Commemorative plaque in Budapest District XI, Bartók Béla Street No 75.
József Asbóth (Hungarian:[ˈjoːʒɛfˈɒʒboːt]; 18 September 1917 – 22 September 1986) was a Hungarian tennis player. Born to a family of railway workers,[3] he is best remembered for being the first Hungarian and first player from Eastern Europe to win a Grand Slam singles title, at the 1947 French Open (where as the fifth seed he beat Yvon Petra, Tom Brown and Eric Sturgess).[4] He remains the only Hungarian male player to win a Grand Slam singles title. Asbóth was a clay court specialist who was good at keeping the ball in play.[5]
Asbóth also reached the semifinals at Wimbledon in 1948 (beating Sturgess and Brown, then losing to John Bromwich).[6] Hungary's Communist government had let him leave the country only after the personal warrant of the Swedish King Gustaf V that Asbóth would return to his homeland and wasn't going to emigrate.[3] In 1941, he was a member of the Hungarian team that won the Central European Cup.
Asbóth was ranked World No. 8 by John Olliff of The Daily Telegraph in 1948 (and No. 9 in 1947).[2]
His Davis Cup record was 24 wins and 17 losses. He won the Hungarian National Tennis Championships 13 times.[7]
After his career, he became responsible for the next generation of tennis players at the Belgian Tennis Federation. He later became a trainer in Munich.
In 1993 a street was named after Asbóth in Szombathely, the city where he was born.[8]
^ abUnited States Lawn Tennis Association (1972). Official Encyclopedia of Tennis (First Edition), p. 426.
^ abLass, Gábor (2011-06-29). "A magyar tenisz végvára" [Last resort of Hungarian tennis]. demokrata.hu (in Hungarian). Budapest, Hungary: Magyar Demokrata. Archived from the original on 2013-07-28. Retrieved 2012-02-01.
^Árvay, Sándor (2009-01-05). "Bajnokaink" [Our champions] (in Hungarian). Budapest, Hungary: Magyar Tenisz Szövetség [Hungarian Tennis Association]. Archived from the original on October 16, 2012. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
