Editing Tony Trabert (section)

==Tennis career==
===Amateur===
[[File:Tony Trabert and Jack Kramer 1955-10-19.jpg|thumb|left|Trabert (left) with [[Jack Kramer]] in 1955]] Trabert was a stand-out athlete in tennis and basketball at the [[University of Cincinnati]], and was a member of [[Sigma Chi]] fraternity.<ref name="collins2016">{{cite book|last=Collins|first=Bud|authorlink=Bud Collins|title=The Bud Collins History of Tennis|year=2016|publisher=New Chapter Press|location=New York|isbn=978-1-937559-38-0|page=694|edition=3rd}}</ref>  In 1951, he won the [[NCAA Men's Tennis Championship|NCAA Championship]] Singles title.<ref name="cincinnati_obit"/> He played doubles with [[Bob Mault]] and was coached by [[George Menefee]], who later became the head trainer for the [[Los Angeles Rams]]. Trabert was also a starter on the [[Cincinnati Bearcats]] basketball team at the University of Cincinnati.<ref name="nytimes_obit">{{cite web |author1=Richard Goldstein |title=Tony Trabert, a Two-Time No. 1 in Men's Tennis, Dies at 90 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/04/sports/tennis/Tony-Trabert-dead.html |website=The New York Times |date=February 4, 2021}}</ref> Previously, at [[Walnut Hills High School]] in Cincinnati, he had been Ohio scholastic champion three times and played guard on the 1948 basketball team that won the District Championship.<ref name="nytimes_obit"/>

A native of Cincinnati, Trabert grew up two houses down from a public park. It had clay courts that helped hone his groundstrokes.<ref name="atp_obit"/> By age 11, Trabert was winning junior tournaments. Trabert honed his tennis skills on the courts of the [[Cincinnati Tennis Club]] with the help of another member of that club, fellow [[International Tennis Hall of Fame]]r [[Billy Talbert]]. Talbert became Trabert's mentor. In 1951, Trabert posted his first win over Talbert in the final of [[Cincinnati Masters|Cincinnati's international tennis tournament]] (now known as the Cincinnati Masters). In the midst of his amateur career, Trabert's game was interrupted by a two-year stint in the Navy, serving on the aircraft carrier [[USS Coral Sea]] during the [[Korean War]], but this did not stop him.<ref name="usta_obit"/><ref name="nytimes_obit"/> In 1953, Trabert won the men's singles in the [[Ojai Tennis Tournament]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Images of America – Ojai |date=2007 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |location=Charleston, SC |isbn=9780738555775 |page=112 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JmcXafmtgPsC&dq=ojai+tennis+tournament+jack+kramer&pg=PA112}}</ref> After winning his first Grand Slam singles title at the U. S. Championships in 1953 (over Vic Seixas in the final), Trabert was ranked the world No. 1 amateur for 1953 by Lance Tingay in ''The Daily Telegraph'',<ref name="Tingay1953"/> Ned Potter in ''World Tennis'',<ref name=":15">{{cite magazine|last=Potter|first=Edward C.|date=November 1953|title=World Rankings: An Analysis of The Best Players in 1953|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_tennis-illustrated_1953-11_1_6/page/14/mode/2up|magazine=World Tennis|location=New York|publisher=|volume=1|issue=6|pages=14–16|access-date=}}</ref> [[Gardnar Mulloy]],<ref name=":15" /> [[Bill Talbert]],<ref name=":15" /> [[Ham Richardson]],<ref name=":15" /> [[Hal Burrows]]<ref name=":revised1954">{{cite magazine |date=March 1954 |title=Revised World Rankings |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_tennis-illustrated_1954-03_1_10/page/12/ |magazine=World Tennis |location=New York |publisher= |volume=1 |issue=10 |page=12 |access-date=}}</ref> and [[Grant Golden (tennis)|Grant Golden]].<ref name=":15" /> In 1954 Trabert won the French Championships (over Mervyn Rose, Budge Patty in the semifinal and Arthur Larsen in the final) and was ranked world number one amateur by Ned Potter in ''World Tennis''<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Potter|first=Edward C.|date=February 1955|title=The World's First Ten|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_tennis-illustrated_1955-02_2_9/page/n13/mode/2up|magazine=World Tennis|location=New York|publisher=|volume=2|issue=2|page=10|access-date=}}</ref> and by panel of 8 experts in ''The New York Times.''<ref>{{Cite news|date=1954-11-29|title=Trabert and Miss Connolly Head Writers' World Tennis Ratings; Five Men and Seven Women From America Are Among Leaders Chosen Under New International Consensus|page=29|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1954/11/29/archives/trabert-and-miss-connolly-head-writers-world-tennis-ratings-five.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=30 November 1954|title=Trabert, Connolly Ranked No. 1|volume=CLXXVI|page=27|newspaper=[[The Mercury (Hobart)]]|issue=26,187|location=Tasmania, Australia|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27245947|via=National Library of Australia|accessdate=22 November 2021}}</ref>{{Efn|[[Lance Tingay]], ''London Telegraph''; [[Jimmy Jones (tennis)|CM Jones]], ''British Lawn Tennis''; Réné Mathieu, ''Smash'' magazine; [[Philippe Chatrier]], ''Tennis de France''; Umberto Mezzanote, ''Tennis Italiano''; Arthur Goldman, ''Anson Press''; [[Allison Danzig]], ''New York Times''; Jack Russell, ''Tennis Australia''}} In 1955, Trabert won three consecutive Grand Slam singles titles: the French (over Rose in the semifinal and Sven Davidson in the final), Wimbledon (beating Kurt Nielsen in the final) and U. S. Championships (over Rosewall in the final).  He was ranked world number one amateur for 1955 by Lance Tingay{{sfnp|Collins|2016|p=758|ps=}} and by Ned Potter.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Potter|first=Edward C.|date=November 1955|title=The World's First Ten of 1955|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_tennis-illustrated_1955-11_3_6/page/44/mode/2up|magazine=World Tennis|location=New York|publisher=|volume=3|issue=6|page=44|access-date=}}</ref>

