Alex Olmedo
Luis Alejandro "Alex" Olmedo was a Peruvian tennis player who became a prominent figure in the sport during the late 1950s. Born on March 24, 1936, in Arequipa, Peru, he demonstrated exceptional athletic ability from a young age. With financial support from his community, he pursued his tennis dreams in the United States, where he attended the University of Southern California (USC). At USC, he achieved significant success, winning NCAA singles and doubles championships in 1956 and 1958.
Olmedo made a name for himself on the international stage, representing the United States in the Davis Cup despite initial controversy regarding his Peruvian origins. In 1958, he played a critical role in securing the championship for the U.S. team. The following year, he reached the pinnacle of his career by winning the prestigious Wimbledon and Australian Open titles, becoming the first Latin American to achieve such a feat. After turning professional in 1960, he continued to influence the sport through teaching, notably at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where he worked for over forty years. Alex Olmedo's legacy was honored with inductions into the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the USC Athletic Hall of Fame before his passing on December 9, 2020, at the age of 84.
Alex Olmedo
- Born: March 24, 1936
- Birthplace: Arequipa, Peru
- Died: December 9, 2020
- Place of death: Santa Monica, California
Sport: Tennis
Early Life
Luis Alejandro “Alex” Rodríguez Olmedo was born into an impoverished family on March 24, 1936, in Arequipa, Peru’s second-largest city, which is located near the country’s southern border. An excellent athlete even as a child, Olmedo, at the age of nine, borrowed his father’s old tennis racket and began to practice tennis by hitting balls for hours each day. By the time he was seventeen, he had grown to 6 feet 1 inch, exhibited exceptional agility, and showed great potential in the sport to which he had devoted so much time.
The Road to Excellence
Arequipa offered little in the way of tennis competition for Olmedo. He desired to head north to the United States to refine his rough athletic skills, but his family was unable to finance such a trip. Luckily for Olmedo, he had impressed many sports fans with his determination to succeed. Local citizens pooled their money to help him realize his dream. In 1954, with the equivalent of $700 in contributions in hand, he boarded a boat and sailed to Havana, Cuba. From Havana, he flew to Miami, Florida. He rode a bus cross-country from Miami to Los Angeles, California.
In Los Angeles, Olmedo got a day job at a tennis shop. At night, he studied English at the University of Southern California (USC) while working to earn a degree in business. He also found time to play tennis on the Trojans’ team. In 1956, Olmedo won the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) singles championship. With a teammate, he also captured the NCAA doubles championship that year. USC was declared ineligible to compete for the championships in 1957, but in 1958, he returned to repeat as dual NCAA tennis champion before graduating with his degree.
The Emerging Champion
In 1958, US Davis Cup team captain Perry Jones selected Olmedo to represent the United States for the major international team event in men’s amateur tennis, which pits the world’s best national teams against one another. Objections were raised because Olmedo had been born in Peru. However, because he had lived in the United States for more than three consecutive years and because Peru had no national tennis team, he was approved for the competition.
At the 1958 Davis Cup, Olmedo dominated with a powerful serve. He beat Italy’s Nicola Pietrangeli in a semifinal match. In the finals, he won two singles matches, against Mal Anderson and Ashley Cooper, and teamed with Ham Richardson in a victorious doubles match to lead the United States to the championship against a strong Australian team.
The following year, Olmedo ascended to the number-one ranking in men’s tennis. He began the year 1959 by winning US indoor singles and doubles titles. Then, he captured the Australian Open Tennis Championship, besting Neale Fraser in four sets. Finally, he swept to victory at Wimbledon, beating Australian Rod Laver in straight sets to claim the prestigious singles title. In the process, he became the first Latin American to achieve such a feat. Two weeks prior to the 1959 Davis Cup, he was a finalist at the 1959 US Men’s Clay Court Championships. In a lackluster performance he lost in the championship match to Fraser, the man he had beaten at the Australian Open. The United States Lawn Tennis Association, suspecting he had thrown the match, threatened to suspend him. However, the Peruvian had been practicing on grass to prepare for the Davis Cup and was simply not prepared to play on the clay courts at the US Open. The additional competition tired Olmedo, and though he won a singles match at the Davis Cup, Australia won the trophy. The media pointed unfairly at Olmedo as the cause of the US failure to retain the championship.
Continuing the Story
In 1960, Olmedo turned professional and began touring with other tennis stars, including Pancho Gonzales, Ken Rosewall, Pancho Segura, Lew Hoad, Laver, and Tony Trabert. He also married and fathered four children: Amy—who won the US Public Parks Tennis Championship as a twelve-year-old—Angela, Alex, and David.
In 1965, Olmedo retired from competition and was hired as the teaching professional at the upscale Beverly Hills Hotel and Bungalows where he continued to teach more than forty years later. During his tenure at the hotel, he gave lessons to many celebrities, assisting such entertainers as Katharine Hepburn, Robert Duvall, and Chevy Chase in improving their serves, strengthening their backhands, and solidifying their forehands. His son David became an assistant professional at the same facility.
In 1986, in recognition of his accomplishments, Olmedo was enshrined in the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, alongside other tennis greats inducted that year: Billie Jean King, Stan Smith, and Björn Borg. Olmedo was also inducted into the USC Athletic Hall of Fame.
On December 9, 2020, Olmedo died of brain cancer at a Santa Monica, California, hospital, at the age of eighty-four.
Summary
The first Latin American to win a singles tennis title at Wimbledon, the hard serving, lightning-quick Peruvian Alex Olmedo shone brightly during a brief, whirlwind amateur career representing the United States. He won NCAA singles and doubles titles twice while at USC and led the US Davis Cup team to victory in 1958. In a single year, 1959, he triumphed in singles and doubles at the US indoor championships, won the men’s singles at the Australian Open and at Wimbledon, and was runner-up at the US Open before turning professional.
Bibliography
Barrett, John. Wimbledon: The Official History of the Championships. Glasgow, Scotland: HarperCollins, 2001.
Collins, Bud. The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book. New York: New Chapter Press, 2008.
Fein, Paul. Tennis Confidential: Today’s Greatest Players, Matches, and Controversies. Dulles, Va.: Potomac Books, 2002.
Goldstein, Richard. "Alex Olmedo, 84, Dies; Tennis Star Known for a Remarkable Year." The New York Times, 13 Dec. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/12/13/sports/tennis/alex-olmedo-dead.html. Accessed 5 Apr. 2021.