Word: hopman
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Newspapers call him "High Priest Harry" and "Little Hitler," and a writer who has been trailing him around for years says, "You really have to know Harry Hopman to dislike him properly. You've heard of bad losers? Harry is a bad winner...
...least he is a winner. Last week in Cleveland, Harry Hopman's Aussies walked off with tennis' top trophy, the Davis Cup, by beating the U.S., three matches to two. To be sure, that was not precisely the way Captain Hopman, 58, had planned it. "We'll win 4-1," he predicted before the challenge round started - but after the first two singles and the doubles, the upstart Americans led 2-1. Then came the crucial match between Australia's Fred Stolle, 26, and the U.S.'s talented and temperamental Dennis Ralston. Last year, when...
...match tied at two sets apiece, Ralston broke through Stolle's service for a 2-1 lead in the fifth set, needed only to hold his own serve the rest of the way to sew up the cup. Sighing, Stolle sank into a chair at courtside while Hopman hovered over him, whispering furiously in his ear. What he said has been lost to history. But Stolle nodded, stalked onto the court, and broke Ralston's serve right back-with a perfectly placed lob that landed smack on the base line for the winning point. After that, Ralston seemed...
...Captain Hopman accepted congratulations with customary modesty. "We expect to keep the cup awhile," he said. If the Yanks wanted to win it back, they had better "get someone like me to take charge." That was enough to make any aspiring U.S. Davis Cupper shudder. Hopman runs his team like a Marine sergeant bossing the brig. He puts his players through punishing four-hour practice sessions, fills their spare-time hours with such joys as cross-country runs and weight lifting. With younger players, he dictates menus, bedtimes, social activities. "Don't forget," Hopman explains, "these boys...
...Aussies did not take the abduction kindly. So off to Cleveland last week trotted two of Australia's finest: Roy Emerson, the world's No. 1-ranked amateur, and Fred Stolle, ranked No. 2. "We'll win 4 to 1," predicted Aussie Captain Harry Hopman, as always the soul of confidence-and not without cause...