Sidney Wood (tennis)|Sidney Wood]] compiled his list of the Greatest Players of All Time (later published posthumously in a memoir "The Wimbledon final that never was and other tennis tales from a bygone era"). Wood first entered Wimbledon in 1927 and won the title in 1931. "From that time on, through to the late 1970s (doubles only towards the end), I was privileged to compete against virtually every top player in the world" said Wood. Wood ranked Tilden number three, behind Budge and Kramer.<ref>{{cite web|title=World Tennis Magazine, December 16, 2011|url=http://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/6007|website=worldtennismagazine.com|date=December 16, 2011 }}</ref>
=='''Grand Slam wins'''==
===Wimbledon Championship===
*''Singles, 1920, 1921, 1930''
*''Doubles, 1927''
===U.S. Championship===
*''Singles, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1929''
**''Singles finalist, 1918, 1919, 1927''
*''Doubles, 1918, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1927''
**''Doubles finalist, 1919, 1926''
*''Mixed Doubles, 1913, 1914, 1922, 1923''
**''Mixed Doubles finalist, 1916, 1917, 1919, 1921, 1924''
===French Championship===
*''Mixed Doubles, 1930''
**''Singles finalist, 1927, 1930''
 
Tilden was one of the most famous athletes in the world for many years.{{citation needed|reason=according to whom?|date=July 2016}} During his lifetime he was a flamboyant character who was never out of the public eye, acting in both movies and plays, as well as playing tennis. He also had two arrests for sexual misconduct with teenage boys in the late 1940s; these led to incarcerations in the Los Angeles area. After his convictions he was shunned in public. Philadelphia's [[Germantown Cricket Club]], his home court, revoked his membership and took down his portrait.<ref>Richard Schickel, p. 77</ref> Tilden's criminal record has cast a long shadow: in March 2016, a proposal to honor him with a historical marker at the club was voted down by the state of Pennsylvania panel charged with evaluating nominations.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/bill-tilden-us-tennis-hero-morals-clause-052534374.html?ref=gs|title=Bill Tilden: A US tennis hero, but with a morals clause|agency=Associated Press|date=April 28, 2016|publisher=Yahoo! News|access-date=May 18, 2016|archive-date=June 2, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160602232236/https://www.yahoo.com/news/bill-tilden-us-tennis-hero-morals-clause-052534374.html?ref=gs|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1950, in spite of his legal record and public disgrace, an Associated Press poll named Tilden the greatest tennis player of the half-century by a wider margin than that given to any athlete in any other sport (310 out of 391 votes).<ref name="fischer2009">{{cite book|last1=Fisher|first1=Marshall Jon|title=A Terrible Splendor : Three Extraordinary Men, a World Poised for War, and the Greatest Tennis Match Ever Played|date=2009|publisher=Crown Publishers|___location=New York|isbn=978-0307393944|page=[https://archive.org/details/terriblesplendor00fish/page/255 255]|edition=1st|url=https://archive.org/details/terriblesplendor00fish/page/255}}</ref> He was inducted into the [[International Tennis Hall of Fame]] in 1959.
=='''[[Professional Tennis Championships]] wins'''==
[[File:Bill Tilden 1921.jpg|thumb|220px|Bill Tilden at the 1921 [[World Hard Court Championships]] in Paris]]
*'''[[Wembley Arena|Wembley]], [[England]]'''
In the United States' sports-mad decade of the [[Roaring Twenties]], Tilden was one of the six dominant figures of the "Golden Age of Sport", along with [[Babe Ruth]], [[Howie Morenz]], [[Red Grange]], [[Bobby Jones (golfer)|Bobby Jones]], and [[Jack Dempsey]].<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.espn.com/sportscentury/features/00016509.html|title = Tilden brought theatrics to tennis|author=Ron Borges|publisher=[[ESPN]]|access-date = November 13, 2011}}</ref>
**''Finalist, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938''
 
