The first "Serve Bot" - Roscoe Tanner turns 70 years old
1979 Roscoe Tanner had the great Bjorn Borg in the Wimbledon final on the verge of defeat. After that, things went rapidly downhill for the American. Today Tanner celebrates his 70th birthday.
by SID
last edit: Oct 15, 2021, 12:54 pm
Today the impact cannons are called John Isner or Reilly Opelka and are over two meters tall. But as early as the 1970s, an American astounded the tennis scene with his tremendous service - and at 1.83 m it was rather small by today's standards. Roscoe Tanner fired his serves at well over 200 km / h over the net when many of his opponents started the rallies with a "throw-in". Tanner's record was measured at 150 mph.
The left-hander celebrates his 70th birthday this Friday and looks back on an eventful life - including a few crashes. Only on the pitch did he do quite successfully: In 1977 Tanner won the Australian Open, in 1979 he had the great Björn Borg on the verge of defeat in the Wimbledon final. With 16 tournament victories, he climbed to fourth place in the world rankings and contributed to the Davis Cup victory in the USA in 1981.
Tanner in jail several times
Away from the tennis courts, Tanner had less success. The Stanford University student came from a good family, was popular and sought-after. However, he never had a moral compass. Numerous affairs resulted in three marriages and five daughters with four different women. He was extremely reluctant to pay alimony, cheated with checks and was in jail several times, once in Germany after he was arrested in Karlsruhe in 2003.
He repeatedly acted remorseful, always falling back into old patterns. "I let everyone down. I didn't represent the sport the way I should have done it. I'm not proud of that," he said in 2012 before going back to prison. The man with the golden arm has nothing left from his professional days, not even the trophy from the Australian Open. His second wife, Charlotte Brady, sold them.