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John Lloyd (tennis)

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John Lloyd
Lloyd at the Dutch Open in 1975
Country (sports) United Kingdom
ResidenceCalifornia, USA
Born (1954-08-27) 27 August 1954 (age 70)
Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England
Height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
PlaysRight-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money$598,092
Singles
Career record210–259
Career titles1
Highest rankingNo. 21 (23 July 1978)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenF (1977Dec)
French Open3R (1978, 1982)
Wimbledon3R (1973, 1984, 1985)
US OpenQF (1984)
Doubles
Career record206–239
Career titles2
Highest rankingNo. 34 (8 September 1986)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open3R (1984, 1985)
French OpenQF (1986)
WimbledonQF (1982)
US OpenQF (1984)
Mixed doubles
Career titles3
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian Open1R (1989)
French OpenW (1982)
WimbledonW (1983, 1984)

John Lloyd (born 27 August 1954) is a British former professional tennis player. Lloyd reached an ATP world ranking of 21 in July 1978, and was ranked as UK number 1 in 1984 and 1985. He now works as a tennis commentator.

During his career, he reached one Grand Slam singles final – losing to Vitas Gerulaitis in the 1977 Australian Open. Lloyd won three Grand Slam mixed doubles titles with tennis partner Wendy Turnbull: the French Open in 1982 and Wimbledon in 1983 and 1984. Lloyd was a member of the Great Britain team that reached the final of the 1978 Davis Cup, losing to the United States.

He was the first husband of the former top woman player Chris Evert and is the younger brother of the former British Davis Cup captain David Lloyd. He served as the British Davis Cup captain himself from August 2006 until March 2010.[1] He is a member of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

Education

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Lloyd was educated at Southend High School for Boys, a state grammar school in Southend-on-Sea in Essex, in southeast England.[2]

Life and career

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At the Australian Open in December 1977, Lloyd became the first British male tennis player in the Open era to reach a Grand Slam singles final. He lost in five sets to America's Vitas Gerulaitis 6–3, 7–6, 5–7, 3–6, 6–2. No other British player reached a Grand Slam final for 20 years, until British-Canadian Greg Rusedski reached the US Open final in 1997. In 1984 he reached the quarter-finals of the US Open. Lloyd never progressed beyond the third round in singles play at Wimbledon.

Though he did not win a Grand Slam singles title, Lloyd won three Grand Slam mixed doubles titles partnering Australia's Wendy Turnbull, beginning with the French Open mixed doubles in 1982. The pair finished runners-up in the mixed doubles at Wimbledon that year, and then went on to win the Wimbledon mixed doubles crown in both 1983 and 1984.

Lloyd's career-high singles ranking was World No. 21 in 1978. He was a member of the British team that reached the final of the Davis Cup that year with Lloyd himself losing in straight sets in the singles to Brian Gottfried and to a 19-year-old John McEnroe.[3] As a player, he represented the British Davis Cup team for 11 years. His career-high doubles ranking was World No. 34 in 1986. As his playing career came to an end, Lloyd stayed within the tennis world, finding work as a coach and television commentator, and appearing on the veterans circuit.

In 2006, Lloyd was appointed the captain of Great Britain's Davis Cup team, replacing Jeremy Bates.[4] Lloyd's reign started very well, with successive victories taking the team back into the World Group, but after the retirement of both Greg Rusedski and Tim Henman in 2007 the team suffered five successive defeats, their worst run in Davis Cup history, to drop back down to the third tier of the competition. Lloyd resigned as coach in mid-2010.[5]

Commentator

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Since the 1990s, Lloyd has been a commentator and analyst for the BBC's tennis coverage, particularly at Wimbledon. Lloyd is known for his trademark catchphrases, using the analogy of food and drink to describe tennis shots. For example, if a shot is too weak he will claim that it was "undercooked" or "needed more mustard." Conversely, if a shot is overhit he will describe it as "overcooked", having "too much juice", or "having too much mustard."

He worked for Sky Sports on their coverage of the 2009 US Open.[citation needed]

Personal life

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John Lloyd and Chris Evert in Fort Lauderdale c. 1978

In 1979, Lloyd married the World No. 1 woman player, American Chris Evert (who became Chris Evert-Lloyd). The media-styled "golden couple" of tennis enjoyed several years in the limelight before a separation, a short-lived reconciliation, and eventual divorce in 1987. Because of Evert's higher profile tennis career, Lloyd was sometimes jokingly referred to in the press as "Mr. Evert".[6] Aware of this negative impact on his psyche, Evert attempted to boost Lloyd's standing by the couple always insisting on being billed or announced as "International tennis star John Lloyd and his wife Chris" whenever they made personal appearances together in the UK or Australia. Their biographer Carol Thatcher (a friend of the couple) observed that this was akin to the ridiculousness of her own parents being announced as "International business executive Denis Thatcher and his wife Margaret".[7][page needed]

In 1987, Lloyd married Deborah Taylor-Bellman, an American dancing teacher, their marriage lasting 30 years, until 2017. They have two children, Aiden and Hayley. Lloyd has recounted how getting a divorce may have unintentionally helped saved his life since on moving to Florida in the US following his divorce he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, which then could be treated in time. Lloyd currently lives in Palm Beach, Florida, with his girlfriend Svetlana Carroll, a Russian-born estate agent.[8]

Lloyd is a supporter of the football team Wolverhampton Wanderers. It is because of Lloyd's influence that Andy Murray is also a Wolves fan (although Murray's 'first' club is Hibernian FC[9]) and has often been seen wearing the Wolves shirt that was presented to him by Lloyd.[10]

