Princeton-educated John Van Ryn won the Intercollegiate Doubles championship in 1927, paving the way to an illustrious career in tennis. Van Ryn was one of the game’s early doubles specialists, teaming with Wilmer Allison to win the 1929 and 1930 Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Doubles Championships. A year later, he partnered with George Lott to win a third straight, becoming the first American in history to win at Wimbledon three consecutive years. Van Ryn and Lott captured the 1931 French Nationals, but it was the pairing of Van Ryn and Allison that did the most damage between the lines. The duo captured the 1931 and 1935 U.S. National Men’s Doubles Championship and advanced to the finals in five other major events (one Wimbledon, four U.S. Championships). They were inseparable as Davis Cup partners, compiling an audacious 14-2 record, only surpassed by Peter Fleming and John McEnroe’s 14-1 mark. In total, Van Ryn went 22-2 in Davis Cup doubles competition and a 7-1 record in singles.
The early-to-mid 1930s saw Van Ryn play his best singles tennis, advancing to the quarterfinals of the French International Men’s Singles Championship and Wimbledon Gentleman Singles Championship in 1931. He was a quarterfinalist at the U.S. Nationals in 1929, 1930, 1931, 1936 and 1937.
In 1930 he married tennis player Midge Gladman, a U.S. National Women’s Doubles Champion in 1936.
