Sport: Road to the Pros

When he got out of the Navy in the summer of 1953, Cincinnati's Tony Trabert was just one more crew-cut amateur tennis player. Two months later, his big serve and sharp volleys were unbeatable, and at Forest Hills he won the U.S. Singles championship in a breeze. Tony immediately began to toy with a couple of big ideas: now, maybe, he could afford to get married; now, if he could go on to add a Wimbledon title to his U.S. championship, he would be eligible for one of those fat pro contracts.

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