Jaroslav Drobný Explained

Jaroslav Drobný
Birth Date:1921 10, df=y
Birth Place:Prague, Czechoslovakia
Death Place:Tooting, London, England
Turnedpro:1938 (amateur tour)
Retired:1969
Plays:Left-handed (one-handed backhand)
Tennishofyear:1983
Tennishofid:jaroslav-drobny
Singlesrecord:1106–268 (80.5%)[1]
Singlestitles:147
Highestsinglesranking:No. 1 (1954, Lance Tingay)[2]
Australianopenresult:2R (1950)
Frenchopenresult:W (1951, 1952)
Wimbledonresult:W (1954)
Usopenresult:SF (1947, 1948)
Doublesrecord:0–1 (Open Era)
Australianopendoublesresult:F (1950)
Frenchopendoublesresult:W (1948)
Wimbledondoublesresult:F (1951)
Frenchopenmixedresult:W (1948)
Wimbledonmixedresult:SF (1948)
Medaltemplates-Expand:yes

Jaroslav Drobný (in Czech pronounced as /ˈjaroslav ˈdrobniː/;[3] 12 October 1921 – 13 September 2001) was a world No. 1 amateur tennis and ice hockey champion. He left Czechoslovakia in 1949 and travelled as an Egyptian citizen before becoming a citizen of the United Kingdom in 1959, where he died in 2001. In 1951, he became the first and, to date, only player with Egyptian citizenship to win the French Open, while doing likewise at the Wimbledon Championships in 1954. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1983. He played internationally for the Czechoslovakia men's national ice hockey team, and was inducted in the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame.

Tennis career

Drobný began playing tennis at age five, and, as a ball-boy, watched world-class players including compatriot Karel Koželuh. He had an excellent swinging left-handed serve and a good forehand.[4] Drobný played in his first Wimbledon Championship in 1938, losing in the first round to Alejandro Russell. After World War II Drobný was good enough to be able to beat Jack Kramer in the fourth round of the 1946 Wimbledon Championship before losing in the semifinals.[5] In 1951 and 1952, he won the French Open, defeating in the final Eric Sturgess and then retaining the title the following year against Frank Sedgman.[6] Drobný was the losing finalist at Wimbledon in both 1949 and 1952 before finally winning it in 1954 by beating Ken Rosewall for the title, the first left-hander to capture Wimbledon since Norman Brookes.[7]

He won three singles titles at the Italian Championships (1950, 1951, and 1953).[8] [9]

Drobný was ranked World No. 1 amateur in 1954 by Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph.[2] He also won the French Open doubles title in 1948, playing with Lennart Bergelin, and he won the mixed doubles title paired with Patricia Canning Todd at 1948 French Open.

Drobný held the distinction of having competed at Wimbledon under four different national identities. In 1938, at the age of 16, he started for his native Czechoslovakia. A year later, following the German invasion and occupation of Czechoslovakia, he was officially representing the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. After World War II, he started at Wimbledon yet again as Czechoslovak but chose to defect from the communist regime in 1949 – he left Czechoslovakia for good on 11 July 1949.[10]

Defection

After the Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948, Drobný became increasingly dissatisfied with the way the communist propaganda used him for its purposes. At the time, he was Czechoslovakia's most renowned athlete together with the long-distance runner Emil Zátopek. Increasingly, it was becoming apparent to Drobný that he was no longer able to travel freely to tournaments and he grew dissatisfied with the new regime. This ultimately resulted in his defection from his native land.

Drobný defected from Czechoslovakia together with a fellow Czech Davis Cup player Vladimír Černík while playing at a tennis tournament in Gstaad, Switzerland on July 15, 1949, after disobeying instructions from the USSR government to not play.[11] "All I had", he wrote later, "was a couple of shirts, the proverbial toothbrush and $50."[12] Drobný and Černík were the core of the Czechoslovak Davis Cup team. Twice, the two of them had carried their country to the Davis Cup semifinals, losing to Australia in 1947 and in 1948. Drobný won 37 of his 43 Davis Cup matches.[6]

Becoming stateless, Drobný attempted to gain Swiss, US and Australian papers until finally Egypt offered him citizenship. He represented Egypt at Wimbledon from 1950 through 1959, including his title winning run in 1954. He is the only Egyptian citizen ever to win a Grand Slam tennis tournament. At the time of his Wimbledon win in 1954, Drobný was already living in the United Kingdom (at Lake House, Dormans Park, near East Grinstead Sussex) but only in his final appearance at Wimbledon in 1960, at the age of 38, did he represent his new homeland Great Britain. The London Gazette announced on 24 July 1959 that he had been 'naturalised' on 8 May the same year.

