Jaroslav Drobný
Country (sports) | Czechoslovakia (until 1939 and 1945–1950) Bohemia and Moravia (1939-1945) Egypt (1950–1959) Great Britain (after 1959) | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Born | Prague, Czechoslovakia | 12 October 1921||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 13 September 2001 Tooting, London, England | (aged 79)||||||||||||||||||||
Turned pro | 1938 (amateur tour) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Retired | 1969 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Plays | Left-handed (one-handed backhand) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Int. Tennis HoF | 1983 (member page) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Singles | |||||||||||||||||||||
Career record | 1106–268 (80.5%)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Career titles | 147 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Highest ranking | No. 1 (1954, Lance Tingay)[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||
Grand Slam singles results | |||||||||||||||||||||
Australian Open | 2R (1950) | ||||||||||||||||||||
French Open | W (1951, 1952) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Wimbledon | W (1954) | ||||||||||||||||||||
US Open | SF (1947, 1948) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Doubles | |||||||||||||||||||||
Career record | 0–1 (Open Era) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Grand Slam doubles results | |||||||||||||||||||||
Australian Open | F (1950) | ||||||||||||||||||||
French Open | W (1948) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Wimbledon | F (1951) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Grand Slam mixed doubles results | |||||||||||||||||||||
French Open | W (1948) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Wimbledon | SF (1948) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Jaroslav Drobný (Czech pronunciation:
Tennis career
Drobný began playing tennis at age five, and, as a ball-boy, watched world-class players including compatriot
He won three singles titles at the Italian Championships (1950, 1951, and 1953).[9][10][11]
Drobný was ranked World No. 1 amateur in 1954 by Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph.[2] He also won the French Open doubles title in 1948, playing with Lennart Bergelin, and he won the mixed doubles title paired with Patricia Canning Todd at 1948 French Open.
Drobný held the distinction of having competed at Wimbledon under four different national identities. In 1938, at the age of 16, he started for his native Czechoslovakia. A year later, following the German invasion and occupation of Czechoslovakia, he was officially representing the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. After World War II, he started at Wimbledon yet again as Czechoslovak but chose to defect from the communist regime in 1949 – he left Czechoslovakia for good on 11 July 1949.[12]
Defection
After the
Drobný defected from Czechoslovakia together with a fellow Czech Davis Cup player Vladimír Černík while playing at a tennis tournament in Gstaad, Switzerland on July 27, 1949, after disobeying instructions from the USSR government to not play.[13] "All I had", he wrote later, "was a couple of shirts, the proverbial toothbrush and $50."[4] Drobný and Černík were the core of the Czechoslovak Davis Cup team. Twice, the two of them had carried their country to the Davis Cup semifinals, losing to Australia in 1947 and in 1948. Drobný won 37 of his 43 Davis Cup matches.[7]
Becoming stateless, Drobný attempted to gain Swiss, US and Australian papers until finally Egypt offered him citizenship. He represented Egypt at Wimbledon from 1950 through 1959, including his title winning run in 1954. He is the only Egyptian citizen ever to win a Grand Slam tennis tournament. At the time of his Wimbledon win in 1954, Drobný was already living in the United Kingdom (at Lake House, Dormans Park, near East Grinstead Sussex) but only in his final appearance at Wimbledon in 1960, at the age of 38, did he represent his new homeland Great Britain. The London Gazette announced on 24 July 1959 that he had been 'naturalised' on 8 May the same year.[14]
Achievements
During his amateur career, Drobný won over 130 singles titles, and was world ranked in the top amateurs 10 from 1946 to 1955. Drobný was inducted in the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island in 1983. He is the only person to win the rare combination of Wimbledon in tennis and a world championship title in ice hockey.
In total, Drobný started in Wimbledon 17 times, always sporting his trademark tinted prescription glasses as an old ice hockey injury affected his eyesight.[14] Drobný is the only male tennis player who ever won a Wimbledon singles title while wearing glasses. Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova are the only female Wimbledon champions wearing glasses. Arthur Ashe, who was known for playing with spectacles, had switched to contact lenses by the time he won Wimbledon in 1975.
Drobný has won the most clay court titles of any one player (over 90).[15][16]
Ice hockey career
From 1938 to 1949 Drobný played center in the Czechoslovak ice hockey league.
