Careless Champ

In Los Angeles, Ted Schroeder got to the semifinals of the Pacific Southwest tourney. And he was mad. The press had panned him for going straight home (to work at his job, selling refrigeration equipment) after winning his Davis Cup matches. They expected a little more interest in the game from the man who had once been rated the nation's No. 1 amateur. His opponent last week was young Pancho Gonzales, who had just won the national amateur championship Ted Schroeder might have won at Forest Hills.

For four sets, the oldster (27) and the youngster (20) slammed the ball back & forth, with the gallery decidedly pro-Pan-cho. But experience was on Schroeder's side. His overhead was deadly; Pancho's was erratic. The young champ, anxious to show off before the home crowd, tried too hard to make flamboyant returns of Schroeder's big serve. Schroeder won, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, 10-8. When someone suggested to Gonzales that he had been careless with his game at crucial moments, he answered: "But it's got to be careless. That's the way my game is built."

Next day, Schroeder met wooden-faced Frank Parker in the finals. Parker was leading at the end of the third set, 6-4, 9-7; 5-7 when he gave up, complaining of blisters on both feet. Parker's defaulting gave Schroeder the championship.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.