Despite his two-year stint in the US navy, serving aboard an aircraft carrier during the Korean War, his tennis career blossomed. He won the US title in 1953, then enjoyed what he called the “biggest thrill in my tennis career”, leading America to their sensational Davis Cup victory which ended the Australians’ four-year winning streak.
Legends of the day: Americans Tony Trabert and Vic Seixas, and Australia’s Ken Rosewall and Lew Hoad, before their Davis Cup clash at White City in 1954.Credit:The Age Archives
He defeated the wunderkind Lew Hoad, while the Wimbledon champion Vic Seixas beat Ken Rosewall; the US pair then snatched the crucial doubles rubber in four sets.
“I played him several times in doubles,” recalled the British tennis pundit John Barrett. “He was tremendously powerful, an aggressive serve-volleyer with a rare topspin backhand and fine serve. He was a fierce competitor but always scrupulously fair, good-looking and popular because he was so genuine. I saw one iconic picture of him on the cover of World Tennis magazine and thought to myself ‘That’s the chap I want to be like.’ ”
Trabert reached five grand slam singles finals and won them all. In 1955, his annus mirabilis, he took the French, US and Wimbledon championships without losing a set. His US victories, dropping just seven games to Hoad in the semis and beating Rosewall in the final, were among the greatest of his life.
Marriage to the Miss Utah beauty queen Shauna Wood sharpened Trabert’s need for a regular income, and he joined the fledgling professional tour of barnstormers.
“When I won Wimbledon as an amateur,” he explained, “I got a £10 certificate, worth $27 redeemable at Lillywhite’s Sporting Goods store in London. Jack Kramer offered me a guarantee of $75,000 against a percentage of the gate to play on his tour.”
He was a crowd favourite, his strength of character and leadership emerging as he helped to launch the players’ association, calmly dealing with his colleagues’ warring egos and meltdowns from the hot-headed superstar Pancho Gonzales.
In 1960 Trabert, with his wife and two toddlers, moved to France to run the European tour. Coco Chanel recruited Shauna as her house model and the glamorous power couple became the toast of Paris. His charm and diplomacy later made him a natural choice as Davis Cup captain and he persuaded both Jimmy Connors and the brilliant but temperamental John McEnroe to take part for the first time, McEnroe spearheading victories in 1978 and 1979.
Trabert became a much-loved television commentator, the voice of tennis on CBS in the US and Channel Nine in Australia. He shared his passion for the game with generations of young players of all standards at his influential training camps and also served for a decade as president of the International Hall of Fame.
Tony Trabert’s marriage to Shauna ended in divorce, and in 1984, while covering golf at Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida, he met Vicki, a real estate agent who became his second wife. She survives him together with his two children.
The Telegraph, London.
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