{{Short description|New Zealand tennis player}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox tennis biography | name = Alan Stedman | image = Alan Christie Stedman.png | fullname = Alan Christie Stedman | country_represented = {{NZL}} | birth_date = {{birth date|1908|04|23|df=yes}} | birth_place = Palmerston North | death_date = {{death date and age|1984|07|01|1908|04|23|df=yes}} | death_place = | height = | plays = Right-handed | careerprizemoney = | singlesrecord = | singlestitles = | highestsinglesranking = | Wimbledonresult = 4R (1933, 1937) | doublesrecord = | doublestitles = | highestdoublesranking = | WimbledonDoublesresult = QF (1933, 1936) | WimbledonMixedresult = 3R (1933, 1934) }} '''Alan Christie Stedman''' (23 April 1908 – 1 July 1984) was a New Zealand tennis player.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article224287963 |title=He Is Fond Of Sydney |newspaper=The Sun |date=17 November 1931 |page=5 (Final Extra) |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
==Biography== Born in Palmerston North, Stedman was New Zealand's 1930 national singles champion.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article183010490 |title=N.Z. Tennis Titles |newspaper=Sporting Globe |date=14 January 1931 |page=12 (Edition 3) |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
Stedman, credited with a strong forehand, competed on tour through the 1930s.<ref>{{cite news |title=New Zealand Tennis Champion |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003221/19320110/192/0014 |work=Civil & Military Gazette |date=10 January 1932}}</ref> On his Wimbledon debut in 1933 he came from two sets down to win his first round match over John Olliff, later losing to Jack Crawford in the fourth round. He made the fourth round again in 1937 and lost in five sets to Bryan Grant.<ref>{{cite news |title=Bryan Grant Hurt, But Beats Stedman |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/617470355 |work=The Charlotte Observer |date=26 Jun 1937}}</ref> As a doubles player he twice reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals. His career titles included the 1935 Irish Championships, where he beat his countryman Cam Malfroy in the final. He played Davis Cup for New Zealand between 1934 and 1937.<ref>{{cite web |title=Alan Stedman |url=https://www.daviscup.com/en/players/player.aspx?id=800171333 |website=daviscup.com}}</ref>
In World War II he served as a Second Lieutenant in the army and fought in the Western Desert campaign. He was a German prisoner of war for four years. After the war he worked as an accountant.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lampp |first1=Peter |title=Manawatū’s greatest tennis player re-discovered |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/opinion/300232573/manawats-greatest-tennis-player-rediscovered |work=Stuff.co.nz |date=17 February 2021 |language=en}}</ref>
==See also== *List of New Zealand Davis Cup team representatives
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{ATP|su71}} * {{Davis Cup player|800171333}} * {{ITF profile|alan-stedman/800171333/nzl}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stedman, Alan}} Category:1908 births Category:1984 deaths Category:New Zealand male tennis players Category:Sportspeople from Palmerston North Category:New Zealand military personnel of World War II Category:World War II prisoners of war held by Germany Category:New Zealand prisoners of war in World War II Category:20th-century New Zealand sportsmen