== Sexuality and morals charges==
*'''United States Professional Championship'''
Tilden was arrested in November 1946 on Sunset Boulevard by the Beverly Hills police and charged with a misdemeanor ("contributing to the delinquency of a minor") for soliciting an underage boy, a 14-year-old boy with whom he was having sex in a moving vehicle. He was sentenced to a year in prison, but served {{frac|7|1|2}} months. His five-year parole conditions were so strict they virtually erased all his income from private lessons.<ref name="SamKashner">Sam Kashner, pages 47–59.</ref> He was arrested again in January 1949 after picking up a 16-year-old hitchhiker who remained anonymous until years later when he filed a lawsuit claiming he had suffered severe mental, physical, and emotional damage from the encounter. The judge sentenced Tilden to a year on probation violation and let the punishment for the charge run concurrently. Tilden served 10 months.
**''Singles, 1931, 1935''
 
In both cases, he apparently sincerely believed that his celebrity and his longtime friendship with Hollywood names such as [[Charlie Chaplin]] were enough to keep him from jail.<ref name="SamKashner" /> After his incarceration, he was increasingly shunned by the tennis and Hollywood world.<ref name="SamKashner" /> He was unable to give lessons at most clubs and even on public courts, he had fewer clients. At one point, he was invited to play at a prestigious professional tournament being held at the [[Beverly Wilshire Hotel]]; at the last moment, he was told that he could not participate.<ref>Deford (1976), pp198–207.</ref> Chaplin allowed Tilden to use his private court for lessons to help him after the run of legal and financial problems.<ref>Joyce Milton, page 447.</ref>
*'''French Professional Championship'''
**''Singles, 1933, 1934''
 
According to contemporary [[George Lott]], a player and later tennis coach at DePaul University, and authoritative biographer Frank Deford, Tilden never made advances to players, whether other adults or his pupils. Art Anderson of Burbank, who took lessons from Tilden from the age of 11 and remained a lifelong loyal friend, reported that Tilden never made advances toward him.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/TENNIS%5CBig+Bill+Tilden+remembered%5CBurbank+man+keeps+memory+alive-a083918251|title="Big Bill Tilden Remembered: Burbank Man Keeps Memory Alive". Originally published in ''Daily News'' (LA). 2.12. 1996.|access-date=September 28, 2009|archive-date=January 16, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190116150045/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/TENNIS%5CBig+Bill+Tilden+remembered%5CBurbank+man+keeps+memory+alive-a083918251|url-status=dead}}</ref> "Bill had all the rumors floating around about his sexuality," Jack Kramer said.<ref>{{cite news|title=Bill Tilden: A Tennis Star Defeated Only by Himself|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/sports/tennis/31tilden.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 30, 2009|author=Karen Crouse}}</ref>
=='''Other Notable wins'''==
[[Image:Bill-Tilden.jpg|left|thumb|175px|Tilden in the 1920s]]
*'''[[Mercedes-Benz Cup|Mercedes-Benz Cup Championship]]'''
**''Singles, 1927''
**''Doubles, 1927''
 
==Death==
*[[List of male tennis players]]
Tilden had been born to wealth, and he earned large sums of money during his long career, particularly in his early years on the pro tour; he spent it lavishly, keeping a suite at the [[Algonquin Hotel]] in New York City. Much of his income went toward financing Broadway shows that he wrote, produced, and starred in.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/william-t-tilden-ii-46163|title=William T. Tilden II – Broadway Cast & Staff &#124; IBDB|website=www.ibdb.com}}</ref> The latter part of his life was spent quietly and away from his family, occasionally participating in celebrity tennis matches. He was preparing to leave for the [[United States Professional Championship]] tournament in Cleveland, Ohio in 1953 when he died from heart complications at age 60. Tilden is buried in [[Ivy Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia)|Ivy Hill Cemetery]] in Philadelphia.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Scott |title=Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons |date=August 19, 2016 |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc. |___location=Jefferson, North Carolina |isbn=978-0-7864-7992-4 |page=747 |edition=Third |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FOHgDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA747 |access-date=5 July 2022}}</ref>
*[[List of gay, lesbian or bisexual people]]
 
