Jaroslav Drobny
Born: October 12, 1921
Died: September 13, 2001
Hometown: Prague, Czech Republic
Citizenship: Czech Republic
Handed: Left
Inducted: 1983
Grand Slam Record
Wimbledon Singles 1954
Singles finalist 1949, 52
Doubles finalist 1951
French Singles 1951-52
Singles finalist 1946, 48, 50
Doubles 1948
Doubles finalist 1950
Mixed 1948
Australian Doubles finalist 1950
Tournament Record
Davis Cup Team Member 1946-49
Italian Singles 1950, 51, 53
Singles finalist 1952
Doubles 1951-52, 54, 56
Doubles finalist 1953
Nobody at Wimbledon paid any attention to a 16-year old left-hander from Czechoslovakia who lost a lively first-rounder to an Argentine, Alejo Russell, 10-8, 6-4, 7-9, 6-3. His country was in the news, threatened by the Nazi dictator, Adolf Hitler. It was 1938, war was imminent. Jaroslav Drobny would get one more crack at the Big W, winning a couple of rounds in 1939, briefly noticed because he played two tough sets against top-seeded Bunny Austin before defaulting with an arm injury. Then he vanished into the cloud of World War II in his conquered homeland, wondering if he would ever play a big tournament again.
“We were just trying to stay alive. The torch of freedom with the Allies gave us hope,” he says. Luckily he avoided deportation to Germany as a forced laborer, and was able to play hockey throughout the war, his best sport then. “Food was short, but we got along.”
But he did take up tennis seriously again, seven years later, fashioning a magnificent 15 year amateur career that contained, despite so much time lost to the war, an amazing 133 singles titles–from Algeria to Knokke-le-Zoute–and membership in the world Top Ten for 10 successive years from 1946, No. 1 in 1954. In 1946 Drobny was permitted by the new Communist government to play Wimbledon again, the postwar reopening in 1946. Rusty from little play during the war, expecting nothing from himself, he beat the world’s best, Jack Kramer, 2-6, 17-15, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, in the fourth round, got to the semis and was hailed as a national hero at home, suddenly a name in the game in which he would become an all-timer.
At the time he was a remarkable two-sport world-class athlete: hockey in winter, tennis the rest of the time. So good was Drob as a forward on the ice that he played a leading role in Czechoslovakia’s winning the world amateur championship in 1947 (he scored three goals in the final game against the U.S.), and gaining silver at the 1948 Olympics. By 1949, though, tennis had become his life. It was the year Drobny made the decision to leave his police-state homeland for good, defecting with Davis Cup teammate Vladimir Cernik during a Swiss tournament at Gstaad. Twice the two of them had carried their country to the cup semis, losses to Australia in 1947 and 3-2 in 1948. Drob won one of the exceptional matches in the latter, beating (fellow Hall of Famer-to-be) Adrian Quist on grass in Boston from match point down, 6-8, 3-6, 18-16, 6-3, 7-5.
A hockey injury gravely affected his eyesight, and he wore prescription dark glasses on court for the remainder of a long tennis career that included 17 Wimbledons, where his deft touch and agreeable nature made him a great favorite.
Drobny was born October 12, 1921, in Prague and resided there until 1949, son of the Prague Lawn Tennis Club groundskeeper. “It was fortunate for me,” he says, “because we lived at the club and I grew up in the game, ballboying, watching good players, starting out myself at age five.” He won the Czechoslovak title 10 straight times before defecting, and solidified his 1946 Wimbledon reputation by reaching the final of the first postwar French (played after Wimbledon that year), losing to Marcel Bernard in five sets.
Paris was a happy hunting ground for portly Drob, a clever court manager and user of a full arsenal of varied speeds, spins, angles, lobs and drop shots. Good stuff on continental clay, but his fast and sliced serve and penetrating volleys made him a menace on fast courts as well. Five times he graced the French final, losing again in 1948 to Frank Parker and in 1950 to Budge Patty before crashing the winner’s circle resoundingly. He beat Eric Sturgess, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3, in 1951 and, in 1952, disarmed the world No. 1, Frank Sedgman, 6-2, 6-0, 3-6, 6-4. Rome, too, was his territory as he won the Italian over Bill Talbert in 1950, Gianni Cucelli in 1951 and Lew Hoad in 1953, losing the 1952 final to Sedgman.
His fortune in the U.S. wasn’t as good, though it took the champs to beat him, Kramer in 1947 and Pancho Gonzalez in 1948, both semis, Art Larsen in the 1950 third round.
In 1949, with a stunning three-set win over John Bromwich, he attained the Wimbledon final. But that was the year of Ted Schroeder’s five-set acrobatics, and he got by Drob, too, 6-4 in the fifth. He was getting closer, but Sedgman got even for Paris in the four-set final of 1952. His most renowned match was a third-rounder that grew to epic proportions in 1953. For 4 hours, 20 minutes, until nightfall, he and Patty waged an engrossing war during which Drob circumvented six match points to win in 93 games, 8-6, 16-18, 3-6, 8-6, 12-10, the longest of Wimbledon singles before the 112-game, 5-hours-and-12 minutes saga of Pancho Gonzalez and Charlie Pasarell in 1969.
Though Drob, 32, was written off by 1954, 11 was his lucky number. Seeded 11th, on his 11th try, he came through, escaping Patty again, 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 9-7, in a semi, and outmaneuvering a 19-year-old named Ken Rosewall for the title he most wanted, 13-11, 4-6, 6-2, 9-7, in 2 hours, 37 minutes, the longest final at that time. Drob was the Big W’s remotest-chance success, although non-seeds Boris Becker (1995) and Richard Krajicek (1996), 11th-seeded Pat Cash (1987) and 12th-seeded Andre Agassi (1992) were to join his long-shot club. He was dethroned by the next champ, Tony Trabert, in the 1955 quarters, 8-6, 6-1, 6-4. Traveling on Egyptian papers then, he became a British citizen in 1959, and lived in London with his wife, the former Rita Anderson, onetime English tournament player. Drobny was tapped for the Hall of Fame in 1983.
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