RAISE A GLASS OF GUINNESS FOR LOUK SORENSEN

Louk Sorensen became the first player since 1985 to represent Ireland in a Grand Slam tournament when he went through the qualifying rounds at the 2010 Australian Open. Sorensen is now into a second-round match with American John Isner by defeating Lu Yen-hsun of Chinese Taipei 6–4, 3–6, 6–2, 6–1 Tuesday, likely to result in a few pints of Guinness to be raised in his honor in the pubs of Dublin.
John McEnroe is likely the most famous tennis player with Irish blood, but young Sorensen is making waves in tennis again for the Irish.
Matt Doyle was last Irish player to compete at a Grand Slam, losing in the first round of the 1985 Australian Open. He did, however, reach the fourth round at the 1982 U.S. Open, losing to McEnroe and achieved a career-high ATP ranking of No. 65 in 1982.
Sorensen’s father Sean was a Davis Cup teammate of Doyle’s for Ireland and is the answer to a unique trivia question as being the last player Rod Laver ever beat at Wimbledon, losing 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round in 1977. (Laver then lost his Wimbledon swan song in the second round to Dick Stockton.)
Perhaps the most famous, or infamous, Irish player in tennis history is Vere “St. Leger” Goold, profiled by tennis historian and Hall of Fame journalist Bud Collins in his book THE BUD COLLINS HISTORY OF TENNIS ($35.95, New Chapter Press, www.NewChapterMedia.com). Collins tells of Goold, born in 1853 in Waterford, who reached the Wimbledon final in 1879, losing to Brit John Hartley 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 in front of a crowd of 1,100 fans. Collins points out that his “personal finale” was death in prison at the famed Devil’s Island prison, made famous in the book and movie Papillon. Writes Collins, “In 1907, with French wife, Violet Girodin, he was convicted in French court of murdering Emma Levin; she executed, he given life sentence. He died Sept. 8, 1909, Devil’s Island, French Guiana.”