Autobiography
In 1955, Jaroslav Drobný published his autobiography titled Champion in Exile. He was married to Rita Anderson Jarvis, onetime English tournament player. He died 13 September 2001 in Tooting, London a month before his 80th birthday.[14][20]
Grand Slam finals
Singles: 8 (3 titles, 5 runners-up)
Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Opponent | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Loss | 1946 | French Championships | Clay | Marcel Bernard | 6–3, 6–2, 1–6, 4–6, 3–6 |
Loss | 1948 | French Championships | Clay | Frank Parker | 4–6, 5–7, 7–5, 6–8 |
Loss | 1949 | Wimbledon |
Grass | Ted Schroeder | 6–3, 0–6, 3–6, 6–4, 4–6 |
Loss | 1950 | French Championships | Clay | Budge Patty | 1–6, 2–6, 6–3, 7–5, 5–7 |
Win | 1951 | French Championships | Clay | Eric Sturgess | 6–3, 6–3, 6–3 |
Win | 1952 | French Championships (2) | Clay | Frank Sedgman | 6–2, 6–0, 3–6, 6–4 |
Loss | 1952 | Wimbledon | Grass | Frank Sedgman | 6–4, 2–6, 3–6, 2–6 |
Win | 1954 | Wimbledon | Grass | Ken Rosewall | 13–11, 4–6, 6–2, 9–7 |
Doubles: 4 (1 title, 3 runner-up)
Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Win | 1948 | French Championships | Clay | Lennart Bergelin | Harry Hopman Frank Sedgman |
8–6, 6–1, 12–10 |
Loss | 1950 | French Championships | Clay | Bill Talbert | Tony Trabert Eric Sturgess |
6–2, 1–6, 10–8, 6–2 |
Loss | 1950 | Australian Championships | Grass | Eric Sturgess | John Bromwich Adrian Quist |
6–3, 5–7, 4–6, 6–3, 8–6 |
Loss | 1951 | Wimbledon |
Grass | Eric Sturgess | Ken McGregor Frank Sedgman |
3–6, 6–2, 6–3, 3–6, 6–3 |
Mixed Doubles: 1 (1 title)
Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Win | 1948 | French Championships | Clay | Patricia Canning Todd | Doris Hart Frank Sedgman |
6–3, 3–6, 6–3 |
Grand Slam singles performance timeline
W | F | SF | QF | #R | RR | Q# | DNQ | A | NH |
Tournament | 1938 | 1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 | 1946 | 1947 | 1948 | 1949 | 1950 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | SR | W–L | Win % |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Australian Open | A | A | A | Not held | A | A | A | A | 3R | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 0 / 1 | 1–1 | 50% | ||||
French Open | A | A | Not held | F | A | F | A | F | W | W | SF | 4R | A | 4R | 2R | 4R | 4R | 2R | A | 1R1 | 3R | 2R | 1R | 2 / 16 | 46–13 | 78% | |||||
Wimbledon
|
1R | 3R | Not held | SF | QF | 2R | F | SF | 3R | F | SF | W | QF | 1R | 2R | 4R | 1R | 1R | A | A | A | A | A | 1 / 17 | 50–16 | 76% | |||||
US Open | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | SF | SF | QF | 3R | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | 1R | A | 0 / 5 | 15–5 | 75% |
Win–loss | 0–1 | 2–1 | 10–2 | 8–2 | 12–3 | 9–2 | 13–4 | 8–1 | 11–1 | 9–2 | 10–1 | 4–1 | 3–2 | 2–2 | 6–2 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 3 / 39 | 112–35 | 76% |
1 Drobný did not play. His opponent got a walkover.
In popular culture
Ivan Blatný wrote a poem called Wimbledon which addresses Drobný.[9][21][22]
References
- ^ Garcia, Gabriel. "Jaroslav Drobny: Career match record". thetennisbase.com. Madrid, Spain: Tennismem SL. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
- ^ a b United States Lawn Tennis Association (1972). Official Encyclopedia of Tennis (First Edition), p. 426.
- ^ "Jaroslav" in isolation: [ˈjaroslaf].
- ^ a b c "Jaroslav Drobny". The Guardian. 5 September 2001. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
- ^ "Jaroslav Drobny". www.tennis.co.nf. Archived from the original on 4 October 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
- ^ "Wimbledon – The Championships 1946 – Gentlemen's Singles" (PDF). AELTC.
- ^ a b "Jaroslav Drobný, 79, a Star In Tennis and Olympic Hockey". The New York Times. 16 September 2001.
- ^ "Wimbledon draws archive – 1954 Gentlemen's Singles". AELTC.
- ^ a b "Hall of Famers – Jaroslav Drobny". International Tennis Hall of Fame.
- ^ "Hoad Beaten By Drobny". The Newcastle Sun. NSW. 12 May 1953. p. 12 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Muster wins another clay court title". Star-News. AP. 20 May 1996.
- AELTC. Archived from the originalon 18 May 2015.
- ^ "CZECH TENNIS STARS DEFY GOVERNMENT". AP Archive. 25 July 1949. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
- ^ a b c d Jaroslav Drobný Archived 8 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine. sports-reference.com
- ^ Garcia, Gabriel. "Jaroslav Drobny: Career tournament results - Clay". thetennisbase.com. Madrid, Spain: Tennismem SL. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
- ^ Velickkovic, Nikola (29 June 2017). "Jaroslav Drobny Wimbledon Champion from Africa". Intelligencer Post. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
- ^ "Síň slávy IIHF". Czech Ice Hockey Association (in Czech). 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
- ^ "2.14 Jaroslav Drobny". Hockey Hall of Fame. 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
- ISBN 978-0810872370.
- ^ "Jaroslav Drobny". Telegraph Newspaper. 15 September 2001. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
- ^ Martin Tharp, Rachel Mikos, David Vaughan (22 February 2004) Ivan Blatny: the strange story of a Czech poet in English exile. radio.cz
- ^ Jaroslav Drobný. International Ice Hockey Federation
Further reading
- Wallechinsky, David and Jaime Loucky (2009). "Ice Hockey: Men". In The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics: 2010 Edition. London: Aurum Press Limited. p. 23.
- Drobný, Jaroslav (1955). Champion in Exile: The Autobiography of Jaroslav Drobny. London: Hodder and Stoughton. OCLC 1115128.
External links
- Jaroslav Drobný at the International Tennis Hall of Fame
- Jaroslav Drobný at the International Tennis Federation
- Jaroslav Drobný at the Association of Tennis Professionals
- Jaroslav Drobný at the Davis Cup
- Jaroslav Drobný at Olympedia
- Jaroslav Drobný at Olympics.com
- Biographical information and career statistics from Eliteprospects.com