Achievements

During his amateur career, Drobný won over 130 singles titles, and was world ranked in the top amateurs 10 from 1946 to 1955. Drobný was inducted in the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island in 1983. He is the only person to win the rare combination of Wimbledon in tennis and a world championship title in ice hockey.

In total, Drobný started in Wimbledon 17 times, always sporting his trademark tinted prescription glasses as an old ice hockey injury affected his eyesight.[13] Drobný is the only male tennis player who ever won a Wimbledon singles title while wearing glasses. Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova are the only female Wimbledon champions wearing glasses. Arthur Ashe, who was known for playing with spectacles, had switched to contact lenses by the time he won Wimbledon in 1975.

Drobný has won the most clay court titles of any one player (over 90).[14] [15]

Ice hockey career

From 1938 to 1949 Drobný played center in the Czechoslovak ice hockey league.[12] He was a silver medalist with the Czechoslovak ice hockey team in the 1948 Olympics. In the final match, Czechoslovakia and Canada tied goalless but Canada won the gold medal due to a better overall goal average. Drobný scored 9 goals in 8 games at the Olympics. Jaroslav Drobný was also a member of the Czechoslovak national ice hockey team which won the gold medals at the 1947 World Ice Hockey Championships in Prague.[13] He scored 15 goals in 7 games in the tournament including a hat-trick in the decisive victory over USA which gave his country its first ever World Championships title. In 1997, Drobný was inducted in the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame.[16] [17] Drobný could have become the first ever European player to start in the National Hockey League when the Boston Bruins put him on their reserve in 1949. Apparently, he was offered $20,000 to come over to play for Boston but he refused, preferring to remain playing amateur ice hockey and retain the flexibility to play tennis during the summers.[18] The first European to play in the NHL eventually became Ulf Sterner from Sweden when he started for the New York Rangers for the first time on 27 January 1965.

Autobiography

In 1955, Jaroslav Drobný published his autobiography titled Champion in Exile. He was married to Rita Anderson Jarvis, onetime English tournament player. He died 13 September 2001 in Tooting, London a month before his 80th birthday.[13] [19]

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 8 (3 titles, 5 runners-up)

ResultYearChampionshipSurfaceOpponentScore
Loss 1946 Clay6–3, 6–2, 1–6, 4–6, 3–6
Loss 1948 French Championships Clay4–6, 5–7, 7–5, 6–8
Loss Grass6–3, 0–6, 3–6, 6–4, 4–6
Loss 1950 French Championships Clay 1–6, 2–6, 6–3, 7–5, 5–7
Win 1951 French Championships Clay 6–3, 6–3, 6–3
Win 1952 French Championships (2) Clay6–2, 6–0, 3–6, 6–4
Loss 1952 Wimbledon Grass Frank Sedgman 6–4, 2–6, 3–6, 2–6
Win Wimbledon Grass13–11, 4–6, 6–2, 9–7

Doubles: 4 (1 title, 3 runner-up)

ResultYearChampionshipSurfacePartnerOpponentsScore
Win 1948 Clay Harry Hopman
Frank Sedgman
8–6, 6–1, 12–10
Loss 1950 French Championships Clay Tony Trabert
Eric Sturgess
6–2, 1–6, 10–8, 6–2
Loss 1950 Grass John Bromwich
Adrian Quist
6–3, 5–7, 4–6, 6–3, 8–6
Loss 1951 Grass Eric Sturgess Ken McGregor
Frank Sedgman
3–6, 6–2, 6–3, 3–6, 6–3

Mixed Doubles: 1 (1 title)

