"When It Rains, Eat Light"

"My game's as good as ever, maybe better," admitted scar-faced Tennistar Pancho Gonzales. "I'm O.K. on passing shots and return of serve. We go along neck and neck, each holding service. Then he wins." From Milwaukee to White Plains, N.Y. and on through Pittsfield and Springfield, Mass., it had been as simple as that. When his pro tour with Big Jake Kramer reached Washington, D.C. last week, Gonzales was hollow-eyed from loss of sleep and the humiliation of 17 defeats against three wins.

On the green canvas of Washington's Uline Arena, Gonzales got his lumps in a hurry. Big Jake polished him in 40 minutes, a new record for the tour. The odd part of it all was that Pancho's booming cannonball service was becoming steadily more accurate--and at the same time steadily less effective. But Big Jake, seven years older and wiser than 21-year-old Pancho, had the explanation: "I wait a little longer on his serve and I've quit guessing where it's going to go. I know now. He has a way of telegraphing where it's headed."

Big Jake had the edge in other small ways, e.g., his placements were steadier and he had learned the value of the lob. Since he turned pro in 1947, Big Jake had also learned about eating. When the schedule called for six or seven nights of consecutive play, he filled up on late-afternoon steaks and topped off with egg-nogs. But he cut down on the calories when there were off-nights ahead. Said Kramer: "I think I'll tell the fellows at Forest Hills, 'When it rains, eat light.' "

Powerful, easygoing Pancho, who played mostly by ear when he was ruling the amateurs at Forest Hills, was learning the scales the hard way as a pro. But there was no reason to think the younger man could not learn by experience. At week's end in Richmond, Va. he finally took one from the old master, 6-2, 6-4.

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