Richard Wertheim, known as Dick Wertheim, was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 linesman who suffered a fatal injury on 10 September 1983 during a match at the 1983 US Open.

He died from blunt cranial trauma as a result of his injury, after Stefan Edberg

Stefan Edberg

Stefan Bengt Edberg is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player from Sweden. A major proponent of the serve-and-volley style of tennis, he won six Grand Slam singles titles and three Grand Slam men's doubles titles. He also won one season ending championship title the Masters Grand Prix...

 sent an errant serve directly into his groin

Groin

In human anatomy, the groin areas are the two creases at the junction of the torso with the legs, on either side of the pubic area. This is also known as the medial compartment of the thigh. A pulled groin muscle usually refers to a painful injury sustained by straining the hip adductor muscles...

, causing him to fall and hit his head on the pavement. He was unconscious when he was removed to Flushing Hospital and Medical Center.

Wertheim died on September 15. His family later sued the United States Tennis Association

United States Tennis Association

The United States Tennis Association is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, from the grass-roots to the professional levels...

for $2.25 million.