Tilden was inducted into the [[International Tennis Hall of Fame]] in Newport, Rhode Island in 1959.
[[Category:1893 births|Tilden, Bill]]
[[Category:1953 deaths|Tilden, Bill]]
[[Category:American tennis players|Tilden, Bill]]
[[Category:Gay athletes|Tilden, Bill]]
 
==Career statistics==
[[de:William Tilden]]
{{Main article|Bill Tilden career statistics}}
[[fr:William Tilden]]
[[Bud Collins]] states that, as an amateur (1912–1930), Tilden won 138 of 192 tournaments, lost 28 finals and had a 907–62 match record, a 93.6% winning percentage.<ref name=collins>{{cite book|last=Collins|first=Bud|author-link=Bud Collins|title=The Bud Collins History of Tennis|year=2010|publisher=New Chapter Press|___location=[New York]|isbn=978-0942257700|pages=650–651|edition=2nd}}</ref> Although he never played at the [[Australian Championships]], Tilden was the first male tennis player to win four consecutive Grand Slam titles. In 1921, the [[1921 Australasian Championships|Australian Championships]] were held after the U.S. National Championships. He joined professional tennis in 1931, making him then ineligible to compete in Grand Slam tournaments. He owns a number of all-time tennis achievements, including an amateur career match-winning record of 93.6%.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | url=http://www.glbtq.com/arts/tilden_w.html | encyclopedia=GLBTQ Encyclopedia | title=Tilden, William "Big Bill" (1893–1953) | year=2002 | access-date=May 28, 2010 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100514004056/http://www.glbtq.com/arts/tilden_w.html | archive-date=May 14, 2010 | df=mdy-all }}</ref>
[[ja:ビル・チルデン]]
 
[[sv:Bill Tilden]]
Tilden's career winning percentage at the [[US Open (Tennis)|US National Championships]] was 90.7%, which ranks him first ahead of [[Roger Federer]], [[Fred Perry]] and [[Pete Sampras]], and also a 42-match win streak from 1920 to 1926 is ahead of Roger Federer and [[Ivan Lendl]]. His 95-match winning streak from 1924 to 1925 is ahead of [[Don Budge]] and [[Roy Emerson]], and his best win–loss single season coming in 1925 at 98.73%, 78–1, places him ahead of [[John McEnroe]] and [[Jimmy Connors]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Hall of Famers: Inductee: Bill Tilden|url=https://www.tennisfame.com/hall-of-famers/inductees/bill-tilden/|website=www.tennisfame.com|publisher=International Tennis Hall of Fame|access-date=October 12, 2015}}</ref> He, Roger Federer, [[Rafael Nadal]] and [[Novak Djokovic]] are the only players to reach 10 finals at a single Grand Slam event. At the [[Wimbledon Championships]], he recorded a career 91.2% match record, ranking him 3rd all-time behind [[Björn Borg]] and [[Don Budge]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Tilden|first=William (Bill)|title=Players Archive/ Match Record|url=http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/scores/draws/archive/players/91c3a92d-9c86-4ed8-b9ab-94f5a61b9a48/index.html|work=2014|publisher=Wimbledon.Com|access-date=January 29, 2014}}</ref>
 
