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Revision as of 02:28, 9 January 2006 by Slj (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)John F. Hennessey was a top American tennis player of the 1920s.
Hennessey 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 World No. 8 ranked player. 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 U.S. Nationals, 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 U.S. National championship and the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in both 1925 and 1928. A July 14, 1924 Time Magazine article called him The Indianapolis Cyclone.
He also won singles title in 1920 of the tournament now known as the Cincinnati Masters, now one of the biggest tournaments in the world, and the nation's oldest tournament still played in its original city. He also reached the singles final in Cincinnati in 1919 and was the doubles champion there in 1917 (with Albrecht Kipp) and 1920 (with Fritz Bastain).
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.