Heavy metal band Metallica is one of the most well-known bands in the world, regardless of genre. Lead drummer and founding member Lars Ulrich has a rich connection with tennis going back a couple of generations. Lars’ father, Torben Ulrich, recently passed away, and he shared a heartfelt tribute on Instagram.
This also brought to memory of the fans how Torben was a professional tennis player and a member of the Danish Davis Cup team. The Ulrichs originally hailed from Denmark, where multiple men of the family pursued a career in tennis. Torben Ulrich, born in 1928, had a distinguished career in the sport. He had a long career, from the late 1940s to the early 1970s, turning pro in 1969.
Torben Ulrich reached the fourth round in singles of all Grand Slam events bar the Australian Open, then called the Australian Championships. Torben won three tour titles, two in Antwerp and one in Stuttgart, all on clay. The latter has since evolved into an ATP 250 event today. He peaked and World No.96 in singles. In men’s doubles, he reached the semi-finals of the 1959 Wimbledon Championships and the quarters at the 1968 French Open.
The Davis Cup was the premier tournament in that era. Torben is statistically an all-time great for the Danish squad, holding a few records. Making his debut in 1948, he played 102 matches in the team event, still the second-highest for Denmark. His 40 ties are also the second-best for his nation. He held both these records till not very long ago. The current holder, Frederik Nielsen, made his Davis Cup debut only 2003. He remains the oldest Davis Cup player to take to the court for Denmark, playing in 1977 at the age of 49.
The tennis connection in Lars Ulrich’s lineage does not stop with his father. His grandfather, Einer Ulrich, was also a professional player who represented Denmark in the Davis Cup. Einer reached the fourth round at the 1926 Wimbledon and also featured in the Olympics two years prior. He played 74 Davis Cup matches for his home country, the fourth-highest of all time. Einer’s younger son, Jorgen, uncle to Lars, also played tennis, reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon thrice in the men’s singles category.
Lars Ulrich came to the States to pursue tennis but ended up creating Metallica
With father Torben, grandfather Einer, and uncle Jorgen, Lars Ulrich’s connection with tennis runs pretty deep. Understandably, the Metallica drummer also started out playing the sport in Denmark. He showed great promise, prompting his family to shift base from Copenhagen to California when he was 16. However, as it turned out, he was not good enough to make it as a pro. That pushed him to turn to music.
In an interview a year ago (via loudersound), Lars revealed he was one of the best players in Denmark in his age group. However, after his family moved to the USA, he found out he could not even qualify for his high school team.
“In Denmark, I was ranked high enough to be one of the best tennis players in the country, but there’s only five million people there. when we came to Newport Beach, I wasn’t good enough to get on the tennis team at Corona del Mar High School.”
Not being good enough to compete, Lars jumped into music, listening to classic metal bands. After this, he decided to form a band and be the lead drummer, kickstarting an iconic journey.
“I wasn’t one of the best 10 tennis players in the street that I lived on! I jumped head-first back into Iron Maiden, Saxon and Motorhead. And I remember bands like Angel Witch, Diamond Head and Tygers Of Pan Tang – this was in 1981. I was like, ‘I want to form a band and play drums,’ and off it went.”
