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Revision as of 17:24, 10 August 2005 by Hayford Peirce (talk | contribs) (added List of Male Tennis Players)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)John F. Hennessey was a top American tennis player of the 1920s. He was ranked among the 10 best American players three times, his highest ranking being #4 in 1928. In both 1927 and 1928 he was the #8-ranked player in the world. In 1925 he and Ray Casey reached the finals of the Wimbledon doubles. In an era in which tournament doubles matches were considered almost as important as singles, they lost one of the most famous matches in the early history of tennis, being beaten 4-6, 9-11, 6-4, 6-1, 3-6 by one of the great French teams of Jean Borotra and René Lacoste. Hennessey and George Lott won the 1928 doubles title at the American championship, the same year that Hennessey lost two singles matches in the final Challenge Round of the Davis Cup. Hennessey reached the quarterfinals of the 1927 American championship and the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in both 1925 and 1928. A July 14, 1924 Time Magazine article called him The Indianapolis Cyclone.
In 1984 Hennessey was one of the first four inductees into the USTA/Midwest Section Hall of Fame. There is an annual John F. Hennessey Open tournament in Indianapolis for junior players.