Tags: Tennis, Tennis/Richard Russell
One of Jamaica's tennis pioneers, Richard Russell, passed away on Wednesday in Montego Bay. He was 79.
Russell, who was conferred with the national honour of Order of Distinction in October 2022 for his decades of exemplary sportsmanship as well as display of citizenship that led to the growth of the sport of tennis in Jamaica, became the nation's youngest All-Jamaica Open champion at age 16.
He also holds the distinction of being the only Jamaican who has featured in all four of the tennis Grand Slams and ventured past the first round in each of them. Russell is perhaps best known for winning a first-round match in the Australian Open at 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 over Richie Chopra from India in 1966.
Outside of Grand Slam competition, he had a noted win over Dennis Ralston in 1972 at an invitational tournament in Puerto Rico, and in 1975, he took part in the inaugural Nations Cup (now the World Team Cup) as a member of the Caribbean team. He also won more than 12 matches in the Davis Cup.
A founding member of the Association of Tennis Professionals, Russell became director of Tennis Jamaica in 2012 and was the 2011-2012 chairman of the all-island high school tennis championships.
For these and other achievements, Russell was inducted into the Black Tennis Hall of Fame in 2019.
He is survived by his sons, former Davis Cup players turned coaches, Ryan and Rayne, Craig and Jonathan, along with daughter Kate and three grandchildren.