Kramer, Jack (John Albert Kramer), 1921–2009, American tennis player, b. Las Vegas, Nev. He excelled at tennis while still in high school. Kramer and Frederick (Ted) Schroeder won the U.S. national doubles championship in 1940 and again in 1941. While serving (1942–46) in the U.S. Coast Guard in World War II, Kramer continued to play tournament tennis, and in 1943 (with Frank Parker) he again won the national doubles title. In 1946–47 he led the U.S. teams that won the Davis Cup, and he also won the national singles title, the national doubles (with Ted Schroeder), the British singles, and the British doubles (with Bob Falkenburg). After turning professional (1947), he took the U.S. professional singles (1948), the world professional singles (1949), and (with Bobby Riggs) the world professional doubles (1949) championships. He began promoting professional tennis tournaments in 1952, retiring in 1954 to continue these activities. Kramer's aggressive serve-and-volley game presaged the contemporary attacking style of play, and his promotion of international pro tennis did much to establish today's popular and lucrative Open system.
See his memoir (with F. Deford, 1979).
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