50 Years of Influence, US Open: Russ Adams

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“You can never put the camera down in tennis,” Adams said. “You never know what somebody’s going to do next.”

Up until his death in 2017 at 86—50 years after he first hunkered down on the sport’s sidelines—Adams was still pointing and shooting his camera. He pioneered tennis photography at the same time his fellow Bostonian, Bud Collins, was pioneering tennis journalism. Like Collins’ loud pants, Adams’ floppy hat became a tour fixture.

“He’s our dean, our guru, our guardian,” Billie Jean King said when Adams was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2007. “The players look for him and love him.”

Adams began shooting at the US Open in 1967 and became its Director of Photographers. He was responsible for at least three of the event’s most famous images. One was a shot of an 18-year-old Martina Navratilova, surrounded by reporters as she announced her defection from Czechoslovakia to the U.S. Another was of Arthur Ashe and his father, standing arm in arm after Ashe’s victory in 1968.

Most dynamically, Adams caught Rod Laver as he won his second calendar-year Grand Slam in 1969. When the Rocket launched himself over the net, Adams was ready with a wide-angle lens, which allowed him to get the leaping Laver and the scoreboard into the shot.

Like Adams said, you never know what somebody’s going to do next in tennis. But he knew to be ready.

Adams, at right, with Bud Collins at the International Tennis Hall of Fame.