===Performance timeline===
{{Performance key|short=yes|active=no}}
<small>Events with a challenge round: (W<sub>C</sub>) won; (CR) lost the challenge round; (F<sub>A</sub>) all comers' finalist.</small>
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="23" |
! rowspan="1" | {{Tooltip| SR | Strike rate}}
! rowspan="1" | {{Tooltip| W–L | Win–loss}}
! rowspan="1" | Win %
|-
|- bgcolor="#efefef"
! colspan="1" rowspan="2" width=100 | [[Grand Slam (tennis)|Grand Slam tournaments]]
! colspan="22" | Amateur career
! rowspan="2" align="center" | 10 / 23
! rowspan="2" align="center" | 114–13
! rowspan="2" align="center" | 89.76
|-
! 1910 !! 1911 !! 1912 !! 1913 !! 1914 !! 1915 !! 1916 !! 1917 !! 1918 !! 1919 !! 1920 !! 1921 !! 1922 !! 1923 !! 1924 !! 1925 !! 1926 !! 1927 !! 1928 !! 1929 !! colspan=2|1930
|-
| style="background:#EFEFEF;"|[[Australian Open|Australian]]
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|align="center" colspan="3" style=color:#767676| Not held
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|colspan="2" align="center"|A
|align="center"|0 / 0
|align="center"|0–0
|align="center"|N/A
|-
|style="background:#EFEFEF;"|[[French Open|French]]
|align="center" colspan="5" style=color:#767676| Only for French players
|align="center" colspan="5" style=color:#767676| Not held
|align="center" colspan="5" style=color:#767676| Only for French players
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|align="center" style="background:#D8BFD8;"|[[1927 French Championships – Men's singles|F]]
|align="center"|A
|align="center" style="background:yellow;"|[[1929 French Championships – Men's singles|SF]]
|colspan="2" align="center" style="background:#D8BFD8;"|[[1930 French Championships – Men's singles|F]]
|align="center"|0 / 3
|align="center"|14–3
|align="center"|82.35
|-
|style="background:#EFEFEF;"|[[The Championships, Wimbledon|Wimbledon]]
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|align="center" colspan=4 style=color:#767676| Not held
|align="center"|A
|align="center" style="background:#00ff00;"|'''[[1920 Wimbledon Championships – Men's singles|W<sub>C</sub>]]'''
|align="center" style="background:#00ff00;"|'''[[1921 Wimbledon Championships – Men's singles|W<sub>C</sub>]]'''
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|align="center" style="background:yellow;"|[[1927 Wimbledon Championships – Men's singles|SF]]
|align="center" style="background:yellow;"|[[1928 Wimbledon Championships – Men's singles|SF]]
|align="center" style="background:yellow;"|[[1929 Wimbledon Championships – Men's singles|SF]]
|colspan="2" align="center" style="background:#00ff00;"|'''[[1930 Wimbledon Championships – Men's singles|W]]'''
|align="center"|3 / 6
|align="center"|31–3
|align="center"|91.18
|-
|style="background:#EFEFEF;"|[[US Open (tennis)|U.S.]]
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|align="center"|A
|align="center" style="background:#afeeee;"|[[1916 U.S. National Championships – Men's singles|1R]]
|align="center" style="background:#afeeee;"|[[1917 U.S. National Championships – Men's singles|3R]]
|align="center" style="background:#D8BFD8;"|[[1918 U.S. National Championships – Men's singles|F]]
|align="center" style="background:#D8BFD8;"|[[1919 U.S. National Championships – Men's singles|F]]
|align="center" style="background:#00ff00;"|'''[[1920 U.S. National Championships – Men's singles|W]]'''
|align="center" style="background:#00ff00;"|'''[[1921 U.S. National Championships – Men's singles|W]]'''
|align="center" style="background:#00ff00;"|'''[[1922 U.S. National Championships – Men's singles|W]]'''
|align="center" style="background:#00ff00;"|'''[[1923 U.S. National Championships – Men's singles|W]]'''
|align="center" style="background:#00ff00;"|'''[[1924 U.S. National Championships – Men's singles|W]]'''
|align="center" style="background:#00ff00;"|'''[[1925 U.S. National Championships – Men's singles|W]]'''
|align="center" style="background:#ffebcd;"|[[1926 U.S. National Championships – Men's singles|QF]]
