John Marks (tennis)

John Marks
Full name John M. P. Marks
Country (sports) Australia
Residence Sydney, Australia
Born 9 December 1952
Sydney, Australia
Turned pro 1975
Retired 1980
Plays Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Singles
Career record 175-134
Career titles 0
Highest ranking No. 44 (3 January 1979)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open F (1978)
French Open 2R (1978)
Wimbledon 2R (1978)
US Open 1R (1977, 1979)
Doubles
Career record 153–102
Career titles 7
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open 2R (1977Dec)
French Open QF (1978)
Wimbledon QF (1978)
US Open SF (1978)
Mixed doubles
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Wimbledon QF (1979)
Medal record
Summer Universiade
Bronze medal – third place 1973 Moscow Mixed doubles

John M. P. Marks (born 9 December 1952) is a former professional tennis player from Australia.

Marks won the ILTF Western Australian Championships on grass in 1978 at Perth defeating Mark Edmondson, Chris Kachel, and Bob Carmichael in a marathon five set final. Marks would finish as runner-up in the same event in 1979 losing the final to Edmondson.

Marks is best remembered for finishing runner-up in singles at the 1978 Australian Open, defeating Arthur Ashe in the semifinals. As a result of this slam final appearance, he achieved his career-high singles ranking of world No. 44, after entering the tournament ranked No. 177.

Marks never won a Grand Slam singles title during his career, but won 7 doubles titles and reached the semifinals of the men's doubles at the 1978 US Open. As a junior, Marks won the Australian Open boys' doubles in 1971, partnering Michael Phillips.

Career finals

Singles (2 runners-up )

Result W/L Year Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 1975 Sydney Outdoor, Australia Grass Ross Case 2–6, 1–6
Loss 0–2 1978 Australian Open, Melbourne Grass Guillermo Vilas 4–6, 4–6, 6–3, 3–6

Doubles (7 titles, 7 runner-ups)

Result W/L Year Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 1975 Sydney Outdoor, Australia Grass Mark Edmondson Chris Kachel
Peter McNamara 		6–1, 6–1
Loss 1–1 1976 Palma, Spain Clay Mark Edmondson John Andrews
Colin Dibley 		6–2, 3–6, 2–6
Loss 1–2 1976 Sydney Outdoor, Australia Grass Mark Edmondson Syd Ball
Kim Warwick 		3–6, 4–6
Win 2–2 1977 Cairo, Egypt Clay John Bartlett Pat DuPré
Chris Lewis 		7–5, 6–1, 6–3
Win 3–2 1977 Båstad, Sweden Clay Mark Edmondson Jean-Louis Haillet
François Jauffret 		6–4, 6–0
Win 4–2 1977 Manila, Philippines Hard Chris Kachel Mike Cahill
Terry Moor 		4–6, 6–0, 7–6
Loss 4–3 1978 Florence, Italy Clay Mark Edmondson Corrado Barazzutti
Adriano Panatta 		3–6, 7–6, 3–6
Loss 4–4 1978 Sydney Indoor, Australia Hard (i) Mark Edmondson John Newcombe
Tony Roche 		4–6, 3–6
Win 5–4 1978 Hong Kong Hard Mark Edmondson Hank Pfister
Brad Rowe 		5–7, 7–6, 6–1
Loss 5–5 1978 Taipei, Taiwan Carpet (i) Mark Edmondson Sherwood Stewart
Butch Walts 		2–6, 7–6, 6–7
Loss 5–6 1979 Hamburg, Germany Clay Mark Edmondson Jan Kodeš
Tomáš Šmíd 		3–6, 1–6, 6–7
Win 6–6 1979 Gstaad, Switzerland Clay Mark Edmondson Ion Țiriac
Guillermo Vilas 		2–6, 6–1, 6–4
Loss 6–7 1979 Båstad, Sweden Clay Mark Edmondson Heinz Günthardt
Bob Hewitt 		2–6, 2–6
Win 7–7 1979 Taipei, Taiwan Carpet (i) Mark Edmondson Pat DuPré
Robert Lutz 		6–1, 3–6, 6–4

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Singles

Tournament 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 SR
Australian Open 1R 1R 1R F 1R Q1 0 / 5
French Open A A 2R 1R A 0 / 2
Wimbledon 1R 1R 2R 1R Q1 0 / 4
US Open A 1R A 1R A 0 / 2
Strike rate 0 / 2 0 / 4 0 / 3 0 / 4 0 / 0 0 / 13

Note: The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December.