Alex Olmedo

Alejandro "Alex" Olmedo Rodríguez (March 24, 1936 – December 9, 2020) was a tennis player from Peru with American citizenship. He was listed by the USTA as a "foreign" player for 1958, but as a U.S. player for 1959. He helped win the Davis Cup for the United States in 1958 and was the No. 2 ranked amateur in 1959. Olmedo won two Majors in 1959 (Australia and Wimbledon) and the U.S. Pro Championships in 1960, and was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987.

Biography Although born and raised in Peru, Olmedo moved to Southern California and was mentored by Perry T. Jones, president of the Southern California Tennis Association at the Los Angeles Tennis Club (LATC). George Toley recruited him to play for the University of Southern California (USC). Olmedo graduated with a business degree from USC. While there, he won the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Singles and Doubles Championships in 1956 and 1958. (In 1957, USC was excluded from NCAA competition due to a financial contribution violation involving the football program which also suspended the tennis team.)

Olmedo was ranked as the world No. 2 in 1959 by Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph. Although he was not a U.S. citizen, he was technically eligible to represent the U.S. in Davis Cup because he had lived in the country for at least three years (since February 1954) and because Peru, his country of citizenship, did not have a Davis Cup team in those particular years. However, his participation was very controversial. Sports columnist Arthur Dailey at The New York Times wrote "This would seem to be the saddest day in the history of American tennis. A few more such rousing victories and the prestige of this country in tennis will sink to a new low." At the time, Olmedo, who held a student visa, refused to file for U.S. citizenship, said he was content to remain a Peruvian citizen, and denied he was refusing to apply for U.S. citizenship to avoid being drafted into the military. Still, many Americans "took a dim view of the largest nation in the competition stooping to borrow a little player from Peru to win the Cup". Olmedo eventually became a U.S. citizen many years later. He spent over 40 years teaching tennis at the Beverly Hills Hotel in California. His clients included Katharine Hepburn, Robert Duvall, and Jon Lovitz.

Olmedo's marriage to Ann Olmedo ended in divorce. He had a son Alejandro Jr., two daughters Amy and Angela, and four grand children.

Grand Slam finals Singles (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Doubles (1 title, 1 runner-up) ResultYearChampionshipSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreWin 1958 U.S. Championships Grass Ham Richardson Sam Giammalva Barry MacKay 3–6, 6–3, 6–4, 6–4 Loss 1959 U.S. Championships Grass Butch Buchholz Roy Emerson Neale Fraser 6–3, 3–6, 7–5, 4–6, 5–7

Mixed doubles (1 runner-up) ResultYearChampionshipSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss 1958 U.S. Championships Grass Maria Bueno Neale Fraser Margaret Osborne duPont 3–6, 6–3, 7–9

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline

Singles