Erik van Dillen (born February 21, 1951) is an American retired tennis player who played over 25 Grand Slam championships at Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open. He was active from 1964 to 1982 and won 9 careers singles titles.

Tennis career Born in San Mateo, California, van Dillen first played tennis aged six years old. During his junior career, he won both the singles and doubles competitions at the "USTA Boys 16 & 18 National Championships" in Kalamazoo, Michigan, as well as winning other national titles in the 12- and 14-year-old divisions. In total, he won 12 U.S. junior titles and is the only player ever to win singles and doubles titles in all four age groups: 12, 14, 16, and 18. (Source USTA Yearbooks).

Van Dillen first played on the men's circuit in 1967 when he appeared at the U.S. Championships for the first time. In 1968, he had his first big win when he beat his future doubles partner and then American No. 1 Charlie Pasarell at the U.S. national tournament at Boston in five sets when only 17. He was ranked in the top 20 of the U.S. from 1968 to 1970 and the top 10 from 1971 to 1973.

In 1973, he won his biggest tournament beating Frew McMillan in Nottingham. In 1974, van Dillen had his best Grand Slam singles year reaching the last 16 at the French Open where he narrowly lost to eventual champion Björn Borg in five sets. At Wimbledon, he also reached the last 16, defeating Guillermo Vilas on the way. He repeated the last 16 appearance in Paris in 1975.

In 1978, van Dillen had a strong grass-court season in England; he qualified at Nottingham and reached the last 16, and also won the doubles with Dick Stockton. At Wimbledon, he again qualified and then had the greatest win of his career defeating John McEnroe in five sets in the first round.

Van Dillen's last full year on the circuit was 1981 when he won two doubles titles and reached the semifinals of the Volvo International in North Conway with Roscoe Tanner. He also reached the semifinals in singles at Newport, Rhode Island.

He completed his career in 1982 by qualifying at his last singles event the prestigious Alan King Classic in Las Vegas and shortly after reached the final of the WCT Invitation event at Forest Hills in doubles with Dick Stockton.

Van Dillen played in the Wimbledon veterans doubles for a number of years and also played in a veterans event at Indian Wells.

Between 1960 and 1981, he beat six of the then-top players: John McEnroe, Stan Smith, Arthur Ashe, Jimmy Connors, Guillermo Vilas, and Ilie Năstase. At his peak, he was ranked 36th in the world in singles, and 35th in doubles.

After tennis Erik earned a degree in finance from the University of Southern California and an MBA from San Francisco State University. He joined IMG, a sports marketing agency. While at IMG, Erik worked with Joe Montana, Martina Navratilova, Arnold Palmer, Kristi Yamaguchi and Chris Evert and helped to build a number of sport and lifestyle events including the WTA Bank of the West Tennis Classic (formerly the Virginia Slims of Oakland), the US Open of Surfing (a 10-day sports and lifestyle exhibition), the Transamerica Seniors Golf Championship and the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon.

After the death of Mark McCormack in 2003, Erik left the company to create van Dillen Partners, a sports and lifestyle marketing agency. The agency works with professional sports and media associations; such as the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP), Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP), Stanford University Athletics, ESPN, NBC Sports, Fox Sports Net, ABC Sports and CBS Sports.

Career finals Doubles (13 wins, 11 losses) ResultW/L DateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore Loss 0–1 Jun 1971 London Queen's, UK Grass Stan Smith Tom Okker Marty Riessen 6–8, 6–4, 8–10 Win 1–1 Aug 1971 Cincinnati, U.S. Clay Stan Smith Sandy Mayer Roscoe Tanner 6–1, 3–6, 6–4Loss 1–2 Aug 1971 Indianapolis, U.S. Clay Clark Graebner Željko Franulović Jan Kodeš 6–7, 7–5, 3–6Loss 1–3 Sep 1971 South Orange, U.S. Hard Clark Graebner Bob Carmichael Tom Leonard 4–6, 6–4, 4–6 Loss 1–4 Sep 1971US Open, New York Grass Stan Smith John Newcombe Roger Taylor 7–6, 3–6, 6–7, 6–4, 6–7 Loss 1–5 Jul 1972Wimbledon, London Grass Stan Smith Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan 2–6, 2–6, 7–9Win 2–5 Feb 1973 Copenhagen, Denmark Carpet (i) Tom Gorman Mark Cox Graham Stilwell 6–4, 6–4Loss 2–6 Apr 1973 Vancouver, Canada Carpet (i) Tom Gorman Pierre Barthès Roger Taylor 7–5, 3–6, 6–7Loss 2–7 Apr 1973 Charlotte, U.S. Clay Tom Gorman Tom Okker Marty Riessen 6–7, 6–3, 3–6Win 3–7 Jul 1973 Nottingham, UK Grass Tom Gorman Bob Carmichael Frew McMillan 6–4, 6–1Win 4–7 Jun 1974 Nottingham, UK Grass Charlie Pasarell Bob Lutz Stan Smith 6–4, 9–7Loss 4–8 Jan 1975 Philadelphia, U.S. Carpet (i) Dick Stockton Brian Gottfried Raúl Ramírez 6–3, 3–6, 6–7Win 5–8 Feb 1975 Toronto, Canada Carpet (i) Dick Stockton Anand Amritraj Vijay Amritraj 6–4, 7–5, 6–1Win 6–8 Mar 1975 Memphis, U.S. Carpet (i) Dick Stockton Mark Cox Cliff Drysdale 1–6, 7–5, 6–4Win 7–8 Aug 1975 North Conway, U.S. Clay Haroon Rahim John Alexander Phil Dent 7–6, 7–6 Win 8–8 Jan 1976 Birmingham, U.S. Carpet (i) Jimmy Connors Hank Pfister Dennis Ralston 7–6, 6–4 Win 9–8 Jul 1976 Cincinnati, U.S. Clay Stan Smith Eddie Dibbs Harold Solomon 6–1, 6–1 Loss 9–9 Aug 1976 Louisville, U.S. Clay Stan Smith Byron Bertram Pat Cramer 3–6, 4–6Loss 9–10 Jan 1977Australian Open Grass Charlie Pasarell Arthur Ashe Tony Roche 4–6, 4–6Win 10–10 Aug 1978 New Orleans, U.S. Carpet (i) Dick Stockton Ismail El Shafei Brian Fairlie 7–6, 6–3Win 11–10 Aug 1978 Cleveland, U.S. Hard Dick Stockton Rick Fisher Bruce Manson 6–1, 6–4Win 12–10 Jul 1981 Newport, U.S. Grass Brad Drewett Kevin Curren Billy Martin 6–2, 6–4Win 13–10 Aug 1981 Cleveland, U.S. Hard Van Winitsky Syd Ball Ross Case 6–4, 5–7, 7–5Loss 13–11 May 1982 Forest Hills, U.S. Clay Dick Stockton Tracy Delatte Johan Kriek 4–6, 6–3, 3–6

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