Jack Kramer:
The Original Terminator

His lifetime first service accuracy hovered at 75%. This was supplemented by the best second serve of all time. When combined with his near perfect volleying technique, a service break would invariably prove fatal to his opponent.

Said no less a player that Don Budge: "I feel Jack, 365 days out of the year, was the best player I ever saw."

Jack's pro debut got off to a less than auspicious start.

He turned pro during the Championships at Forrest Hills in 1947. I had signing a contract to play a tour with Bobby Riggs before actually winning the tournament.

In the final, Frank Parker had Kramer down two sets. Would anyone want to see Kramer come out to play Riggs if he were not the reigning amateur champion? Kramer felt his professional career was on the line.

Kramer looked up and saw the promoter sweating it out in the front row. But Parker had a tough 5 set match the say before.

After Parker won the first two sets, he let down and Kramer won the next three sets and the tournament. Said Kramer: "That was the highest high that I ever had walking off a tennis court."

Said Pancho Segura: "The first volley was deadly. The overhead was deadly His concentration was a killer. He very seldom lost his serve. He won more sets with one break than any player in history. He didn't give you anything. He'd beat you 6-0, 6-0 if he could. That's the type of mentality he had.

Kramer's depth and accuracy was such that on Jack's service game, his opponent was seldom, if ever, allowed inside the baseline.

He produced a ball that was so heavy that Lew Hoad compared it to "returning a bowling ball."

Known as an implacable competitor by all his opponents, Jack was also the consummate sportsman, a quality he exhibited when he was defeated by Joe Hunt in the finals of the 1941 US Nationals.

After the final point, Hunt, who was suffering from leg cramps, was unable to make it to the net for the handshake, but that didn't stop Jack from crossing the net and graciously congratulating the fallen victor.

Riggs was the reigning world pro champion, but playing Kramer day to day on their grueling tour proved more than even he could handle.

Said Riggs, "The truth of the matter is he broke me down. He started taking advantage of my second serve, started to penetrate, and started to get in on me more and more."

I played him in Ft. Worth , and I was sick as a dog, what do you think he did? He beat me 6-0, 6-0."

I took that as a great compliment. He wasn't going to take any chances. Jack wouldn't ease up a bit, wouldn't let me win a game--wouldn't let me win one game in the match.That's how ruthless and what a great competitor Jack was."

"He was the greatest serve and volleyer we've ever had in the game of tennis."

Jack's legendary serving accuracy was once even tested on the popular television show, "You Asked for It." They took a silver dollar and suspended it on a wire above the net to see how many chances Jack would need to hit it with his serve.

Amazingly, he hit it on the first try.

Said Kramer himself: "I've always been proud of 3 things at Wimbledon ."

"I was the first guy to win there playing in shorts. I think I'm still the fastest winner without a default, 43 minutes, and if you add up the number of games I lost, apparently it was the fewest number of games."

"I might not have been the best player to win, but those things were all records that are pretty hard to beat, especially winning the first time in shorts."

Another first was Kramer's pivotal role as a promoter in the growth of professional tennis, which led eventually to the Open era.

Segura : "Jack was a gentleman, a great sportsman and I think he's done probably more for tennis than any other player that ever lived."

"Jack loved the game and he got a lot out of the game. And he put a lot back into it for many, many, many years."

"I think he's one of the important reasons that we really finally got around to the open tennis and to the many wonderful tournaments that we see all around the world."

"Jack was a pioneer of as well as being one of the greatest players who ever played."