Road to the Pros

When he got out of the Navy in the summer of 1953, Cincinnati's Tony Trabert was just one more crew-cut amateur tennis player. Two months later, his big serve and sharp volleys were unbeatable, and at Forest Hills he won the U.S. Singles championship in a breeze. Tony immediately began to toy with a couple of big ideas: now, maybe, he could afford to get married; now, if he could go on to add a Wimbledon title to his U.S. championship, he would be eligible for one of those fat pro contracts.

Only half his plan worked out; Tony got married. That winter he almost brought the Davis Cup home but Australia finally cinched it. Then his game fell apart. In one tournament after another, Tony took embarrassing lickings. He managed to win the French Singles championship in May, but at Wimbledon he lost to Aussie Ken Rosewall in the semifinals.

Proper Pitch. This winter Tony got back in form when he and Vic Seixas teamed up to take the Davis Cup. Only twice after that, as he played the international amateur-tennis circuit, did Tony relax and lose. When he reached Paris last month to defend his French title, he was at his peak. He won easily.

Last week Tony stood once more on the center court of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, tuned up at last to the proper pitch for the Wimbledon championship. He had wasted no time getting to the final round, blasting his way past such dangerous competitors as last year's champ, Czechoslovakia's aging (33) Expatriate Jaroslav Drobny, and the U.S.'s Parisian Playboy Budge Patty. Across the net stood Denmark's Kurt Nielsen, an unseeded surprise who had knocked over Ken Rosewall and Italy's Nicolo Pietrangeli to get to the finals.

Wide Kick. Once before, in 1953, Nielsen had got that far. On the way his temperamental outbursts had annoyed the proper English crowd. Now all was forgiven. In Wimbledon's crammed stadium (17,000 spectators) the crowd, always partial to the underdog, made the Dane a solid favorite.

Tony was too busy playing tennis to be bothered. His big game showed no weakness at all. His spinning serve kicked wide and pulled Nielsen out of position. His backhands ripped down the court. His lobs floated unerringly toward the baseline. Nielsen never had a chance; his booming serve was his only weapon and it was not enough. He ran himself ragged, and when the close calls went against him he had little energy left for complaint. The best he could muster were a few defiant glares (called "oldfashioned looks" in Britain) at the linesmen.

"There are two sides of the court you can hit to," said Tony later. "You hit to one or the other." This, he insisted, was his only strategy. It worked so well that he won 6-3, 7-5, 6-1. Not since the U.S.'s redheaded Don Budge turned the trick in 1938 had any man run out the Wimbledon championship without losing a set. Now, if he can win back his U.S. title, Tony is a cinch for a crack at the pros.

To complete an American sweep of the Wimbledon Singles titles, California's Louise Brough needed every trick in the book to outlast California's Beverly Baker Fleitz 7-5, 8-6. A Wimbledon winner in 1948, '49, and '50, Tennis Stylist Brough is now halfway to Helen Wills Moody Roark's Wimbledon record of eight championships.

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