Grand Slam finals

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Singles (1 runner-up)

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Result Year Championship Surface Opponent Score
Loss 1977 Australian Open (Dec.) Grass United States Vitas Gerulaitis 3–6, 6–7(4–7), 7–5, 6–3, 2–6

Mixed doubles (3 titles, 1 runner-up)

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Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1982 French Open Clay Australia Wendy Turnbull Brazil Cláudia Monteiro
Brazil Cássio Motta
6–2, 7–6
Loss 1982 Wimbledon Grass Australia Wendy Turnbull United States Anne Smith
South Africa Kevin Curren
6–2, 3–6, 5–7
Win 1983 Wimbledon Grass Australia Wendy Turnbull United States Billie Jean King
United States Steve Denton
6–7(5–7), 7–6(7–5), 7–5
Win 1984 Wimbledon (2) Grass Australia Wendy Turnbull United States Kathy Jordan
United States Steve Denton
6–3, 6–3

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline

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Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles

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Tournament 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 SR
Australian Open A A A 2R A 2R A F A A A Q1 1R 4R 2R QF NH 0 / 7
French Open A Q3 2R 1R 2R 1R 1R 3R 2R A A 3R 1R 2R 2R 1R 0 / 12
Wimbledon Q1 Q2 3R 1R 1R 1R 2R 1R 1R 1R 2R 1R 1R 3R 3R 1R 0 / 14
US Open A A 2R 2R 2R 3R 2R 3R 3R A 1R A 4R QF 2R A 0 / 11
Strike rate 0 / 0 0 / 0 0 / 3 0 / 4 0 / 3 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 3 0 / 3 0 / 1 0 / 2 0 / 3 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 2 0 / 44

Note: The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December.

Career finals

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Singles: 5 (1 title, 4 runners-up)

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Result W-L Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Win 1–0 Aug 1974 Haverford, U.S. Grass United States John Whitlinger 6–0, 4–6, 6–3, 7–5
Loss 1–1 Oct 1977 Basel, Switzerland Hard (i) Sweden Björn Borg 4–6, 2–6, 3–6
Loss 1–2 Nov 1977 Wembley, UK Carpet (i) Sweden Björn Borg 4–6, 4–6, 3–6
Loss 1–3 Dec 1977 Australian Open Grass United States Vitas Gerulaitis 3–6, 6–7, 7–5, 6–3, 2–6
Loss 1–4 Aug 1979 South Orange, U.S. Clay United States John McEnroe 7–6(7–1), 4–6, 0–6

Doubles: 10 (2 titles, 8 runners-up)

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Result W-L Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 0–1 Feb 1974 London, UK Hard United Kingdom Mark Farrell Sweden Ove Nils Bengtson
Sweden Björn Borg
6–7, 3–6
Loss 0–2 Jul 1975 Hilversum, Netherlands Clay Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Željko Franulović Poland Wojciech Fibak
Argentina Guillermo Vilas
4–6, 3–6
Loss 0–3 Aug 1975 South Orange, U.S. Clay Australia Dick Crealy United States Jimmy Connors
Romania Ilie Năstase
2–6, 3–6
Win 1–3 Nov 1976 London, UK Carpet (i) United Kingdom David Lloyd United Kingdom John Feaver
Australia John James
6–4, 3–6, 6–2
Loss 1–4 Mar 1977 Helsinki, Finland Carpet (i) United Kingdom David Lloyd Czechoslovakia Jiří Hřebec
Austria Hans Kary
7–5, 6–7, 4–6
Loss 1–5 Jun 1977 Queen's Club, London, UK Grass United Kingdom David Lloyd India Anand Amritraj
India Vijay Amritraj
1–6, 2–6
Win 2–5 Oct 1979 Maui, U.S. Hard United States Nick Saviano Australia Rod Frawley
Paraguay Francisco González
7–5, 6–4
Loss 2–6 Nov 1979 Paris, France Hard United Kingdom Tony Lloyd France Jean-Louis Haillet
France Gilles Moretton
6–7, 6–7
Loss 2–7 Feb 1982 La Quinta, U.S. Hard United States Dick Stockton United States Brian Gottfried
Mexico Raúl Ramírez
4–6, 6–3, 2–6
Loss 2–8 Jul 1983 South Orange, U.S. Clay United States Dick Stockton United States Fritz Buehning
United States Tom Cain
2–6, 5–7

References and notes

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  1. ^ "John Lloyd resigns as Great Britain Davis Cup captain". BBC Sport. 18 March 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  2. ^ "John Lloyd: My new life as an estate agent". TheTennisSpace.com. 10 February 2012. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  3. ^ Jewell, Alan (25 November 2015). "Davis Cup final: Buster Mottram & story of Britain's 1978 campaign". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  4. ^ "Lloyd is new GB Davis Cup captain" BBC Sport, 9 August 2006
  5. ^ "Lloyd resigns as GB Cup captain". BBC Sport. 18 March 2010.
  6. ^ "Lloyd's Fond Memories Of Old Neighborhood Dim With Loss". Sun Sentinel. 22 July 1988. Archived from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  7. ^ Thatcher, Carol with John and Chris Evert Lloyd: Lloyd on Lloyd. Beaufort Books 1986. ISBN 978-0825303746
  8. ^ "Former tennis ace John Lloyd says getting divorced "may have saved my life" after surviving prostate cancer". 2 July 2017.
  9. ^ "Andy Murray's backs Hibs in Scottish Cup final as he gears up for French Open". 21 May 2016.
  10. ^ "Guess Who?". andymurray.com. 4 February 2009. Archived from the original on 30 April 2009. Retrieved 4 February 2009.
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