1973_Grand_Prix_(tennis)
The 1973 Commercial Union Assurance Grand Prix was a tennis circuit administered by the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF) which served as a forerunner to the current Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Tour and the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour.[1] The circuit consisted of the four modern Grand Slam tournaments and open tournaments recognised by the ILTF. This article covers all tournaments that were part of that year's Men's Grand Prix. Bonus points were awarded to players who were nominated to play in certain 1973 Davis Cup ties and who miss tournaments through competing in those ties.[2] The Commercial Union Assurance Masters is included in this calendar but did not count towards the Grand Prix.
Ilie Năstase finished the year as the inaugural ATP world No. 1. He won 14 titles during the season, including a major at the French Open, as well as the Masters Grand Prix. | |
| Details | |
|---|---|
| Duration | 3 January 1973 – 26 December 1973 |
| Edition | 4th |
| Tournaments | 72 |
| Achievements (singles) | |
| Most tournament titles |  Ilie Năstase (14) |
| Most tournament finals | Ilie Năstase (17) |
| Prize money leader | Ilie Năstase |
| Points leader | Ilie Năstase |
← 1972 1974 → | |
- Key
| AA events |
| Grand Prix Masters |
| A events |
| B events |
| C events |
| Team events |
December 1972
| Week | Tournament | Champions | Runners-up | Semifinalists | Quarterfinalists |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 Dec | Australian Open Melbourne, Australia Grand Slam – Group A Grass – $27,450 – 56S/32D Singles – Doubles |  John Newcombe 6–3, 6–7, 7–5, 6–1 |  Onny Parun |  Karl Meiler  Patrick Proisy | Wanaro N'Godrella  Alex Metreveli John Cooper Bob Carmichael |
| Mal Anderson John Newcombe 6–3, 6–4, 7–6 | John Alexander Phil Dent |
May
| Week | Tournament | Champions | Runners-up | Semifinalists | Quarterfinalists |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 May | Rothmans British Hard Court Championships Bournemouth, Great Britain Group B Clay – 64S/32D/32XD |  Adriano Panatta 6–8, 7–5, 6–3, 8–6 | Ilie Năstase | Barry Phillips-Moore Ross Case | Geoff Masters  Buster Mottram François Jauffret Patrice Dominguez |
 Juan Gisbert Sr. Ilie Năstase 6–4, 8–6 | Adriano Panatta Ion Țiriac | ||||
Virginia Wade  Frew McMillan 6–2, 6–3 | Ilana Kloss Bernard Mitton | ||||
| 21 May | French Open Paris, France Grand Slam – Group AA Clay – 128S/64D/32XD Singles – Doubles – Mixed doubles | Ilie Năstase 6–3, 6–3, 6–0 |  Nikola Pilić | Adriano Panatta  Tom Gorman |  Tom Okker Paolo Bertolucci  Jan Kodeš Roger Taylor |
| John Newcombe Tom Okker 6–1, 3–6, 6–3, 5–7, 6–4 | Jimmy Connors Ilie Năstase | ||||
| Françoise Dürr Jean-Claude Barclay 6–1, 6–4 | Betty Stöve Patrice Dominguez |
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
| Week | Tournament | Champions | Runners-up | Semifinalists | Quarterfinalists |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 Dec | Commercial Union Assurance Masters Boston, United States Hard (i) – $50,000 – 8S Singles | Ilie Năstase 6–3, 7–5, 4–6, 6–3 | Tom Okker | Jimmy Connors John Newcombe | Round robin Jan Kodeš Tom Gorman Stan Smith Manuel Orantes |
The tournaments listed above were divided into four groups. Group AA consisted of the Triple Crown – the French Open, the Wimbledon Championships and the US Open – while the other tournaments were divided into Groups A, B and C by prize money and draw size. Points were allocated based on these groups and the finishing position of a player in a tournament. No points were awarded to first round losers and ties were settled by the number of tournaments played. The points allocation is listed below:
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1) Ilie Năstase 610 points, 2) John Newcombe 512.5 points, 3) Tom Okker 498 points, 4) Jimmy Connors 383 points, 5) Manuel Orantes 358.5 points, 6) Jan Kodeš 315 points, 7) Stan Smith 274 points, 8) Tom Gorman 270 points, 9) Björn Borg 240 points, 10) Arthur Ashe 236 points, 11) Rod Laver 230 points, 12) Nikki Pilic 210 points, 13) Jaime Fillol 203 points, 14) Raúl Ramírez 186.5 points, 15) Onny Parun 177 points, 16) Vijay Amritraj 169.5 points, 17) Ken Rosewall 169 points, 18) Eddie Dibbs 155 points, 19) Karl Meiler 155 points, 20) Marty Riessen 141 points, 21) Alex Metreveli 141 points, 22) Jiří Hřebec 131 points, 23) Ross Case 126 points, 24) Roger Taylor 126 points, 25) Guillermo Vilas 121 points, 26) Adriano Panatta 119 points, 27) Brian Gottfried 118 points, 28) Mark Cox 118 points, 29) Jürgen Fassbender 115 points, 30) Charles Pasarell 112 points, 31) Cliff Drysdale 112 points, 32) Paolo Bertolucci 104 points, 33) Geoff Masters 100 points, 34) Ray Moore 98 points, 35) John Alexander 98 points[3]
On 23 August 1973 the Association of Tennis Professionals published its first list of computer rankings, using points averages rather than points totals in their calculations. These are the ATP rankings of the top twenty singles players in the first list[4] and at the end of the 1973 season,[5] with numbers of ranking points, points averages, numbers of tournaments played, year-end rankings in 1973, highest and lowest positions during the season and number of spots gained or lost from the first rankings to the year-end rankings.
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- The tournament started on 14 November.
- "How it All Began". Association of Tennis Professional (ATP).
- John Barrett, ed. (1974). World of Tennis '74. London: Queen Anne Press. pp. 30–32. ISBN 9780362001686.
- John Barrett, ed. (1974). World of Tennis '74. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 32. ISBN 9780362001686.
- "ATP Rankings (singles) as of August 23, 1973". atpworldtour.com. ATP Tour, Inc. 23 August 1973. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
- "ATP Rankings (singles) as of December 14, 1973". atpworldtour.com. ATP Tour, Inc.
- "ATP rankings 23 Aug 1973". ATP. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
- "ATP Year-end top 20". ATP. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
- ATP Archive 1973: Commercial Union Grand Prix tournaments
- History Mens Professional Tours
- Collins, Bud (2010). The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book (2nd ed.). New York: New Chapter Press. ISBN 978-0-942257-70-0.