Sport: Ready or Not?

Early in the tennis season, hunch-shouldered Ted Schroeder felt he had to make a choice. He could defend his Wimbledon title in early July, or he could stay home and help defend the Davis Cup against the Australians in August. The U.S.’s top-ranking amateur was too busy earning a living (as a salesman of refrigeration equipment) to do both. Much to the relief of the Davis Cup selection committee, Ted decided to stay home.

Even so, his July play had been nothing to wreathe the faces of the Davis Cup committee in smiles. Ted’s heavy-artillery attack was misfiring, and he found himself being put out of a succession of regional tournaments by such opponents as eighth-ranking Herbie Flam and 21st-ranking Tony Trabert. Said Ted at the start of the National Clay Court Championship in Chicago last week: “To play good tactical tennis, you have to be in perfect condition. I’m not, and I don’t know whether I will be.”

At Chicago, Ted’s powerful game was still erratic—now a siege gun, now a popgun. In the semifinals this week, he won a quick victory over Tony Trabert. But he wobbled next day in the final, and Herbie Flam took the title in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2. With Pancho Gonzales turned pro, Ted Schroeder off his game, and the Aussies due next month, the U.S.’s Davis Cup pickers were a gloomy lot. —

In the women’s division, Negro Star Althea Gibson (TIME, July 17) made her first appearance in a U.S.L.T.A. national outdoor tournament, lost in the quarterfinals to top-seeded Doris Hart, who went on to win the title.