Leonard Roscoe Tanner (born October 15, 1951) is an American former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4 on July 30, 1979. Tanner won 16 titles throughout his career.
Tanner was famous for his big left-handed serve, which was regarded as the fastest on the tour during his era. It was reportedly clocked at a then world record of at the Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California on February 19, 1978 during the 1978 American Airlines Tennis Games singles final against Raúl Ramírez.Wimbledon '99: Secrets of an express delivery, by Ronald Atkin, The Independent, June 20, 1999 Retrieved December 9, 2009.
He is also known for winning the men's singles title at the first of two Australian Open tournaments held in 1977. Tanner won the tournament held in January. Tanner reached the Wimbledon final in 1979, narrowly losing to Björn Borg in five sets.
After his retirement, Tanner received media attention in the 2000s for legal problems that included stretches of imprisonment, arrests for missing child support payments, allegations of financial misdeeds, and bankruptcy.
Early life Leonard Roscoe Tanner III was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee on 15 October 1951. He is the son of Leonard Roscoe Tanner Jr., an attorney who played collegiate tennis at the University of Chattanooga, and Anne Tanner. Tanner grew up in Lookout Mountain, Tennessee where he was introduced to tennis at the age of 6. He competed against Jimmy Connors throughout juniors and Tanner said in an interview that he won most of their matches. He won his first Junior U.S. Nationals Tournament at 16-years-old.
Tanner graduated from Baylor School with honors, where he was captain of the tennis team and recipient of the Senior Tennis Award. He went on to help lead Stanford University's rise to national prominence in collegiate tennis with teammate, Sandy Mayer.Tanner played number one singles, with Mayer playing number two. In 1972, Tanner and Mayer won the NCAA doubles championship, and the Stanford team finished second in the NCAA tournament, behind Trinity (TX). The team also featured Chico Hagey, Rick Fisher, Jim Delaney, Gery Groslimond, Chip Fisher, Paul Sidone, and Tim Noonan.
Career Early career (1969–73)Tanner defeated Haroon Rahim 10–8 in the fifth set to win the 1970 United States Amateur Championships. While attending Stanford, Tanner began playing professional tennis tournaments throughout the U.S., which earned him a ranking in the top 20. Tanner graduated from Stanford, forgoed law school, and officially turned pro in 1972. That same year, the world no.1, Arthur Ashe, asked Tanner to be his doubles partner and Tanner says, "One of the biggest turning points for me was playing doubles with Arthur Ashe," in a 2020 interview. His first tournament on tour was the 1972 Wimbledon Championships, where he lost to Colin Dibley in the 3rd round. Tanner made it to the quarterfinals of the 1972 U.S. Open, where he lost to Tom Gorman in 5 sets. Tanner won his first professional tournament in doubles with Arthur Ashe in 1973 Denver WCT.
Peak years (1974–79)
Tanner claimed the singles and doubles titles at Denver WCT in 1974 where he defeated Arthur Ashe. Tanner lost in a 1975 Wimbledon semifinal to Jimmy Connors and lost in a 1976 Wimbledon semifinal to Björn Borg. In the round of 16 in the 1976 U.S. Open, Tanner lost to Ilie Nastase – where Tanner told the umpire to change the call on Nastase's ball from "out" to "in". Tanner defeated Guillermo Vilas in three straight sets in the 1977 Australian Open (January) final, to win his first and only Grand Slam title.
Tanner went on to clock a 153 mph serve at the 1978 Palm Springs Tournament where he defeated Raul Ramirez. His booming 153 mph serve was the fastest ever recorded in tournament competition from February 1978 until Andy Roddick posted a 155 mph serve in a Davis Cup semifinal in September 2004 against Vladimir Voltchkov. Research has shown that the advancements made to modern day tennis rackets have allowed serve speed to increase by 17.5%.
Tanner lost a five set match to Björn Borg in the 1979 Wimbledon final, which was the first Wimbledon final to be broadcast live in the United States as part of NBC's Breakfast at Wimbledon. Tanner avenged this loss to Borg by beating him in four sets in the US Open quarterfinals two months later, a match where Tanner's 140 mph serve brought the net down during the fourth set. Tanner lost to Vitas Gerulaitis in a five-set thriller in the semifinals. Tanner described his 1979 US Open win over Borg and loss to Gerulaitis in his autobiography as "the highest of my highs and the lowest of my lows on a tennis court within two days of each other".
1980s
Tanner advanced to the quarter-finals of the U.S Open in 1980 and 1981. He made it to the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in 1980 and 1983, despite suffering an injury to his left elbow, his serving arm. He won the Davis Cup in 1981 playing with John McEnroe, Eliot Teltscher and Peter Fleming on a team captained by Arthur Ashe that defeated Argentina in the final, played at Riverfront Coliseum in Cincinnati.
1985: Retirement
Tanner officially retired from professional tennis in 1985. He coached in Europe for a brief period and led clinics at tennis resorts in the United States. He played in the Over-50s tennis tournaments and was ranked 2nd in the world during that period.
Playing style
Tanner was known for his unorthodox, very strong left-handed serve that was tossed very low and struck with a lunge involving the whole body, earning him the nickname "The Rocket". In a 2023 podcast interview, Tanner explained how he first learned his service motion: "When [Jerry Evert] taught me how to serve... he took me to the woods beside the court without a ball, and had me do the service motion knocking leaves off of trees." His game consisted of a powerful serve with an approach to the net and strong volleys.
