Owen Williams (tennis)

{{Short description|South African tennis player and tournament director}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2022}}

{{Use South African English|date=October 2013}}

{{Infobox tennis biography

| name = Owen Williams

| image =

| fullname = Owen Gordon Williams

| country = {{flagicon|RSA|1928}} South Africa

| residence =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1931|06|23}}

| birth_place = Idutywa, Transkei, South Africa

| death_date =

| death_place =

| height =

| turnedpro =

| retired = 1959

| plays = Right-handed

| careerprizemoney =

| singlesrecord =

| singlestitles =

| highestsinglesranking =

| AustralianOpenresult = 2R (1954)

| FrenchOpenresult =

| Wimbledonresult = 3R (1955)

| USOpenresult = 4R (1954)

| Othertournaments =

| doublesrecord =

| doublestitles =

| highestdoublesranking =

| AustralianOpenDoublesresult = QF (1954)

| FrenchOpenDoublesresult =

| WimbledonDoublesresult = QF (1954)

| USOpenDoublesresult =

| mixedtitles =

| mixedrecord =

| AustralianOpenMixedresult = 2R (1954)

| FrenchOpenMixedresult =

| WimbledonMixedresult = QF (1952, 1954)

| USOpenMixedresult =

}}

Owen Williams (born 23 June 1931) is a South African retired male tennis player and tournament director.

He was educated at the Selborne College, East London, Eastern Cape.

His best performance at a Grand Slam tournament was reaching the quarterfinals in the men's doubles at the 1954 Australian Championships and 1954 Wimbledon Championships, partnering Abe Segal and Trevor Fancutt respectively.{{cite web|title=Australian Open – Players – Results Archive – Owen Williams|url=http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/event_guide/history/players/23507.html|publisher=Tennis Australia}}{{cite web|title=Wimbledon Players Archive – Owen Williams|url=http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/scores/draws/archive/players/b100d3ed-6528-4e41-8d7d-855a8e582c3c/index.html|publisher=AELTC}} His best singles performance was reaching the fourth round at the 1954 US Championships as the seventh–seeded foreign player. In the fourth round he lost in straight sets to Ham Richardson.{{cite book|last=Talbert|first=Bill|title=Tennis Observed|year=1967|publisher=Barre Publishers|location=Boston|page=129|oclc=172306}}

He retired from playing tennis in 1959 at the age of 27. After his playing career he became a tournament director. In the early 1960s he became the tournament director of the South African Tennis Championships. Under his directorship the tournament grew in popularity and stature and became one of the main tournaments on the tour.{{cite book|last=Mathabane|first=Mark|title=Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography--The True Story of a Black Youth's Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa|year=1998|publisher=Free Press|location=New York [u.a.]|isbn=978-0684848280|page=[https://archive.org/details/kaffirboytruest000math/page/298 298]|edition=1.|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/kaffirboytruest000math/page/298}} In early 1969, Williams became Tournament Director of the US Open at Forest Hills, the first full-time director in the tournament's history.{{cite web|title=S.M.S.I, Inc., The Kasparov Agency|url=http://www.kasparovagent.com/owen_williams.php|publisher=SMSI, Inc|access-date=11 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012021753/http://www.kasparovagent.com/owen_williams.php|archive-date=12 October 2013|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title=Living Dangerously at Forest Hills|url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1082772/2/index.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012060710/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1082772/2/index.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 October 2013|work=Sports Illustrated|author=Kim Chapin|pages=36–39|date=1 September 1969}} That same year the African American tennis player Arthur Ashe requested a visa to participate in the South African Open but was denied by the South African authorities. In the following years he was again refused a visa, but in 1973 his visa application was finally granted and he accepted Williams' invitation to participate in the tournament on the condition that the spectator stands would be racially integrated. Afterwards Ashe and Williams established the Black Tennis Foundation aimed at making tennis accessible to every black child in South Africa.{{cite news|title=Ashe again refused South African visa|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=uqtVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EeEDAAAAIBAJ&dq=owen-williams%20tennis&pg=4610%2C5245181|newspaper=Eugene Register-Guard|date=25 February 1971}}{{cite book|last=Djata|first=Sundiata|title=Blacks at the Net: Black Achievement in the History of Tennis|year=2008|publisher=Syracuse University Press|location=Syracuse, N.Y.|isbn=978-0815608981|pages=70, 71, 80, 81|edition=1st}} In 1981 Williams was hired as CEO of Lamar Hunt's World Championship Tennis (WCT) circuit and remained in that position until the WCT disbanded in 1990.

In addition to his tennis activities, Williams founded, owned and operated several businesses ventures including distributorships in Scotch whisky, chocolate liqueur and champagne, a sporting goods firm, a small publishing company and a public relations company. As part of the deal to sign Williams for the WCT organization, Lamar Hunt purchased his South African businesses in 1981.{{cite book|last=Sweet|first=David A. F.|title=Lamar Hunt : The gentle giant who revolutionized professional sports|year=2010|publisher=Triumph Books|location=Chicago, Ill.|isbn=9781600783746|page=159}}

In 1998, Williams partnered with chess legend Garry Kasparov to form [https://web.archive.org/web/20131012021753/http://www.kasparovagent.com/owen_williams.php Sports Management Strategies International] in Palm Beach, Florida.