|align="center" style="background:#D8BFD8;"|[[1927 U.S. National Championships – Men's singles|F]]
|align="center"|A
|align="center" style="background:#00ff00;"|'''[[1929 U.S. National Championships – Men's singles|W]]'''
|colspan="2" align="center" style="background:yellow;"|[[1930 U.S. National Championships – Men's singles|SF]]
|align="center"|7 / 14
|align="center"|69–7
|align="center"|90.79
|- bgcolor="#efefef"
! colspan="1" rowspan="2" width=100 | [[Major professional tennis tournaments before the Open Era|Pro Slam tournaments]]
! colspan="22" | Professional career
! rowspan=2 align="center" | 3 / 19
! rowspan=2 align="center" | 37–18
! rowspan=2 align="center" | 67.27
|-
! 1931 !! 1932 !! 1933 !! 1934 !! 1935 !! 1936 !! 1937 !! 1938 !! 1939 !! 1940 !! 1941 !! 1942 !! 1943 !! 1944 !! 1945 !! 1946 !! 1947 !! 1948 !! 1949 !! 1950 !! colspan=2|1951
|-
| style="background:#EFEFEF;"|[[U.S. Pro Tennis Championships|U.S. Pro]]
| align="center" style="background:#00ff00;" |'''[[U.S. Pro Tennis Championships draws, 1927–1945#1931|W]]'''
| align="center" style="background:yellow" |[[U.S. Pro Tennis Championships draws, 1927–1945#1932|SF]]
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" style="background:#00ff00;" |'''[[U.S. Pro Tennis Championships draws, 1927–1945#1935|W]]'''
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" style="background:yellow" |[[U.S. Pro Tennis Championships draws, 1927–1945#1939|SF]]
| align="center" style="background:yellow" |[[U.S. Pro Tennis Championships draws, 1927–1945#1940|SF]]
| align="center" style="background:#ffebcd" |[[U.S. Pro Tennis Championships draws, 1927–1945#1941|QF]]
| align="center" |A
| align="center" style="background:#ffebcd" |[[U.S. Pro Tennis Championships draws, 1927–1945#1943|QF]]
| align="center" style=color:#767676|NH
| align="center" style="background:yellow" |[[U.S. Pro Tennis Championships draws, 1927–1945#1945|SF]]
| align="center" style="background:#afeeee" |[[U.S. Pro Tennis Championships draws, 1946–1967#1946|1R]]
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" style="background:#ffebcd" |[[U.S. Pro Tennis Championships draws, 1946–1967#1951|QF]]
| align="center" |A
|align="center"|2 / 10
|align="center"|19–8
|align="center"|70.37
|-
| style="background:#EFEFEF;"|[[French Pro Championship|French Pro]]
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" style=color:#767676|NH
| align="center" style="background:#00ff00;" |'''[[French Pro Championship Draws#1934|W]]'''
| align="center" style="background:yellow;" |[[French Pro Championship Draws#1935|SF]]
| align="center" |A
| align="center" style="background:yellow;" |[[French Pro Championship Draws#1937|SF]]
| align="center" style="background:#D8BFD8;" |[[French Pro Championship Draws#1938|F]]
| align="center" style="background:yellow;" |[[French Pro Championship Draws#1939|SF]]
| align="center" colspan=13 style=color:#767676 |Not held
| align="center"|1 / 5
| align="center"|10–4
| align="center"|71.43
|-
| style="background:#EFEFEF;"|[[Wembley Championship|Wembley Pro]]
| align="center" colspan=3 style=color:#767676 |Not held
| align="center" style="background:yellow;" |[[Wembley Professional Championships Draws#1934|3rd]]
| align="center" style="background:#D8BFD8;" |[[Wembley Professional Championships Draws#1935|F]]
| align="center" style=color:#767676|NH
| align="center" style="background:#D8BFD8;" |[[Wembley Professional Championships Draws#1937|F]]
| align="center" style=color:#767676|NH
| align="center" style="background:yellow;" |[[Wembley Professional Championships Draws#1939|3rd]]
| align="center" colspan=9 style=color:#767676 |Not held
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" colspan=2|A
| align="center"|0 / 4
| align="center"|8–6
| align="center"|57.14
|-
| align="right" colspan="23" | '''Total:'''
! align="center"| {{nowrap|13 / 42}}
! align="center"| {{nowrap|151–31}}
! align="center"| {{nowrap|82.97}}
|}
 
