On Stvanice Island, beneath the Moldau River railway bridge, sprawls Prague's fashionable Ice Hockey and Lawn Tennis Club. If its rinks and courts are the best in central Europe, it is thanks to Josef Drobny, the club's industrious groundskeeper. His wife is in charge of the checkroom. Their son, Jaroslav, grew up to be one of Czechoslovakia's flashiest hockey players, and despite his glasses and squat build, he also became his country's best tennis player.
Last week, while playing in a tournament at Gstaad, Switzerland, Southpaw Drobny got an order from the Communist-controlled government to come home at once. Reason: the presence of two Germans and one Spaniard in the tournament put it off limits. For two days, Drobny and his Czech doubles partner, Vladimir Cernik, discussed the advisability of telling the Communists in Prague to jump in the Moldau. Cernik had a wife and child in Czechoslovakia to think of, but he voted for rebellion. So did Drobny, a bachelor. They announced their determination to continue in the tournament, said that they hoped later to go to the U.S.
In Prague, the press and radio roared traitor, announced that the new People's Democracy would start tennis camps to raise a crop of new players.
In Gstaad this week, Jaroslav played his way into the finals of the Swiss singles championship, where he lost to the U.S.'s sixth-ranking Earl Cochell in five sets. Then he teamed up with fellow exile Cernik to sweep the Germans out of the doubles tournament in straight sets, 6-3, 6-0, 6-3.