Trabert's record in 1955 was one of the greatest ever by an American tennis player.<ref name="collins2016"/> He won the three most prestigious tournaments in amateur tennis—the [[French Open (tennis)|French]], [[The Championships, Wimbledon|Wimbledon]], and [[U.S. Open (tennis)|American]] Championships.<ref name="atp90">{{cite web |title=Happy 90th birthday, Tony Trabert |url=https://www.atptour.com/en/news/atp-heritage-trabert-90th-birthday |website=ATP Tour |publisher=Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) |date=August 20, 2020}}</ref> He won Wimbledon and the US in 1955 without losing a set (the only time it has ever been done in consecutive majors).<ref name="atp_obit"/><ref name="usta_obit"/> He is one of only ten male players to have won three Grand Slam singles title in a year.<ref>Crawford, Perry, Budge, Trabert, Hoad, Laver, Wilander, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic</ref><ref name="atp_obit"/> Trabert's own chance at a Grand Slam was stopped  with a loss to [[Ken Rosewall]] in the semifinals at the [[Australian Open|Australian Championships]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71692564 |title=Trabert hopes crash over Rosewall |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)]]  |date=January 31, 1955 |page=23 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Trabert won 18 tournaments in 1955, compiling a match record of 106 wins to 7 losses, which included a 38-match winning streak.<ref name="cincinnati_obit">{{cite web |author1=Keith Jenkins |title=Tennis Hall of Famer, former Cincinnati Bearcats standout Tony Trabert dies at 90 |url=https://eu.cincinnati.com/story/sports/college/university-of-cincinnati/2021/02/04/tony-trabert-tennis-hall-famer-uc-bearcat-standout-dies-90/4390978001/ |website=Cincinnati.com |date=February 4, 2021}}</ref>

Trabert, along with [[Vic Seixas]], was an American [[Davis Cup]] team mainstay during the early 1950s, during which time the Americans reached the finals five times, winning the cup in 1954. It was one of only two victories over the dominant Australian teams during the decade (the other being in 1958). He called the [[1954 Davis Cup]] win the "biggest thrill in my tennis career".<ref name="usta_obit"/> Trabert turned pro after winning the ’55 U.S. Championships because he had a wife and two children to support.

