Background
Crawford was born on 22 March 1908 in Urangeline, near Albury, New South Wales, the second youngest child of Jack Senior and Lottie Crawford.
Crawford was born on 22 March 1908 in Urangeline, near Albury, New South Wales, the second youngest child of Jack Senior and Lottie Crawford.
He was the World Number. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1979. Crawford played his first competition match at age 12 in a mixed doubles match at the Habersfield club An asthmatic who suffered in the muggy summer heat of Forest Hills, Crawford was leading the Englishman Fred Perry in the finals of the United States Championships by two sets to one when his strength began to fade.
Crawford ended up losing the match, and tennis immortality, by the final score of 3–6, 13–11, 6–4, 0–6, 1–6.
In his 1979 autobiography Jack Kramer, the long-time tennis promoter and great player himself, included Crawford in his list of the 21 greatest players of all time. He was also known for taking a shot of whiskey between sets if the game was tense.
Crawford was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island in 1979 and into the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame in 1997. He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in 1976 for his services to sport.
Crawford was a right-handed baseline player with a game that was based more on technical skills and accuracy than on power.
He was not particularly fast but had excellent anticipation and his game was described as fluent and effortless. His style was compared with Henri Cochet. Crawford played with an old-fashioned flat-topped racket and always wore long, white flannels and a long-sleeved shirt.
Singles: 12 (6 titles, 6 runners-up)
Doubles: 12 (6 titles, 6 runners-up)
Mixed doubles: 8 (5 titles, 3 runners-up).