The Life of Tony Trabert
Part 3

Mark Winters


Tony Trabert won the Roland Garros singles for the first time in 1954

After his marriage at the end of 1953 (Click Here), the next year didn't get off to a great start. Trabert was seeded No. 2 at the 1954 Australian Championships but he lost to the tricky No. 13 seed, John Bromwich in the second round.

After Trabert won the first two sets easliy, 6-1, 6-1, the Australian, buoyed by the home crowd's loud support, used his creative shot making and his two-hand backhand to dice through his opponent taking the next three sets, 6-2, 6-3, 6-1. Years later, Trabert admitted the crowd's bias bothered him.

The French

But Roland Garros was an altogether different matter. Seeded No. 2 he was too strong for Art Larsen, defeating the No. 12 seed, 6-4, 7-5, 6-l in the singles final to earn the La Coupe des Mousquetaires. He added the Jacques Brugnon Cup to his Paris trophy collection when he and Seixas swept past Lew Hoad and Ken Rosewall in the doubles, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1.

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Mark Winters has been a tennis journalist for 50 years. During that time, he has been a staff writer for Florida Tennis, Inside Tennis, Tennis Magazine, Tennis Life and Tennis Week. His freelance articles have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Daily News, and USA Today.

He has also contributed features to numerous other tennis and media outlets worldwide. Mark played on both the intercollegiate and professional levels. He coached college tennis and was a US Boys' Junior Davis Cup Team coach, working with Pete Sampras and Jim Courier among others.


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