===Professional===
Having reached the top amateur ranking in 1955, Trabert turned professional in the fall of that year. Trabert explained: “When I won Wimbledon as an amateur, I got a 10-pound certificate, which was worth $27 redeemable at Lilly White’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." With a wife and two children to support, the decision was clear.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tony Trabert |url=https://www.tennisfame.com/hall-of-famers/inductees/tony-trabert |website=International Tennis Hall of Fame}}</ref> In 1956, he was beaten on the head-to-head world pro tour by the reigning king of professional tennis [[Pancho Gonzales]], 74–27, consisting mostly of indoor matches on a portable loose canvas surface.<ref name="collins2016"/> Forty years after his matches with Gonzales, Trabert told interviewer Joe McCauley "that Gonzales' serve was the telling factor on their tour—it was so good that it earned him many cheap points. Trabert felt that, while he had the better ground-strokes, he could not match Pancho's big, fluent service."<ref>McCauley, Joe (2000). ''The History of Professional Tennis''. The Short Run Book Company Limited.</ref>  However, he beat Gonzales in five sets at Roland Garros in the final of the 1956 [[French Pro Championship|French Pro]] title.<ref name="atp_obit"/> Trabert also won a South American tour over Gonzales, Sedgman, and Kramer in 1956, winning six matches against Gonzales, and losing three matches indoor, for a 6–3 edge over Gonzales on that tour.<ref>{{cite news|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=July 30, 1956|author=Ned Cronin|title=Cronin's corner|page=3 part II|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/381164115|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=limited}}</ref> For the year 1956 as a whole, Trabert had an edge over Gonzales in outdoor matches of 16-11 (1-1 on grass, 4–5 on cement, and 11–5 on clay).

In the 1958 pro tour, Trabert won a personal series against Segura 34–31, showing that he had adjusted to the portable canvas surface used by the Kramer pros in small indoor venues and gyms.<ref>McCauley, p.208</ref> In the [[Wembley Championship|Wembley Pro]] in 1958, he defeated Rosewall in the semi-final and was runner-up to Sedgman . In the French Pro at Roland Garros in 1959, Trabert beat Rosewall in the semifinal and then defeated  [[Frank Sedgman]] in the final, to win his fourth title at the red clay venue.<ref name="atp_obit"/> In the 1960 [[U.S. Pro Tennis Championships|US Pro]] (billed as Cleveland World Pro),  he was runner-up to [[Alex Olmedo]]. In November 1961, Trabert led the United States team into the Kramer Cup final (the pro equivalent of the Davis Cup) at Ellis Park in Johannesburg. Trabert defeated Rosewall in four sets, but lost the fifth and deciding rubber to [[Lew Hoad]] in four sets.<ref>McCauley, p115</ref> The following week, Trabert won the Western Province Pro in Cape Town, beating Rosewall in the final.<ref>The History of Professional Tennis, Joe McCauley, 2003, p.223</ref> In October 1962, Trabert won the South African Pro Championships on the cement courts of Ellis Park in Johannesburg by defeating Hoad in the final in five sets.<ref>McCauley, p.120</ref> Trabert also had wins over Hoad at the [[Tournament of Champions (tennis)|Forest Hills Tournament of Champions]] in 1957 and 1958.<ref>McCauley, pp. 206, 209</ref>

In his 1979 autobiography ''The Game'' [[Jack Kramer (tennis)|Jack Kramer]], the former world No. 1 player, included Trabert in his list of the 21 greatest players{{efn|name=kramer|Kramer considered the best player ever to have been either [[Don Budge]] (for consistent play) or [[Ellsworth Vines]] (at the height of his game). The next four best were, chronologically, [[Bill Tilden]], [[Fred Perry]], [[Bobby Riggs]], and [[Pancho Gonzales]]. After these six came the "second echelon" of [[Rod Laver]], [[Lew Hoad]], [[Ken Rosewall]], [[Gottfried von Cramm]], [[Ted Schroeder]], [[Jack Crawford (tennis player)|Jack Crawford]], [[Pancho Segura]], [[Frank Sedgman]], Tony Trabert, [[John Newcombe]], [[Arthur Ashe]], [[Stan Smith]], [[Björn Borg]], and [[Jimmy Connors]].<ref name="kramer">{{cite book |last1=Kramer |first1=Jack |title=The Game : My 40 Years in Tennis |date=1981 |publisher=Deutsch |location=London |isbn=978-0233973074 |pages=43–45}}</ref>}} of all time.