The 1946 Davis Cup: Part 1

At the end of World War II, the Australians still held the Davis Cup. In 1946 the Davis Cup competition resumed after six years of World War. I was part of the U.S. team that advanced to the final and then traveled to Australia to challenge for the Cup. The trek did not did not begin auspiciously. The American governing body, then named the United State Lawn Tennis Association, ruled that no wives could accompany their husbands on the trip. But like so many other rules the Association made this one was bent and twisted. When the team assembled in San Francisco early in November, Jack Kramer, Bill Talbert, Ted Schroeder and myself had left our wives at home. But Frankie Parker had brought his wife, Audrey, with him. (The sixth member of the team, Tom Brown, was unmarried.) The Ultimatum Apparently, though we didn't know it at the time, Frankie had issued an ultimatum--no wife, no go! Since the Association considered him indispensable for the singles, of which Frankie was well aware, Audrey came too. The subsequent events showed that the USLTA was badly in need of a new crystal ball. Members of the winning team: myself, Billy Talbert,...