==Records==
 
===All-time records===
{| class="wikitable"
|- style="background:#efefef;"
!Tournament
!Since
!Record accomplished
!Players matched
!Ref.
|-
|rowspan="2"| '''Grand Slam'''||align=center|1877||51 consecutive match wins, all Majors (1920–26)||'''Stands alone '''||
|-
|align=center|1877||42 match win streak at a single Grand Slam tournament US Champs (1920–26)||'''Stands alone '''||<ref name="US Open Singles Records">{{cite web|title=US Open Singles Records|url=http://2014.usopen.org/pdf/2014_Singles_Records.pdf|publisher=usopen.org|access-date=September 11, 2018|archive-date=January 21, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150121075323/http://2014.usopen.org/pdf/2014_Singles_Records.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|-
|rowspan="6"| '''[[US Open (tennis)|U.S. Championships]]'''||align=center|1881||7 titles overall||[[Richard Sears (tennis)|Richard Sears]]<br />[[William Larned]]||<ref name="Singles Records">{{cite web|title=Singles Records|url=http://www.usopen.org/en_US/event_guide/singles_records.html|website=USOpen.org|publisher=[[USTA]]|access-date=August 19, 2017|language=en}}</ref>
|-
|align=center|1881|| 10 finals overall||[[Novak Djokovic]]||<ref>{{cite web|title=2017 US Open Spotlight: French Open champion Rafael Nadal|url=http://www.usopen.org/en_US/news/articles/2017-06-11/2017_us_open_spotlight_french_open_champion_rafael_nadal.html?chip=2|website=USOpen.org|publisher=[[USTA]]|access-date=August 19, 2017|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Singles Records"/>
|-
|align=center|1881|| 8 consecutive finals (1918–25)|| [[Ivan Lendl]]|| <ref>{{cite news|last1=Montella|first1=Paul|title=AP Sportlight|url=http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-ap-sportlight-2014sep09-story.html|access-date=August 19, 2017|work=sandiegouniontribune.com|date=September 9, 2014}}</ref><ref name="Singles Records"/>
|-
|align=center|1881|| 91.02% (71–7) match win percentage overall||'''Stands alone '''||<ref>{{cite web|last=Tilden|first=Bill|title=Records History|url=http://2013.usopen.org/en_US/about/history/rec_singles.html|work=2013|publisher=US Open.Org|access-date=August 19, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202113906/http://2013.usopen.org/en_US/about/history/rec_singles.html|archive-date=February 2, 2014}}</ref>
|-
|align=center|1881|| 42 match win streak (1920–26)||'''Stands alone'''||<ref>{{cite web|title=Bill Tilden:Inductee|url=https://www.tennisfame.com/hall-of-famers/inductees/bill-tilden/|website=International Tennis Hall of Fame|publisher=ITHF 2017|access-date=August 19, 2017}}</ref>
|-
|align=center|1881|| 16 combined singles, doubles, mixed doubles titles overall (1913–29)||'''Stands alone '''||<ref>{{cite web|title=Record Holders Most Championship Titles|url=http://www.usopen.org/en_US/about/history/rec_champs.html|website=www.usopen.org|publisher=[[USTA]]|access-date=October 29, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304111201/http://www.usopen.org/en_US/about/history/rec_champs.html|archive-date=March 4, 2016}}</ref>
|-
