Show AMA By JACK KRAMER HIS Color Photograph by Frrd Lyon must have been plain that I was not peddling the virtues of a local product while playing tennis all year throughout the world (This type of evasion by the way is no longer necessary Since last year UJS tennis players over 21 may be employed by firms) Bet this I nest make dear ooct nore: I was not then and I am not now ashamed of having taken the mooey I was and 1 am sorry only that I could not take it with the world looking on and a secret from no one Tennis was as much my business then as sporting-good- s now and various pressures mostly admirable because they were patriotic were exerted on me to keep it my business Well and all a lark To maintain international pitch a matter of ceaseless application You can never let down And so it can be for certain temperaments a terrible strain Well one of these temperaments belonged to Dick Savitt among the game’s best And when you get to the pay-ofyou will know how close the US came in 1934 to fielding a Davis Cup team without Vic Scixas — considered washed up by the experts — but with Savitt is T -- Btdlwg Dick Naturally I was as anxious as anyone to have the Davis Cup in this country to have the US flag wave high at Wimbledon to keep my nation’s prestige in tennis foremost in the world But I didn’t want it enough to sacrificethe needs of my wife and son in the process There had to be “a way’’ — m and there was I suppose that today there are others in the same boat I am not going to go into any revelations on the methods if they Jack exist employed by the latter-da- y Kramers to go on playing international tennis and still keep afloat As a matter of record however Gardnar Mulloy former No 1 ranking amateur was given a suspension last winter when accused of rewarding certain players in a Miami tournament with more than allowable expenses while underpaying six-mon- Bgh you may remember had quite a in 1931 He won both Wimbleback year don and the Australian championships a He was riding not very nice but highest Then he suffered a only high didn’t leg injury quite come through at Forest Hills Aftef that he became embittered over being left off the Davis Cup challenge team in Australia after making the trip with the squad Dick took his tennis hard 1 don’t know if he had ulcers but he was ulcer bait His next year was disappointing as well And he got out to the Pacific Southwest tournament in Los Angeles at the end of that season and began thinking He also listened long and hard to a Texas two-stri- good "big gome" helped US win the Davis Cup ke oilman who was out there that week and when he was through listening he was an oilman himself in Houston He worked up the hard way and today evaluates leases for the company He still plays crack week-en- d tennis — but he doesn't worry about double-faulor overdrives or if his netcord shots drop thissaway instead of that It’s all for fun All right That’s Part One Now comes the sequel At a certain point last year our chance to get back the Davis Cup looked mighty black Vic Seixas seemed to have had it The powers that be were getting desperate (If we'd only known what great tennis Vic had up his sleeve!) So at this juncture Savitt came to New York for a conference This — subject to official sanction — was e the deal: If Savitt would return to — have to and he had would competition make the grade — he could have the No 2 spot behind Tony Trabert It was everything but an iron-cla-d guarantee — and Dick once had wanted that Davis Cup chance fiercely But this was another Dick Savitt His answer? He would play only if (I) his employer categorically insisted it was his ts super-priva- Savitt's patriotic duty (2) he were maintained on the payroll on full salary (3) his job absolutely was not jeopardized I have heard that these terms were finally met But even then nothing came of it Savitt — and I think wisely — figured he had had enough And now it's high time to take on the main idea of this article Can we take the hypocrisy out of amateur tennis? The answer is yes And the feasible method is the open tournament The open tournament inevitably will come to tennis sooner or later as it has long since come to golf And when this happens tennis will enter a period of dynamic expansion te nut it? The proper governing for this brave new era would be the body gentlemen who so ably administer amateur tennis today — theUSLTA And the sponsors would be the same In short the mechanism is all set up But now a shuffle and reorganization in player ranks would occur Who would full-tim- The Pros? Most persons think of professional tennis at present as a tight little road Continued on next page th others What Ate the Beyu Getting? It seems to me we must assume that some of the boys are taking a little more than normal subsistence out of the game And why not? Would it be better that they live on headlines and cups and squander the future? And would you wish to be the first to condemn them to cry: Tennis bum!” or hint sneeringly of cash under the table? 1 wouldn’t I would say find a way to get in it up there sight And I’ll c6me to that in a minute But first letrme give you an illustration of part of what I’m talking about 1 don't imagine you’ve heard the story and you might find it interesting It’s about a talented guy and what tennis almost did to him and the decision he finally made If incidentally he hadn’t made that decision the whole Davis Cup complexion of 1934 might have been changed I was thinking about it flying back from Australia last winter and 1 see no reason now why it shouldn’t be told As 1 say top tournament tennis isn’t high-stru- ng WUil WCHUA KBAJ2EI FJU2SIY: "How can o top tournament player live on ten dollars a day and travel expenses?" |