In 1951, Tony Trabert was a talented but still amateur tennis player. He learned to play the sport and perfected his skills at a park down the street from his childhood home in Cincinnati. He played tennis at his alma mater, the University of Cincinnati, and won an NCAA championship while there.
But as he was reaching the top amateur rank in the country, North Korean tanks rolled across the 38th parallel, and the United States was once again at war in the Pacific. Trabert signed up to do his part.
He enlisted in the Navy at the peak of his amateur career, believing it was his duty as a citizen of the U.S. to answer the country's latest call to arms. Luckily for him and the world of American tennis, he didn't find himself in Korea.
The Navy instead sent Trabert to the USS Coral Sea, part of the 6th Fleet stationed in the Mediterranean Sea, for his entire two-year enlistment. It was during the time the Navy was perfecting the ways aircraft carriers could operate, including using jet-assisted takeoffs aboard the ship and the use of nuclear-capable aircraft.
Trabert left the Navy after his brief enlistment and resumed his amateur tennis career for a short two years before going pro. In that time, he became the No. 1-ranked amateur player in the world. He went professional in 1955 and launched a legacy that would earn him a spot in the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Between 1953 and 1955, Trabert won 10 Grand Slam tournament titles. As a singles player, he won two U.S. Open championships, two French Open championships and the 1955 Wimbledon title. With partners, either Bill Talbert or Vic Seixas, he won French, Australian and U.S. doubles championships but lost at Wimbledon.
Trabert also won two French Pro Slam singles tournaments, first in 1956 and again in 1959. He was the last American to win the French championship for 30 years. The International Tennis Hall of Fame inducted Trabert in 1970, seven years after he retired from tennis at age 40.
He later became a tennis announcer and golf analyst. He was also the chairman of the select committee that would decide which tennis players are considered for induction.
Trabert, 90, died at his home in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, on Feb. 3, 2021.
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