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

Tournament 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965SRWin %
AAANot heldAAAAbgcolor=afeeee 3RA A A A A A A A A A A A A A Abgcolor=efefef 0 / 1bgcolor=efefef 1–1bgcolor=efefef 50%
French OpenAANot heldbgcolor=thistle FAbgcolor=thistle FAbgcolor=thistle Fbgcolor=lime Wbgcolor=lime Wbgcolor=yellow SFbgcolor=afeeee 4RAbgcolor=afeeee 4Rbgcolor=afeeee 2Rbgcolor=afeeee 4Rbgcolor=afeeee 4Rbgcolor=afeeee 2RAbgcolor=afeeee 1R1bgcolor=afeeee 3Rbgcolor=afeeee 2Rbgcolor=afeeee 1Rbgcolor=efefef 2 / 16bgcolor=efefef 46–13bgcolor=efefef 78%
Wimbledonbgcolor=afeeee 1Rbgcolor=afeeee 3RNot heldbgcolor=yellow SFbgcolor=ffebcd QFbgcolor=afeeee 2Rbgcolor=thistle Fbgcolor=yellow SFbgcolor=afeeee 3Rbgcolor=thistle Fbgcolor=yellow SFbgcolor=lime Wbgcolor=ffebcd QFbgcolor=afeeee 1Rbgcolor=afeeee 2Rbgcolor=afeeee 4Rbgcolor=afeeee 1Rbgcolor=afeeee 1RAAAAAbgcolor=efefef 1 / 17bgcolor=efefef 50–16bgcolor=efefef 76%
US OpenAAAAAAAAAbgcolor=yellow SFbgcolor=yellow SFbgcolor=ffebcd QFbgcolor=afeeee 3RA A A A A A A A A A A A Abgcolor=afeeee 1RAbgcolor=efefef 0 / 5bgcolor=efefef 15–5bgcolor=efefef 75%
Win–loss0–1 2–1 10–2 8–2 12–3 9–2 13–4 8–1 11–1 9–2 10–1 4–1 3–2 2–2 6–2 2–2 1–2 0–0 1–1 1–2 0–1 3 / 39 112–35 76%

1 Drobný did not play. His opponent got a walkover.

In popular culture

Ivan Blatný wrote a poem called Wimbledon which addresses Drobný.[20] [21] [22]

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Garcia . Gabriel . Jaroslav Drobny: Career match record . thetennisbase.com . Tennismem SL . 23 September 2021 . Madrid, Spain.
  2. United States Lawn Tennis Association (1972). Official Encyclopedia of Tennis (First Edition), p. 426.
  3. "Jaroslav" in isolation: in Czech pronounced as /ˈjaroslaf/.
  4. Web site: Jaroslav Drobny . www.tennis.co.nf . 3 October 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171004084903/http://www.tennis.co.nf/JAROSLAV%20DROBNY.htm . 4 October 2017 . dead.
  5. Web site: Wimbledon – The Championships 1946 – Gentlemen's Singles . AELTC.
  6. News: Jaroslav Drobný, 79, a Star In Tennis and Olympic Hockey . . 16 September 2001.
  7. Web site: Wimbledon draws archive – 1954 Gentlemen's Singles . AELTC.
  8. News: Hoad Beaten By Drobny. . . NSW . 12 May 1953 . 12 . National Library of Australia.
  9. News: Muster wins another clay court title . Star-News . AP . 20 May 1996.
  10. Web site: Sarah Kirkham . Throwback Thursday: The many faces of Jaroslav Drobný . www.wimbledon.com . . 7 August 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150518102629/http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/news/articles/2014-08-07/throwback_thursday_.html . 18 May 2015.
  11. Web site: CZECH TENNIS STARS DEFY GOVERNMENT . AP Archive . 18 April 2018 . 25 July 1949.
  12. Web site: Jaroslav Drobny . The Guardian . 5 July 2012 . 5 September 2001.
  13. https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/dr/jaroslav-drobny-1.html Jaroslav Drobný
  14. Web site: Garcia . Gabriel . Jaroslav Drobny: Career tournament results - Clay . thetennisbase.com . Tennismem SL . 19 November 2017 . Madrid, Spain.
  15. News: Velickkovic . Nikola . Jaroslav Drobny Wimbledon Champion from Africa . 19 November 2017 . Intelligencer Post . 29 June 2017 . 1 December 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171201042909/https://www.intelligencerpost.com/jaroslav-drobny-mr-tennis/ . dead .
  16. Web site: Síň slávy IIHF. 2023. Czech Ice Hockey Association. cs. 22 June 2023.
  17. Web site: 2.14 Jaroslav Drobny. 2013. Hockey Hall of Fame. 4 July 2023.
  18. Book: Grasso, John . Historical Dictionary of Tennis . limited . 2011 . Scarecrow Press . Lanham, Maryland . 978-0810872370 . 88, 89.
  19. News: Jaroslav Drobny . Telegraph Newspaper . 15 September 2001 . 19 November 2013.
  20. Web site: Hall of Famers – Jaroslav Drobny . International Tennis Hall of Fame.
  21. Martin Tharp, Rachel Mikos, David Vaughan (22 February 2004) Ivan Blatny: the strange story of a Czech poet in English exile. radio.cz
  22. http://www.iihf.com/iihf-home/the-iihf/100-year-anniversary/100-top-stories/story-85.html Jaroslav Drobný