Talk About Tennis 2.0

With Mick stumping us with his tennis trivia questions in the 'GOAT Debate' thread, I figured it would be good to have a specific thread for tennis-related trivia questions.
Of course, anyone can post the questions, and everyone is free to take a shot at answering them. I hope we can have a regular run of a few questions every month.
As always, it's best to not cheat in looking up the answers, as that rather ruins it for those who are legitimately trying to think of the answers.

I'm sometimes ok at finding the answers to some trivia questions, but I'm quite bad at thinking of trivia questions to pose. But I guess I needed to come up with one to start off this thread on the right foot - so, because I'm not good at thinking of trivia questions, I went looking for a decent one. It is this:

What trophy is officially called the International Lawn Tennis Challenge Trophy?

.

I take it it's not Wimbledon's. There's a reason I don't do well at trivia questions.

No... most people would think it's Wimbledon - but it's not.

Well, I also thought about Wimbledon first and other famous tournament second. Because these two to my knowledge initially had Challenge system, when last year winner went straight to the final. So now I'm almost positive about the correct answer. But there is a chance that other tournament also had a Challenge system, which I'm not aware of. I'm not that knowledgeable about pre-WWII tennis. Or maybe "Challenge" in the title was used in a broader sense....

mick1303 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 30, 2022 11:15 pm Well, I also thought about Wimbledon first and other famous tournament second. Because these two to my knowledge initially had Challenge system, when last year winner went straight to the final. So now I'm almost positive about the correct answer. But there is a chance that other tournament also had a Challenge system, which I'm not aware of. I'm not that knowledgeable about pre-WWII tennis. Or maybe "Challenge" in the title was used in a broader sense....

So what's your answer, Mick?

Well, if you said that it is not Wimbledon, than the other one that I know had a Challenge system initially is a Davis Cup.

mick1303 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 01, 2022 7:08 am Well, if you said that it is not Wimbledon, than the other one that I know had a Challenge system initially is a Davis Cup.

Yes, interestingly, the original - and still official - name of the Davis Cup trophy is the International Lawn Tennis Challenge Trophy.

Feel free to post the next question, Mick - or anyone else. As I said, I'm lousy at thinking of trivia questions.

Ya did good with this one Deuce. I would never have guessed it was the official name of the Davis Cup Trophy

ti-amie wrote: ↑Thu Dec 01, 2022 7:29 pm Ya did good with this one Deuce. I would never have guessed it was the official name of the Davis Cup Trophy

Thanks - I had to do a search for tennis trivia questions to find this one. A lot of the questions I came across were rather ridiculous like "How many points do you have in tennis if your score is Love?"
I thought this Davis Cup question was good, so I used it - I wouldn't have known the answer.

Of course, we can't all be like Mick and think up good trivia questions off the top of our heads - so searching for questions is obviously permitted by anyone.

I can repeat the question from the GOAT thread here, because nobody tried to answer.

Who was the male singles slam champion, who most recently reached semifinals in doubles slam and why this result could be debatable.

If we are counting any number of slams PLUS any doubles victory, Rafter did win one slam doubles.
But the answer to your question is elusive.

mick1303 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 01, 2022 8:38 pm I can repeat the question from the GOAT thread here, because nobody tried to answer.

Who was the male singles slam champion, who most recently reached semifinals in doubles slam and why this result could be debatable.

I'm thinking Wawrinka... but I can't find any significant doubles statistics on him to confirm or eliminate him as the answer.
And I don't know why the result would be questionable or controversial.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 01, 2022 9:07 pm If we are counting any number of slams PLUS any doubles victory, Rafter did win one slam doubles.
But the answer to your question is elusive.

I think you're somehow stuck on the first question (already answered) and it affects you vision of the second. It was stated that Kafelnikov was in fact the last Singles Champion who also won in doubles (both multiple times). This is where the first question ends and the second starts. The premise of the second question is that there are no doubles wins for singles champions anymore. Not even a final appearances in doubles. Rafter's doubles win came in 1999 and as such can not be the answer neither to the first nor to the second question. My statement was that since French Open 2002 (Kafelnikov/Vacek win) the best result for the singles champion in doubles was a semi. Which player and when reached it?

Deuce wrote: ↑Thu Dec 01, 2022 10:32 pm

mick1303 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 01, 2022 8:38 pm I can repeat the question from the GOAT thread here, because nobody tried to answer.

Who was the male singles slam champion, who most recently reached semifinals in doubles slam and why this result could be debatable.

I'm thinking Wawrinka... but I can't find any significant doubles statistics on him to confirm or eliminate him as the answer.
And I don't know why the result would be questionable or controversial.

Wawrinka's best result in Slam's doubles is R16. Not the correct answer. I don't want to give up that hint just yet. But it is definitely not "controversial" in any sense. And it is questionable only in the context of this trivia.

Ok, I see that without a hint nobody else tried to answer the trivia. Giving it up: the result in question (reaching semifinals in the doubles slam) happen before said player won his first singles slam titles. So at that moment he was not yet a singles slam champion. But overall career-wise, he has that result in doubles and also single title(s). And that result in doubles happened after 2002 Roland Garros. Who is that player?