Stan Smith was Wimbledon champion in 1972 and won a total of seven Grand Slam titles but knows that his fame, especially among younger generations, is not entirely down to his achievements on the court. The Californian, who celebrates his 70th birthday today, gave his name to one of the most famous items of kit in tennis history. Adidas have made more than 30 million pairs of Stan Smith shoes since 1971.

“A lot of people think I’m a shoe,” Smith admitted in a recent interview with “Tennishead” magazine. “I’m sure the majority of people who have worn Stan Smiths over the years have no idea that I was a player and a real person.”

In the 1970s, however, you could hardly miss the upright 6ft 4in American, who played in 14 Grand Slam finals in singles and doubles and won the Davis Cup seven times. Smith’s game matched his imposing frame, though he was deceptively quick around the court considering his height. He was a classic serve-and-volley specialist who loved charging into the net and dominating opponents. His poker face, which rarely gave anything anyway, only added to the intimidation factor.

Smith’s brand of tennis was made for Wimbledon. The only time he missed The Championships between 1965 and 1983 was in the boycott year of 1973. He was runner-up in 1971 and champion in 1972 and might have enjoyed even more success but for an outstanding generation of Australians. Between 1966 and 1974 the only players Smith lost to at The Championships were Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, John Newcombe and Ken Rosewall. 

However, it was also true that Smith might never have triumphed at Wimbledon but for the banning of “contract professionals” from competing at The Championships in 1972. The banned players included Newcombe, who had beaten Smith 6-3, 5-7, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the 1971 final and would have been attempting to win the Gentlemen’s Singles title for the third year in a row.

Although tennis had gone “open” in 1968, enabling previously banned professionals back into the Grand Slam events, there was still plenty of politics to be played out. The early years of the open era saw much in-fighting between players, tournaments, governing bodies, national associations and fledgling professional organisations.

World Championship Tennis (WCT), founded by Lamar Hunt in 1967, set the pace in the professional era by signing up eight of the best amateurs of the day. Pierre Barthes, Earl Buchholz, Cliff Drysdale, Newcombe, Niki Pilic, Dennis Ralston, Tony Roche and Roger Taylor were known as the “Handsome Eight”.

The tennis establishment did not like it when WCT started to ask tournaments to pay fees to guarantee the participation of their players. After no WCT players entered the 1972 French Open, the International Lawn Tennis Federation (which later became the International Tennis Federation) banned all contract professionals from playing in official ILTF tournaments that year.

An eventual truce came too late for any of the contract professionals to play at the French Open or The Championships in 1972. There was to be even more drama one year later when the newly formed Association of Tennis Professionals organised a mass boycott of The Championships in support of the suspended Pilic.

In reaching the 1971 final Smith had dropped only one set, to Emerson in the fourth round, but in 1972 his passage was not always straightforward. Sandy Mayer and Ian Fletcher took Smith to four sets in the third and fourth rounds respectively and in the semi-finals the American had to come from behind to beat Jan Kodes 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-5.

Some of the best players might have been absent that year, but Smith and Ilie Nastase put on a wonderful show in the final. Some commentators said it was the best at The Championships since Jack Crawford’s victory over Ellsworth Vines in 1933.

The first final at The Championships between two serving soldiers was also the first Sunday final, play on the previous day having been wiped out by rain. It was a classic contrast of styles. Smith, a model of calm authority, put faith in his serve-and-volley game, while the temperamental Nastase, who loved to play to the crowd, was a creative genius who was always likely to do the unexpected.

In the early stages Nastase allowed himself to be distracted by concerns over the tension in his rackets, which he changed several times, but the Romanian fought back to take the final into a deciding set.

Twelve months earlier Smith had admitted that mental tiredness in the latter stages of the final against Newcombe had cost him victory – he had appeared to be in control after winning seven games in a row to take a 1-0 lead in the deciding set – but this time the American stayed strong to close out a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 victory.

Smith’s only other Grand Slam singles triumph had come at the US Open the previous year, when he beat Kodes in the final. However in doubles he won the US title four times and the Australian once. He was runner-up in the Gentlemen’s Doubles at The Championships four times. His last appearance in a Grand Slam final was at the age of 34 at The Championships in 1981. Smith and Bob Lutz, his long-time partner, were beaten 4-6, 4-6, 4-6 by Peter Fleming and John McEnroe.

Smith was also a stalwart of the United States Davis Cup team. He played in 24 Davis Cup ties and was on the winning side 22 times, including a record-equalling seven times in finals.

Arguably his greatest performance in the Davis Cup came at the end of the year he triumphed at The Championships. With home advantage on clay in Bucharest, Nastase was expected to avenge his Wimbledon defeat to Smith in the opening rubber, but while Romania’s top man froze, his opponent rose to the occasion. Smith’s straight-sets victory put the United States on the way to a famous 3-2 triumph.