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Harold Solomon
Country (sports)	United States
Residence	Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Born	September 17, 1952 (age 72); Washington D.C.
Height	1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Turned pro	1972 (amateur from 1971)
Retired	1986
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money	$1,802,769
Singles
Career record	585–339
Career titles	22
Highest ranking	No. 5 (September 8, 1980)
Grand Slam singles results
French Open	F (1976)
Wimbledon	1R (1972, 1974, 1977, 1986)
US Open	SF (1977)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals	SF (1976)
WCT Finals	QF (1975, 1976)
Doubles
Career record	73–129
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	No. 4 (1976)

Harold Solomon (born September 17, 1952) is an American former professional tennis player who played during the 1970s and 1980s. He achieved a career-high world ranking of No. 5 in singles in 1980, and of No. 4 in doubles in 1976.^[1] Over the course of his career, he won 22 singles titles.

Solomon was inducted into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Hall of Fame, the USTA Mid Atlantic Section Hall of Fame, the D.C. Sports Hall of Fame, and the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

Early and personal life

Solomon is Jewish. He grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland and attended Springbrook High School and later lived in Pompano Beach, Florida.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6] He lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has a wife named Jan, a daughter named Rachel, and a son named Jesse.^[2]

Tennis career

Solomon began playing tennis when he was five.^[7] Ranked as high as second in the United States in his junior career, Solomon won the Clay Court Championship when he was 18.^[8] He was named an All-American at Rice University, where he was a political science major and a member of Wiess College.^[1]^[9]^[2]

He turned professional when he finished university in 1972, and first won pro matches in 1974.^[1]^[8] Among his shots was the moonball—a high and deep shot, normally hit with a lot of spin.^[9]^[10]

At the French Open, Solomon's best showing was when he reached the finals in singles play in 1976. He reached the quarterfinals in 1972 and 1976, and made it to the semifinals in 1974 and 1980.^[8] At the US Open, he was a semifinalist in 1977.^[8]^[9] He won the tournament now known as the Cincinnati Open twice (in 1977 and 1980) and was a finalist at the 1976 and 1978 United States Pro Championships.

Solomon captured a total of 22 professional singles titles.^[11] His lifetime professional win–loss record is 564–315, and he earned over $1.8 million.^[1] He was ranked among the top 10 singles players worldwide in 1976, 1978, 1979, and 1980, and was among the top 20 from 1974 to 1980.^[1] His best year was in 1980 when his win–loss record was 64–23 and he was ranked No. 5 in the world.^[9] He appeared in Playgirl Magazine's list of 10 sexiest men that same year.^[8]

Solomon played doubles with Eddie Dibbs. In 1976 they were ranked No. 4 worldwide, and were among the top ten in 1974, 1975, and 1976. They were nicknamed "The Bagel Twins."^[1]

Solomon is credited with coining the term 'Bagel', referring to a set in tennis that ends with a score of 6–0. It was then popularized by commentator Bud Collins.^[12]

Davis Cup

Solomon played in the Davis Cup on the American team in 1972, 1973, 1974, and 1978.^[1] He has a record of nine wins and four losses in this competition.^[9] The US team won the Davis Cup final in 1972 (3–2 against Romania) and 1978 (4–1 against Great Britain) although Solomon did not play in either final.^[9]

ATP

Solomon served as president of the Association of Tennis Professionals from 1980 to 1983^[1] and later on its board of directors.^[8]^[9]

Halls of Fame

Solomon was inducted into the USTA Mid Atlantic Section Hall of Fame in 1994^[13] and the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.^[1] He was named to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Hall of Fame (player) in 2013. He was inducted into the D.C. Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.^[14]

Coaching career

Solomon began coaching in the 1990s, working with Jennifer Capriati, Mary Joe Fernandez, Shahar Pe'er, Justin Gimelstob, Eugenie Bouchard, Allie Kiick, Jim Courier, Monica Seles, Anna Kournikova and others.^[15]^[16]^[17]^[18]^[1]^[9] Some of his players won Grand Slam events and the Olympic Games.^[11] He founded and runs the Harold Solomon Tennis Center, now known as the Florida Tennis SBT Academy, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.^[9]^[19]

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 runner-up

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1976	French Open	Clay	Adriano Panatta	1–6, 4–6, 6–4, 6–7

Career finals

Singles: 38 (22 wins, 16 losses)

Category
Grand Slam
Grand Prix Masters (1970–89)
WCT Finals (1971–89)
Grand Prix Series (1970–89), WCT Series (1968–89)

Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Jul 1974	Washington D.C., U.S.	Clay	Guillermo Vilas	1–6, 6–3, 6–4
Loss	1–1	Aug 1974	Bretton Woods, U.S.	Clay	Rod Laver	4–6, 3–6
Loss	1–2	Sep 1974	Los Angeles, U.S.	Hard	Jimmy Connors	3–6, 1–6
Win	2–2	Feb 1975	Toronto Indoor, Canada	Carpet (i)	Stan Smith	6–4, 6–1
Win	3–2	Mar 1975	Memphis, U.S.	Hard (i)	Jiří Hřebec	2–6, 6–1, 6–4
Loss	3–3	Jul 1975	Washington D.C., U.S.	Clay	Guillermo Vilas	1–6, 3–6
Loss	3–4	Oct 1975	Melbourne, Australia	Grass	Brian Gottfried	2–6, 6–7, 1–6
Win	4–4	Oct 1975	Perth, Australia	Hard	Alex Mayer	6–2, 7–6, 7–5
Win	5–4	Nov 1975	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Brian Gottfried	6–3, 6–2, 5–7, 6–2
Loss	5–5	Jan 1976	Monterrey WCT, Mexico	Carpet	Eddie Dibbs	6–7, 2–6
Win	6–5	Mar 1976	Washington WCT, U.S.	Carpet (i)	Onny Parun	6–3, 6–1
Win	7–5	Apr 1976	Houston WCT, U.S.	Clay	Ken Rosewall	6–4, 1–6, 6–1
Loss	7–6	Jun 1976	French Open, Paris	Clay	Adriano Panatta	1–6, 4–6, 6–4, 6–7^(3–7)
Win	8–6	Aug 1976	Louisville Open, U.S.	Clay	Wojciech Fibak	6–2, 7–5
Loss	8–7	Aug 1976	Boston, U.S.	Clay	Björn Borg	7–6, 4–6, 1–6, 2–6
Win	9–7	Oct 1976	Maui, U.S.	Hard	Bob Lutz	6–3, 5–7, 7–5
Win	10–7	Nov 1976	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Brian Gottfried	6–2, 6–7, 6–3, 6–4
Win	11–7	Jun 1977	Brussels, Belgium	Clay	Karl Meiler	7–5, 3–6, 2–6, 6–3, 6–4
Win	12–7	Jul 1977	Cincinnati Masters, U.S.	Clay	Mark Cox	6–2, 6–3
Win	13–7	Sep 1977	WCT Tournament of Champions, U.S.	Carpet (i)	Ken Rosewall	6–5^(7–5), 6–2, 2–6, 0–6, 6–3
Loss	13–8	Feb 1978	Springfield, U.S.	Carpet (i)	Heinz Günthardt	3–6, 6–3, 2–6
Win	14–8	Apr 1978	Las Vegas, U.S.	Hard	Corrado Barazzutti	6–1, 3–0 ret.
Win	15–8	Jul 1978	Louisville Open, U.S.	Clay	John Alexander	6–2, 6–2
Loss	15–9	Aug 1978	Boston, U.S.	Clay	Manuel Orantes	4–6, 3–6
Loss	15–10	Dec 1978	Johannesburg, South Africa	Hard	Tim Gullikson	6–2, 6–7, 6–7, 7–6, 4–6
Win	16–10	Jan 1979	Baltimore, U.S.	Carpet (i)	Marty Riessen	7–5, 6–4
Loss	16–11	May 1979	Hamburg, West Germany	Clay	José Higueras	6–3, 1–6, 4–6, 1–6
Loss	16–12	Jul 1979	Forest Hills WCT, U.S.	Clay	Eddie Dibbs	6–7, 1–6
Win	17–12	Aug 1979	North Conway, U.S.	Clay	José Higueras	5–7, 6–4, 7–6
Loss	17–13	Oct 1979	Bordeaux, France	Clay	Yannick Noah	0–6, 7–6, 1–6, 6–1, 4–6
Win	18–13	Nov 1979	Paris Open, France	Hard (i)	Corrado Barazzutti	6–3, 2–6, 6–3, 6–4
Loss	18–14	Nov 1979	Wembley Championship, England	Carpet (i)	John McEnroe	3–6, 4–6, 5–7
Win	19–14	Jan 1980	Baltimore U.S.	Carpet (i)	Tim Gullikson	7–6, 6–0
Loss	19–15	Apr 1980	Las Vegas, U.S.	Hard	Björn Borg	3–6, 1–6
Win	20–15	May 1980	Hamburg, West Germany	Clay	Guillermo Vilas	6–7, 6–2, 6–4, 2–6, 6–3
Win	21–15	Aug 1980	Cincinnati, U.S.	Hard	Francisco González	7–6, 6–3
Win	22–15	Oct 1980	Tel Aviv, Israel	Hard	Shlomo Glickstein	6–2, 6–3
Loss	22–16	Apr 1981	Las Vegas, U.S.	Hard	Ivan Lendl	4–6, 2–6

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

Key
W	F	SF	QF	#R	RR	Q#	DNQ	A	NH

(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Tournament	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	Career W-L
Australian Open	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	NH	0–0
French Open	QF	3R	SF	QF	F	4R	3R	4R	SF	1R	2R	A	3R	A	A	36–12
Wimbledon	1R	A	1R	A	A	1R	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	0–4
US Open	2R	1R	A	4R	1R	SF	4R	4R	4R	3R	3R	1R	A	A	A	22–11
Win–loss	4–3	2–2	5–2	7–2	6–2	8–3	5–2	6–2	8–2	2–2	3–2	0–1	2–1	0–0	0–1	58–27