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Roscoe Tanner (born October 15, 1951) is a former professional American male tennis player and World No. 4 in 1979.

Early life

Leonard Roscoe Tanner was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, graduated from Baylor School, and with Sandy Mayer helped to lead Stanford University's rise to the number 1 spot in collegiate tennis in 1973. Tanner played number one singles, with Mayer playing number two. The team also featured Rick Fisher, Stanley Pasarell, Jim Delaney, James "Chico" Hagey, Gery Groslimond, Pat DuPre, and Paul Sidone.

Playing history

Tanner won the 1977 Australian Open (January) and lost to Björn Borg in five sets in the 1979 Wimbledon singles final.

Of the winning 1973 Stanford tennis team, Tanner, Mayer and DuPre were all brothers in the Zeta Psi fraternity. Tanner defeated Haroon Rahim 10-8 in the fifth set to win the 1970 United States Amateur Championships (Men's Tennis).

Tanner is remembered for his strong left-handed serve. Thrown very low and struck with a lunge involving the whole body, his first serve was among the fiercest on the circuit of his day, perhaps behind only that of Victor Amaya of Chile. During his loss to Borg in the 1979 Wimbledon championships he is credited with close to thirty aces. Though Borg defeated him at Wimbledon, several months later at the US Open, Tanner defeated Borg in the quarterfinals.

Grand Slam singles finals

Win (1)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1977	Australian Open (January)	Guillermo Vilas	6–3, 6–3, 6–3

Runner-up (1)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1979	Wimbledon	Björn Borg	6–7, 6–1, 3–6, 6–3, 6–4

Singles titles (16)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1.	1974	Denver WCT, U.S.	Carpet	Arthur Ashe	6–2, 6–4
2.	1974	Christchurch, New Zealand	Other	Ray Ruffels	6–4, 6–2
3.	1975	Las Vegas, U.S.	Hard	Ross Case	5–7, 7–5, 7–6
4.	1975	Chicago, U.S.	Carpet	John Alexander	6–1, 6–7, 7–6
5.	1976	Cincinnati, U.S.	Clay	Eddie Dibbs	7–6, 6–3
6.	1976	Columbus, U.S.	Hard	Stan Smith	6–4, 7–6
7.	1976	San Francisco, U.S.	Carpet	Brian Gottfried	4-6, 7–5, 6–1
8.	1976	Tokyo Outdoor	Clay	Corrado Barazzutti	6–3, 6–2
9.	1977	Australian Open (Jan.), Melbourne	Grass	Guillermo Vilas	6–3, 6–3, 6–3
10.	1977	Sydney Outdoor, Australia	Grass	Brian Teacher	6–3, 3–6, 6–3, 6–7, 6–4
11.	1978	Palm Springs, U.S.	Hard	Raúl Ramírez	6–1, 7–6
12.	1978	New Orleans, U.S.	Carpet	Victor Amaya	6–3, 7–5
13.	1979	Rancho Mirage, U.S.	Hard	Brian Gottfried	6–4, 6–2
14.	1979	Washington Indoor, U.S.	Carpet	Brian Gottfried	6–4, 6–4
15.	1980	Manchester, United Kingdom	Grass	Stan Smith	6–3, 6–4
16.	1981	Philadelphia	Carpet	Wojtek Fibak	6–2, 7–6, 7–5

In 2005 he co-wrote his autobiography, Double Fault: My Rise And Fall, And My Road Back.

Legal problems

In May 2008 Roscoe Tanner was arrested in Knoxville, Tennessee for the felony of writing US$72,000 in worthless checks as "payment" for two Toyota Highlanders. The felony charge was dismissed on August 14, 2008 after the dealership obtained return of the vehicles, which were taken out of town, and upon Tanner's payment of US$5,000 in restitution to the dealership for the reduced value of the vehicles after their recovery. Several years before, Tanner was arrested in the Knoxville for violating probation resulting from his guilty pleas in Florida relating to felony worthless check and grand theft.

Tanner has an extensive record of conflicts with the law. He was arrested in Germany by Interpol on a felony fugitive warrant for skipping out on the above referenced felony charges filed against him in Florida. He pleaded guilty, received an initial probationary sentence, and after violating the terms of that probation, was sentenced to two years in the Florida Department of Corrections. After serving one year of his sentence, he was released one year early for "good behavior".

Tanner has also been arrested and jailed in Georgia for Criminal Contempt of Court and refusal to pay child support and has been arrested and jailed in New Jersey for the same charges.

In California, Tanner has been charged at least a dozen times for criminal contempt of court for refusal to pay child support or for failing or refusing to appear in court as ordered. He has been convicted of criminal contempt of court three times and served at least one term of under 45 days in the Orange County Jail, and he is on probation until 2012.

Further reading

Yorkey, Mike; Roscoe Tanner (2005). Double Fault: My Rise And Fall, And My Road Back. Liguori, Mo: Triumph Books. ISBN 1-57243-779-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

• American tennis players
• 1951 births
• Living people
• Stanford Cardinal tennis players
• Stanford Athletic Hall of Fame