József Asbóth
József Asbóth was a Hungarian tennis player. Born to a family of railway workers, he is best remembered for being the first Hungarian and first player from Eastern Europe to win a Grand Slam singles title, at the 1947 French Open. He remains the only Hungarian male player to win a Grand Slam singles title. Asbóth was a clay court specialist who was good at keeping the ball in play.
Asbóth also reached the semifinals at Wimbledon in 1948. Hungary's Communist government had let him leave the country only after the personal warrant of the Swedish King Gustaf V that Asbóth would return to his homeland and wasn't going to emigrate. In 1941, he was a member of the Hungarian team that won the Central European Cup.
Asboth won the Open de Nice Côte d'Azur or Nice French Riviera Open tournament in 1947 defeating Bob Falkenburg and again in 1948 defeating Budge Patty and Jaroslav Drobný in the semifinal and final. He won the Monte-Carlo Masters tournament in 1948 defeating Patty in the semifinal in five sets.
Asbóth was ranked World No. 8 by John Olliff of The Daily Telegraph in 1948.
His Davis Cup record was 24 wins and 17 losses. He won the Hungarian National Tennis Championships 13 times.
After his career, he became responsible for the next generation of tennis players at the Belgian Tennis Federation. He later became a trainer in Munich.
In 1993 a street was named after Asbóth in Szombathely, the city where he was born.