Allan Stone on arvau

Wikipedia / Allan Stone

Allan Stone (born 14 October 1945) is a former tennis player from Australia. He played amateur and professional tennis in the 1960s and 1970s. He was ranked as high as world No. 36 in singles and world No. 12 in doubles on the ATP rankings.

After his playing career, Stone became a sports commentator.

Singles

In singles, he was finalist at the 1969 Cincinnati Masters, losing the final to Cliff Richey.

In 1970, he won the Western Australian Championships in Perth defeating Tom Gorman, Richard Russell, and Phil Dent in the final.

In 1971, he won the Washington Open defeating Eddie Dibbs in the final.

In 1972, he made the semifinal of the Australian Open singles, where he was defeated by that year's champion, Ken Rosewall.

Stone was selected to play Davis Cup for Australia and participated in five Davis Cup ties. His Davis Cup win-loss record is 6–0.

Doubles

Stone found the majority of his success on the doubles court. He won 15 doubles titles during his career, including the Australian Open in 1977 and the Australian Championships (the predecessor to the Australian Open) in 1968.

He reached the semifinals of the 1974 Australian Open alongside partner American Steve Turner. He made the doubles final at Wimbledon in 1975 alongside Colin Dowdeswell, and won the US National Doubles Championship in 1969 with Dick Crealy.

1969 US Open

There is some confusion over the 1969 US Open Championship title, which is held by Stone and Dick Crealy conjointly with Ken Rosewall and Fred Stolle.

The era of Open Tennis commenced in 1968, and at that time Boston was the home of the U.S. National Doubles Championship. However, the agents of some contract professionals demanded guaranteed prize money which could not be covered by the tournament. Accordingly, contract professionals boycotted the tournament, with many playing instead at Forest Hills, which was won by Rosewall and Stolle. Crealy and Stone won the doubles in Boston in 1969 as professionals, defeating Charlie Pasarell and Bill Bowrey.

In 1971, the USTA and Association of Tennis Professionals decided to combine the winners of both tournaments to make the Grand Slam tournament. This was not an issue for the winners of 1968 as both tournaments were won by Smith and Lutz. Crealy and Stone were asked if they would agree to share the 1969 title with Rosewall and Stolle - they readily agreed, especially as the latter were two of the great Australian players and because "tennis was played with much goodwill in those days."

Personal

Born in Launceston, Tasmania, Stone moved to Victoria at a young age and played amateur tennis for the Warburton Tennis Club where he was coached by Mary Morton.

He attended Caulfield Grammar School and completed a Commerce Degree at the University of Melbourne.

Career finals

Doubles (15 titles, 19 runner-ups)

Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1.	1968	Australian Championships, Melbourne	Grass	Dick Crealy	Terry Addison Ray Keldie	10–8, 6–4, 6–3
Loss	1.	1968	Rome, Italy	Clay	Nicholas Kalogeropoulos	Tom Okker Marty Riessen	3–6, 4–6, 2–6
Win	2.	1969	US Doubles Championships, Boston	Grass	Dick Crealy	Bill Bowrey Charlie Pasarell	9–11, 6–3, 7–5
Win	3.	1969	Victorian Open, Australia	Grass	Dick Crealy	Ray Ruffels Bill Bowrey	9–7, 6–4, 6–4
Loss	2.	1969	Indianapolis, U.S.	Clay	Dick Crealy	Bill Bowrey Clark Graebner	4–6, 6–4, 4–6
Win	4.	1970	Båstad, Sweden	Clay	Dick Crealy	Željko Franulović Jan Kodeš	6–2, 2–6, 12–12, ret.
Loss	3.	1971	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Dick Crealy	John Alexander Andrés Gimeno	4–6, 5–7, 9–7, 4–6
Loss	4.	1972	Vancouver WCT, Canada	Outdoor	Cliff Drysdale	Bill Bowrey Clark Graebner	6–7, 0–6
Win	5.	1973	Auckland, New Zealand	Grass	Brian Fairlie	Dick Crealy Bob Carmichel
Loss	5.	1973	La Costa WCT, U.S.	Hard	Nikola Pilić	Roy Emerson Rod Laver	7–6, 3–6, 4–6
Win	6.	1973	Munich WCT, Germany	Carpet	Nikola Pilić	Cliff Drysdale Cliff Richey	7–5, 5–7, 6–4
Loss	6.	1973	Johannesburg WCT, South Africa	Hard	Frew McMillan	Bob Lutz Stan Smith	1–6, 4–6, 4–6
Loss	7.	1973	Gothenburg WCT, Sweden	Carpet	Nikola Pilić	Roy Emerson Rod Laver	7–6, 4–6, 1–6
Win	7.	1973	Dutch Open, Netherlands	Grass	Ivan Molina	Antonio Munoz Andres Gimeno	4-6, 7–6, 6-4
Win	8.	1973	Merion, U.S.	Grass	Colin Dibley	John Austin Fred McNair	7–6, 6–3
Loss	8.	1973	Tokyo Outdoor, Japan	Hard	Colin Dibley	Mal Anderson Ken Rosewall	5–7, 5–7
Loss	9.	1973	Djakarta, Indonesia	Hard	John Newcombe	Mike Estep Ian Fletcher	5–7, 4–6
Win	9.	1974	Richmond WCT, U.S.	Carpet	Nikola Pilić	John Alexander Phil Dent	6–3, 3–6, 7–6
Win	10.	1974	Melbourne, Australia	Grass	Raz Reid	Mike Estep Paul Kronk	7–6, 6–4
Loss	10.	1975	Australian Open, Melbourne	Grass	Bob Carmichael	John Alexander Phil Dent	3–6, 6–7
Win	11.	1975	Dayton Indoor, U.S.	Carpet	Ray Ruffels	Paul Gerken Brian Gottfried	7–6, 7–5
Loss	11.	1975	Denver WCT, U.S.	Carpet	Bob Carmichael	Roy Emerson Rod Laver	2–6, 6–3, 5–7
Loss	12.	1975	Wimbledon, London	Grass	Colin Dowdeswell	Vitas Gerulaitis Sandy Mayer	5–7, 6–8, 4–6
Loss	13.	1975	San Francisco, U.S.	Carpet	Kim Warwick	Fred McNair Sherwood Stewart	2–6, 6–7
Loss	14.	1976	São Paulo WCT, Brazil	Carpet	Charlie Pasarell	Ross Case Geoff Masters	5–7, 1–6
Loss	15.	1976	Houston WCT, U.S.	Clay	Charlie Pasarell	Rod Laver Ken Rosewall	4–6, 2–6
Win	12.	1976	US Pro Championships, U.S.	Clay	Ray Ruffels	Mike Cahill John Whitlinger	3–6, 6–3, 7–6
Loss	16.	1976	Woodlands Doubles, U.S.	Hard	Phil Dent	Brian Gottfried Raúl Ramírez	1–6, 4–6, 7–5, 6–7
Win	13.	1976	Maui, U.S.	Hard	Raymond Moore	Dick Stockton Roscoe Tanner	6–7, 6–3, 6–4
Loss	17.	1977	La Costa WCT, U.S.	Hard	Ray Ruffels	Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan	4–6, 2–6
Win	14.	1977	Perth, Australia	Hard	Ray Ruffels	Nick Saviano John Whitlinger	6–2, 6–1
Loss	18.	1977	Sydney Outdoor, Australia	Grass	Ray Ruffels	John Alexander Phil Dent	6–7, 6–2, 3–6
Win	15.	1977	Australian Open-2, Melbourne	Grass	Ray Ruffels	John Alexander Phil Dent	7–6, 7–6
Loss	19.	1978	Brisbane, Australia	Grass	Syd Ball	John Alexander Phil Dent	3–6, 6–7

Singles (3 titles, 6 runner-ups)

Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	1967	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Loss	1–1	1968	Adelaide, Australia	Grass	Bill Bowrey	4–6, 3–6, 6–4, 4–6
Win	2–1	1968	Nairobi, Kenya	Clay	Juan Manuel Couder	6–3, 7–5
Loss	2–2	1969	Cincinnati Open, U.S.	Clay	Cliff Richey	1–6, 2–6
Win	3–2	1969	Connaught, London	Clay	John Cooper	6–4, 6–2
Loss	3–3	1969	Brisbane, Australia	Grass	Ray Ruffels	6-8, 6–4, 3–6, 3-6
Loss	3–4	1971	Auckland, New Zealand	Hard	Bob Carmichael	6–7, 6–7, 3–6
Loss	3–5	1975	Baltimore, U.S.	Carpet	Brian Gottfried	6–3, 2–6, 3–6
Loss	3–6	1975	La Costa WCT, U.S.	Hard	Rod Laver	2–6, 2–6

Post-playing career

Stone is a sports commentator. He is one of the longest-serving television commentators on the Australian Open, first joining Seven Sport broadcasts in the 1970s and providing analysis alongside fellow legendary commentators Mike Williamson, Garry Wilkinson and Peter Landy.