Jump to content

Onny Parun

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Onny Parun
OBE
Parun in the mid 1960s
Country (sports)New Zealand
ResidenceWellington, New Zealand
Born (1947-04-15) 15 April 1947 (age 77)
Wellington, New Zealand
Height188 cm (6 ft 2 in)
Turned pro1969 (amateur from 1967)
Retired1982
PlaysRight-handed (one-handed backhand)
Singles
Career record1007–572
Career titles30
Highest rankingNo. 18 (16 September 1975)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenF (1973)
French OpenQF (1975)
WimbledonQF (1971, 1972)
US OpenQF (1973)
Other tournaments
Tour FinalsRR (1974)
Doubles
Career record162–221
Career titles2
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open3R (1974)
French OpenW (1974)
Wimbledon3R (1969, 1970, 1977)
US OpenQF (1971)

Onny Parun OBE (born 15 April 1947) is a former tennis player of Croatian descent from New Zealand, who was among the world's top 20 for five years and who reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 1971 and 1972. He made the final of the Australian Open in 1973, losing to John Newcombe in four sets, and was a US Open quarterfinalist in 1973 and also a quarterfinalist at the French Open in 1975. He eventually went on to coach the Bhatti brothers.

Parun and Australian Dick Crealy won the French Open doubles title in 1974. He also made the Masters in 1974, qualifying by finishing in the top eight on the grand prix table. Parun played Davis Cup from 1966 to 1982 and won a string of national titles, including the Benson and Hedges Open three times in four years.

Parun became the second player from New Zealand to reach a Grand Slam Singles final, 62 years after Anthony Wilding had reached the 1913 Wimbledon final, and Parun became the second player from New Zealand to win a Grand Slam Doubles title, 61 years after Wilding had won the 1914 Wimbledon doubles title and was also the last player from New Zealand to reach the finals of a Grand Slam Doubles title before Michael Venus was successful in the 2017 French Open.

Parun reached his career-high ATP singles ranking on 5 March 1975, when he became World No. 19. His brother, Tony Parun, also played professional tennis.

In September 1974, he defeated Jimmy Connors in San Francisco to end the No. 1 world ranked player's run of 160 weeks atop the ATP rankings.

In the 1982 Queen's Birthday Honours, Parun was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to tennis.[1] Since retiring from competition, Parun has been a coach, and trades shares on the US share market.[2][3]

In 2023, his younger brother Melvin Joseph Parun was killed in the Loafers Lodge fire.[4]

Grand Slam finals

[edit]

Singles (1 runner-up)

[edit]
Result Year Championship Surface Opponent Score
Loss 1973 Australian Open Grass Australia John Newcombe 3–6, 7–6, 5–7, 1–6

Doubles (1 title)

[edit]
Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1974 French Open Clay Australia Dick Crealy United States Robert Lutz
United States Stanley Smith
6–3, 6–2, 3–6, 5–7, 6–1

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline

[edit]
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

[edit]
Tournament 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 SR
Australian Open A A A A A A A F 3R A A A 1R A A 1R 1R A 0 / 5
French Open A A 1R 1R 1R 1R 2R 3R 4R QF A 1R 1R A 1R 1R 1R 0 / 13
Wimbledon Q1 2R 3R 2R 1R QF QF A 1R 3R 4R 3R 1R 2R 4R A A 0 / 13
US Open A A A 1R 2R 3R 3R QF 2R 3R 1R 3R A 1R 1R A A 0 / 11
Strike rate 0 / 0 0 / 1 0 / 2 0 / 3 0 / 3 0 / 3 0 / 3 0 / 3 0 / 4 0 / 3 0 / 2 0 / 4 0 / 2 0 / 2 0 / 4 0 / 2 0 / 1 0 / 42

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

Career finals

[edit]

Singles (6 titles, 7 runner-ups)

[edit]
Result W-L Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Feb 1968 Auckland, New Zealand Grass Australia Barry Phillips-Moore 3–6, 8–6, 6–1, 3–6, 2–6
Loss 0–2 Jan 1973 Australian Open, Australia Grass Australia John Newcombe 3–6, 7–6, 5–7, 1–6
Win 1–2 Jan 1973 Auckland, New Zealand Grass France Patrick Proisy 4–6, 6–7, 6–2, 6–0, 7–6
Loss 1–3 Sep 1973 Aptos, US Hard United States Jeff Austin 6–7, 4–6
Loss 1–4 Jan 1974 Auckland, New Zealand Grass Sweden Björn Borg 4–6, 3–6, 1–6
Loss 1–5 Jul 1974 Kitzbühel, Austria Clay Hungary Balázs Taróczy 1–6, 4–6, 4–6
Win 2–5 Nov 1974 Jakarta, Indonesia Hard Australia Kim Warwick 6–3, 6–3, 6–4
Win 3–5 Nov 1974 Bombay, India Clay Australia Tony Roche 6–3, 6–3, 7–6
Loss 3–6 Dec 1974 Adelaide, Australia Grass Sweden Björn Borg 4–6, 4–6, 6–3, 2–6
Win 4–6 Jan 1975 Auckland, New Zealand Grass New Zealand Brian Fairlie 4–6, 6–4, 6–4, 6–7, 6–4
Win 5–6 Dec 1975 Auckland, New Zealand Grass New Zealand Brian Fairlie 6–2, 6–3, 4–6, 6–3
Loss 5–7 Mar 1976 Washington, US Carpet (i) United States Harold Solomon 3–6, 1–6
Win 6–7 Apr 1976 Johannesburg, South Africa Hard South Africa Cliff Drysdale 7–6, 6–3

Doubles (3 titles, 5 runner-ups)

[edit]
Result W-L Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 May 1971 Houston, US Clay Czechoslovakia Milan Holeček United States Tom Edlefsen
United States Frank Froehling
1–6, 7–6, 6–4
Loss 1–1 Sep 1973 Aptos, US Hard South Africa Ray Moore United States Jeff Austin
United States Fred McNair
2–6, 1–6
Loss 1–2 Mar 1974 Palm Desert, US Hard South Africa Ray Moore Czechoslovakia Jan Kodeš
Czechoslovakia Vladimír Zedník
4–6, 4–6
Win 2–2 Apr 1974 Tokyo, Japan Hard South Africa Ray Moore Spain Juan Gisbert Sr.
United Kingdom Roger Taylor
4–6, 6–2, 6–4
Win 3–2 Jun 1974 French Open Grass Australia Dick Crealy United States Robert Lutz
United States Stan Smith
6–3, 6–2, 3–6, 5–7, 6–1
Loss 3–3 Nov 1974 Bombay, India Clay Australia Dick Crealy India Anand Amritraj
India Vijay Amritraj
4–6, 6–7
Loss 3–4 Jan 1975 Auckland, New Zealand Grass New Zealand Brian Fairlie Australia Bob Carmichael
Australia Ray Ruffels
6–7, ret.
Loss 3–5 Jun 1978 Brussels, Belgium Clay Czechoslovakia Vladimír Zedník France Jean-Louis Haillet
Italy Antonio Zugarelli
3–6, 6–4, 5–7

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "No. 49010". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 12 June 1982. p. 40.
  2. ^ Jonathan Millmow (28 September 2013). "Night owl Onny Parun still loves a challenge". The Dominion Post.
  3. ^ Joseph Romanos (23 April 2009). "The Wellingtonian interview: Onny Parun". The Wellingtonian.
  4. ^ "Wellington hostel fire: Three victims of Loafers Lodge blaze named". Radio New Zealand. 23 May 2023. Archived from the original on 26 May 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
[edit]