Vic Seixas, Grand Slam tennis champion from wooden racket era, dies at 100

Vic Seixas, a Wimbledon winner and tennis Hall of Famer who was the oldest living Grand Slam champion, died July 5 at the age of 100.

The International Tennis Hall of Fame announced Mr. Seixas’s death based on confirmation from his daughter, Tori. No cause was noted.

Mr. Seixas was inducted into the tennis Hall of Fame in 1971 after a career that included the 1953 Wimbledon singles title. He also won the U.S. Championships — now the U.S. Open — in 1954.

Mr. Seixas (pronounced SAY-shuss) stood out for his longevity in the sport and played in the U.S. Championships a record 28 times between 1940 and 1969, the last time when he was 45. He was also a mainstay in the Davis Cup, where he helped the United States reach seven straight finals between 1951 and 1957.

The Americans faced Australia in all of those finals and only won one, in 1954, when Seixas won one singles match and the doubles together with Tony Trabert.

He also won five Grand Slam titles in doubles and eight in mixed doubles.

After his playing career, he served as the tournament referee during the 1971 U.S. Open and was a three-time Davis Cup captain.

Elias Victor Seixas Jr. was born in Philadelphia on Aug. 30, 1923. His father owned a plumbing supply company and played tennis at a local court, where Vic first picked up a racket when he was a boy.

He served as a pilot in the Army Air Forces in World War II in the Pacific. He then studied at the University of North Carolina and played on the tennis team, graduating in 1949.

He was a tennis director for the Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., and at a hotel in New Orleans. In 1989, he moved to the San Francisco area and started a tennis program at a Marin County racket and beach club (now the Club at Harbor Point).

Seixas is survived by a daughter, Tori Seixas.