Jack Kramer, a tennis champion in the 1940s and '50s and a promoter of the sport for more than 60 years, has died at his home in Los Angeles. He was 88.

Kramer was a regular visitor to Bermuda in the 1960s, playing at Coral Beach Club and organising his own tournament here.

Bob Kramer says his father died on Saturday night of a soft tissue cancer that was diagnosed in July.

Kramer won the Wimbledon men's singles title in 1947 and the men's US Championships, the forerunner of the US Open, in 1946 and '47. He was the number one player in the world for much of the late 1940s.

Kramer was among the founders of the Association of Tennis Professionals. Since the 1970s, he and his family have run a pro tennis tournament in Los Angeles.

Details of a memorial service were expected later this week.