The Life of Tony Trabert
The Davis Cup
Mark Winters
Tony Trabert played on five Davis Cup teams and the 1954 squad was victorious. In five years as the US captain, he piloted teams to two triumphs. The first was in 1978 against Great Britain.
Living in Southern California almost every tennis location is "drivable." The time it took to get to Newport Beach was almost the same time it required to reach Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage.
The location for the tie was the home of the men's tournament that has become the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. The dates were December 8-10.
Mottram
The only drama in the 4-1 American win was Buster Mottram's Lazarus-like recovery from two sets down to defeat Brian Gottfried in the second match of the tie.
Mottram, a provocative talent who was an alt-right supporter before that ideology came into dubious vogue, went on to become a very successful professional bridge player.
He staggered back to claim a 4-6, 2-6, 10-8, 6-4, 6-3 victory over the resolute Gottfried. It was an almost five – hour contest on a very quick hard court.
Bob Lutz and Stan Smith were straight set winners in the doubles and so was Gottfried in his second match. But this was incidental because of John McEnroe's performance. In two singles, he lost a Davis Cup record mere 10 games against John Lloyd and Mottram.
As defending champions, the US was up to the test the next year. Throughout his career, Trabert admitted his most bitter defeat took place in Kooyong Stadium in Melbourne, in the 1953 Davis Cup final. He had taken the first two sets but Lew Hoad roared back to claim a 11-13, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 decision.
But the next year, in a sort of déjà vu, the tie versus Austrailia, took place at White City Stadium in Sydney where he and Vic Seixas won the cherished trophy there in 1954. Trabert had called the 1954 Davis Cup win the "biggest thrill in my tennis career."
In 1979, Trabert's players were 4-1 better than Australia in the Inter-Zonal semifinal. The most noteworthy result was Vitas Gerulaitis of the US taking a page from Buster Mottram and staging a comeback by defeating Australia's Mark Edmondson in the first match, 6-8, 14-16, 10-8, 6-3, 6-3.
Crushing Italy
The US faced then Italy in the December 14th – 16th final at the Civic Auditorium, in San Francisco. On indoor carpet, Italy was crushed 5-0. The victory made his record 14-3 and it would be the final time Trabert would serve as team captain.
When he was first introduced as the new Davis Cup captain in September 1975, Trabert talked about increasing awareness and hopefully the status of the Davis Cup that was being pillaged by tennis politics, moneyed interests and players' increasing self-importance.
He and Vic Seixas had defined "team" and he hoped to modernize the concept. Trying to do that finally became too much.
Tony often noted that for all of McEnroe's combustible qualities, he was just about always amenable to coaching input.
"He came for the team meetings, always on time. But I couldn't control him on the court."
The Final Mac Straw
Trabert started to find the generation gap between a very young John McEnroe and himself a little too wide for his liking.
John acted badly enough throughout his stint on Trabert's team. But the final emotional straw came in a doubles match in the Davis Cup tie with Mexico with McEnroe and Peter Fleming playing doubles.
"We had won the first two sets 6-4, 6-4," Trabert explained. ‘Middle of the third set they broke Fleming. Then McEnroe blew a service game.
"So I said on the crossover You gonna be pros or you going to mess around."
Fleming said, "I'm not going to play for a captain like that." So I told them I'd default right there. John did enough things on the court that the spectators knew what was happening.
We won the doubles and they were raining down seat cushions. We went to the locker room and the officials said you should sit in here for a while, there are some angry people out there.
Congoleum, the flooring company was our big sponsor. We flew on their plane. Their president rolled up his American flag and stuck it in his pocket and said to me, ‘I don't' sponsor things I'm not proud of.' And he didn't."
"It's an international sporting event," Trabert said of the Davis Cup. "You do the right things, you go to the embassy, you represent the country. John asked me later if he was the cause of the problem and I told him, ‘Yes.'"
McEnroe eventually apologized to his captain years later.