| rowspan="14" |'''All tournaments''' ||align=center|1877|| 98 career match win streak (1924–25)||'''Stands alone '''||<ref>{{cite news|last1=Clarey|first1=Christopher|title=Djokovic Hones a Masterful Winning Streak|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/23/sports/tennis/23iht-TENNIS23.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0|access-date=August 19, 2017|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=May 22, 2011}}</ref>
|-
| align="center" |1877|| (71–1) single season match streak (1925)||'''Stands alone'''|| <ref name="Bill Tilden:Inductee">{{cite web |title=Bill Tilden:Inductee |url=https://www.tennisfame.com/hall-of-famers/inductees/bill-tilden/ |access-date=August 19, 2017 |website=[[International Tennis Hall of Fame]] |publisher=ITHF 2017}}</ref>
|-
|align=center|1877||19 consecutive titles won (1924–25)||[[Anthony Wilding]]||
|-
|align=center|1877||52 consecutive finals reached (1922–26)||'''Stands alone'''||
|-
|align=center|1877|| Most appearances in a final of the [[Davis Cup]]: 11 with a record of 21–7 in singles (1920–30)||'''Stands alone'''||
|-
|align=center|1877||43 consecutive clay court finals reached (1922–29)||'''Stands alone'''||
|-
|align=center|1877||23 consecutive grass court finals reached (1921–26)||'''Stands alone'''||
|-
|align=center|1877||88.29% (445–49) grass court match winning percentage||'''Stands alone'''||<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://app.thetennisbase.com/?enlace=records&id=WUINSBGXHU |title=Tennis Base: Wins highest % grass}}</ref>
|-
|align=center|1877||479 career bagels scored ||'''Stands alone'''||<ref>{{cite web |title=Record: Most Career Bagels Scored |url=https://app.thetennisbase.com/?enlace=records&id=EJFSWITEFE |website=thetennisbase.com |publisher=Tennismem SAL |access-date=September 5, 2018 |date=2018}}</ref>
|-
|align=center|1877||106 career double bagels scored ||'''Stands alone'''||<ref>{{cite web |title=Record: Most Career Double Bagels Scored |url=https://app.thetennisbase.com/?enlace=records&id=AEJTBXWBED |website=thetennisbase.com |publisher=TennismemSAL |access-date=September 5, 2018 |date=2018}}</ref>
|-
|align=center|1877||11 career triple bagels scored ||'''Stands alone'''||<ref>{{cite web |title=Record: Most Career Triple Bagels Scored |url=https://app.thetennisbase.com/?enlace=records&id=SIDHOLOGBV |website=thetennisbase.com |publisher=Tennismem SAL |access-date=September 5, 2018 |date=2018}}</ref>
|-
|align=center|1877||10 consecutive years with a match winning percentage of 90%+ (1918-1927) ||'''Stands alone'''||<ref name="auto">{{cite web|title=Bill Tilden: Career match record-year-on-year-results 1912-1951|url=https://app.thetennisbase.com/?enlace=playern&player_input_enc=TILDEN%2C+BILL&player_input=TILDEN%2C+BILL&sub=2#aSubmenu|website=thetennisbase.com|publisher=The Tennis Base|access-date=September 5, 2018}}</ref>
|-
|align=center|1877||11 years overall with a match winning percentage of 90%+ (1918-1930) ||'''Stands alone'''||<ref name="auto"/>
|-
|align=center|1877||16 years overall with a match winning percentage of 80%+ (1914-1933)||'''Stands alone'''||<ref name="auto"/>
|-
|}
 
