Pancho Segura, who surmounted a sickly and impoverished childhood in Ecuador to become one of the world’s leading tennis players in the mid-20th century, died on Saturday at his home in Carlsbad, Calif. He was 96.

The cause was complications of Parkinson’s disease, said his son, Spencer.

Displaying a blistering two-handed forehand, a keen sense of court strategy and a crowd-pleasing flair, Segura flourished in the two decades preceding the open era, first as an amateur and then as a member of Jack Kramer’s pro tour. He was later the mentor to a teenage Jimmy Connors and coached him when he competed in Grand Slam events of the 1970s.

Arriving in the United States in 1940 with little knowledge of English — his legs bowed by a childhood case of rickets — Segura was recruited by the University of Miami’s tennis coach, the prominent amateur player Gardnar Mulloy. He won the N.C.A.A. singles tennis championship each year from 1943 to 1945. He reached the singles semifinals of the United States Nationals in Forest Hills, Queens, every year from 1942 to 1945.

Segura turned pro in 1947 and barnstormed around the world with Kramer and figures like Pancho Gonzalez, Bobby Riggs, Tony Trabert and the Australians Lew Hoad, Ken Rosewall and Frank Sedgman. He won the prestigious U.S. Pro Tennis Championships singles title each year from 1950 to 1952.