In a video for Jack Kramer, Tanner said, "The offensive style of game which is closest to my heart is basically the attacking style... that is a serve and volley type of game. That's really moving at the other player, picking out their weaknesses and attacking them, being aggressive." Tanner played with a PDP Open racket, which was the "stiffest" racket on tour at the time, which added speed and power to his strokes and volleys.
Grand Slam singles performance timeline
Tournament1969197019711972197319741975197619771978197919801981198219831984SRW–L Australian Open1AAAAAAAAW1RAAA2RA3RA1 / 49–3 French OpenAAAAA1R3RAA4RAAAAAA0 / 35–3 WimbledonAAA3RA4RSFSF1R4RFQF2R4RQFA0 / 1136–11 US Open1R2R3RQF3RSF3R4R4R4RSFQFQF2R3R1R0 / 1640–16Win–loss0–10–12–16–22–18–39–38–29–39–311–28–26–34–28–30–11 / 3490–33 1The Australian Open was played twice in 1977, in January and December.
Grand Slam finals Singles: 2 (1 titles, 1 runner-up) ResultYearChampionshipSurfaceOpponentScoreWin1977Australian Open (Jan.)Grass Guillermo Vilas6–3, 6–3, 6–3Loss1979WimbledonGrass Björn Borg7–6(7–4), 1–6, 6–3, 3–6, 4–6
Career finals Singles (15 titles, 26 runner-ups) ResultNo.YearTournamentSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss1.1972Albany, U.S.Hard (i) Jimmy Connors2–6, 6–7Loss2.1972Los Angeles, U.S.Hard Stan Smith4–6, 4–6Loss3.1973Milan WCT, ItalyCarpet (i) Marty Riessen6–7, 0–6, 6–7Loss4.1974Palm Desert WCT, U.S.Hard Rod Laver4–6, 2–6Win1.1974Denver WCT, U.S.Carpet (i) Arthur Ashe6–2, 6–4Loss5.1974Columbus, U.S.Hard Raúl Ramírez6–3, 6–7, 4–6Loss6.1974Maui, U.S.Hard John Newcombe6–7, 6–7Win2.1974Christchurch, New ZealandCarpet (i) Ray Ruffels6–4, 6–2Loss7.1975St. Petersburg WCT, U.S.Hard Raúl Ramírez0–6, 6–1, 2–6Loss8.1975St. Louis WCT, U.S.Clay Vitas Gerulaitis6–2, 2–6, 3–6Loss9.1975Charlotte, U.S.Clay Raúl Ramírez6–3, 4–6, 3–6Win3.1975Las Vegas WCT, U.S.Hard Ross Case5–7, 7–5, 7–6Win4.1975Chicago, U.S.Carpet (i) John Alexander6–1, 6–7, 7–6Loss10.1975Los Angeles, U.S.Hard Arthur Ashe6–3, 5–7, 3–6Loss11.1976Birmingham, U.S.Carpet (i) Jimmy Connors4–6, 6–3, 1–6Loss12.1976Rancho Mirage, U.S.Hard Jimmy Connors4–6, 4–6Win5.1976Cincinnati, U.S.Clay Eddie Dibbs7–6, 6–3Win6.1976Columbus, U.S.Hard Stan Smith6–4, 7–6Loss13.1976South Orange, U.S.Clay Ilie Năstase4–6, 2–6Win7.1976San Francisco, U.S.Hard (i) Brian Gottfried4–6, 7–5, 6–1Win8.1976Tokyo Outdoor, JapanClay Corrado Barazzutti6–3, 6–2Loss14.1976Wembley, U.K.Carpet (i) Jimmy Connors6–3, 6–7, 4–6Win9.1977Australian Open, MelbourneGrass Guillermo Vilas6–3, 6–3, 6–3Loss15.1977South Orange, U.S.Clay Guillermo Vilas4–6, 1–6Loss16.1977Hilton Head, U.S.Clay Björn Borg4–6, 5–7Loss17.1977WCT Challenge Cup, Las VegasCarpet (i) Jimmy Connors2–6, 6–5, 6–3, 2–6, 5–6Win10.1977Sydney Outdoor, AustraliaGrass Brian Teacher6–3, 3–6, 6–3, 6–7, 6–4Loss18.1978Philadelphia, U.S.Carpet (i) Jimmy Connors2–6, 4–6, 3–6Win11.1978Rancho Mirage, U.S.Hard Raúl Ramírez6–1, 7–6Win12.1978New Orleans, U.S.Carpet (i) Victor Amaya6–3, 7–5Win13.1979Rancho Mirage, U.S.Hard Brian Gottfried6–4, 6–2Win14.1979Washington Indoor, U.S.Carpet (i) Brian Gottfried6–4, 6–4Loss19.1979New Orleans, U.S.Carpet (i) John McEnroe4–6, 2–6Loss20.1979Wimbledon, U.K.Grass Björn Borg7–6, 1–6, 6–3, 3–6, 4–6Loss21.1979Cincinnati, U.S.Hard Peter Fleming4–6, 2–6Loss22.1980Richmond WCT, U.S.Carpet (i) John McEnroe1–6, 2–6Win15.1981Philadelphia, U.S.Carpet (i) Wojtek Fibak6–2, 7–6, 7–5Loss23.1981Memphis, U.S.Carpet (i) Gene Mayer2–6, 4–6Loss24.1981Bristol, U.K.Grass Mark Edmondson3–6, 7–5, 4–6Loss25.1981Sydney Indoor, AustraliaHard (i) John McEnroe4–6, 5–7, 2–6Loss26.1982La Costa WCT, U.S.Hard Johan Kriek0–6, 6–4, 0–6, 4–6
Doubles titles (13 titles, 16 runner-ups)