==See also==
* [[List of male tennis players]]
* [[Tennis male players statistics]]
* [[All-time tennis records – men's singles]]
 
==Notes==
{{notelist}}
 
==References==
{{reflist}}
 
==Sources==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Collins |first=Bud |author-link=Bud Collins |title=The Bud Collins History of Tennis |year=2016 |publisher=New Chapter Press |___location=New York |isbn=978-1-937559-38-0 |pages= |edition=3rd}}
* {{cite book |last=Deford |first=Frank |author-link=Frank Deford |title=Big Bill Tilden: The Triumphs and the Tragedy |year=1976 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |___location=New York |isbn=9780671222543}}
* {{cite book |last=Digby Baltzell |first=E. |author-link=E. Digby Baltzell |title=Sporting Gentlemen – Men's Tennis from the Age of Honor to the Cult of Superstar |year=1995 |publisher=The Free Press |___location=New York |isbn=9780029013151 |oclc=31411547}}
* Fisher, Marshall Jon (2010) [https://books.google.com/books?id=hs_EScJYr3YC ''A Terrible Splendor: Three Extraordinary Men, a World Poised for War, and the Greatest Tennis Match Ever Played'']. New York: Random House. {{isbn|9780307393951}}
* {{cite book |last=Hornblum |first=Allen M. |author-link=Allen M. Hornblum |title=[[American Colossus: Big Bill Tilden and the Creation of Modern Tennis]] |year=2018 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |___location=Lincoln and London |isbn=9780803288119}}
* {{cite book |title=Man with a Racket |year=1959 |publisher=A.S. Barnes and Company |___location=New York |oclc=1351057 |author-link=Pancho Gonzales |author=Gonzales, Pancho with Cy Rice |url=https://archive.org/details/manwitharacket006480mbp}}
* Hofler, Robert (2006) [https://books.google.com/books?id=yMMlpx4d_qcC ''The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson: The Pretty Boys and Dirty Deals of Henry Willson'']. New York: Carroll & Graf. {{isbn|9780786718023}}
* Kashner, Sam and Macnair, Jennifer (2003) [https://books.google.com/books?id=GC0X-2FGdx8C ''The Bad and the Beautiful: Hollywood in the Fifties'']. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. {{ISBN|9780393324365}}
* {{cite book |title=The Game : My 40 Years in Tennis |year=1981 |publisher=Deutsch |___location=London |isbn=0233973079 |oclc=59152557 |ol=17315708M |author-link=Jack Kramer |author=Kramer, Jack with Frank Deford}}
* Milton, Joyce (1998) [https://books.google.com/books?id=FX2fkglUqZcC ''Tramp: The Life of Charlie Chaplin''] New York: Da Capo Press. {{isbn|9780306808319}}
* Mulloy, Gardner (2009) ''As It Was''. Flexigroup. {{isbn|9780615327457}}
* [[Bobby Riggs|Riggs, Bobby]] (1949) ''Tennis is my Racket''. Stanley Paul & Co.
* Seebohm, Caroline (2009) ''Little Pancho: The Life of Tennis Legend Pancho Segura''. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. {{isbn|9780803220416}}
* Skeen, Dick (1976) ''Tennis Champions are Made, not Born''. Cal-Pacific Color.
{{refend}}
 
==External links==
{{commons category|Bill Tilden}}
* {{ATP}}
* {{ITF profile}}
* {{DavisCup player}}
* {{Tennis Hall of Fame}}
* {{Gutenberg author | id=638}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=William Tatem Tilden |sopt=tight}}
 
{{Navboxes
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{{Men's tennis players who won two or more Grand Slam singles titles in one calendar year}}
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{{Wimbledon men's singles champions}}
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{{U.S. National Championships Men's doubles champions}}
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{{International Tennis Hall of Fame members}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tilden, Bill}}
[[Category:1893 births]]
[[Category:1953 deaths]]
[[Category:American male tennis players]]
[[Category:Professional tennis players before the Open Era]]
[[Category:International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:World number 1 ranked male tennis players]]
[[Category:United States National champions (tennis)]]
[[Category:Wimbledon champions (pre-Open Era)]]
[[Category:French Championships (tennis) champions]]
[[Category:Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's singles]]
[[Category:Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles]]
[[Category:Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles]]
[[Category:Tennis players from Philadelphia]]
[[Category:LGBTQ tennis players]]
[[Category:Tennis writers]]
[[Category:Professional tennis promoters]]
[[Category:American gay sportsmen]]
[[Category:LGBTQ people from Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:20th-century American LGBTQ people]]
[[Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni]]
[[Category:Germantown Academy alumni]]
[[Category:Burials at Ivy Hill Cemetery (Philadelphia)]]
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