John Doeg

John Thomas Godfray Hope Doeg (December 7, 1908 – April 27, 1978) was a male tennis player from the United States.

In August 1929 Doeg won the singles title at the Seabright Invitational defeating Richard Norris Williams in three straight sets. About a year later he fulfilled his promise and won his first and only major singles tournament, the 1930 U.S. National Championships at Forrest Hills, defeating Frank Shields in the final in four sets. He proceeded to reach a career-high singles world ranking of No. 4 in the same year.

In 1962 he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

John Doeg was the son of tennis player Violet Sutton and the nephew of Wimbledon and U.S. National singles tennis champion May Sutton.

Playing style

Although his name is not well known today Doeg in his heyday was often considered among the premier servers in tennis history:

There was this difference between the three men: Doeg’s service was his chief weapon, and once he had broken through an opponent he was thought to be certain of winning that set. With Tilden and Vines the service was only one of many weapons, and it was employed intermittently and sometimes kept in reserve for time of need.