Robert Lindley Murray

He was an American chemist and tennis player.

Robert Lindley Murray was born to Augustus Taber Murray and Nellie Howland Gifford. He graduated from Stanford University in 1913 with a degree in chemistry and received a chemical engineering master's degree the following year. Murray played for the varsity team and became the 1913 Pacific Coast intercollegiate champion.
In June 1914, Murray won the New York Metropolitan title defeating Fred Alexander in the final in five sets, and in August, he won the Meadow Club Cup at Southampton, New York, beating Watson Washburn in the final in three straight sets.
Murray won his first national tennis title in February 1916 when he became the singles champion at the U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships, played at the Seventh Regiment Armory in New York. In the final, he defeated Alrick Man in three sets 6–2, 6–2, 9–7.
The first top-of-the-line left-handed player in tournament tennis, Murray ruled the American game impressively for two years. In 1917, he won the championship of his country (then called the National “Patriotic” Championships) for the first time. But when he defeated a promising player named Bill Tilden in the finals of the U.S. Nationals in 1918, he demonstrated indisputably that he was authentic. Boosted by a big serve, the 6’2” Murray was the best player in his nation in 1918.

In the USLTA national rankings, he was the U.S. No. 1 in 1918, and was ranked fourth in 1914, 1916 and 1919.