Word: kramer
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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From the moment Jack Kramer arrived, Australians viewed him with mixed feelings. As coach of the U.S. Davis Cup squad, he was theoretically welcome. But as a promoter who has lured away top Australian stars for his professional tours, he was viewed with ill-concealed hostility...
...Kramer had scarcely stepped off the plane before the Lawn Tennis Association of Australia spitefully banned his touring pros from its affiliated courts. Snapped one official: "Australia is Kramer's happiest hunting ground. He is out to break the amateur game, and if the L.T.A.A. gives in to him now, he will succeed." Kramer bristled, "I would expect this kind of treatment only in Russia," added coals to the fire by signing Doubles Star Mervyn Rose, ranked No. 4 in Australia...
Next he made fat offers to Ashley Cooper and Mai Anderson, the two players on whom Australia is depending to defend the Davis Cup. All the while he kept up a drumfire of criticism against the embattled L.T.A.A., many of whose members argued bitterly that Kramer should resign from the U.S. team if he was going to spend his time recruiting the Aussie Cup defenders. Complained one official: "Kramer's a member of the U.S. team, and that means we have to invite him to official functions. It's a pretty ticklish situation when you have to play...
When the Australian press tired of chronicling the Kramer hassle, it turned loose all its superlatives on a lanky kid of 18 that Kramer has been grooming for the Cup matches. Brought along chiefly for experience, Earl ("Butch") Buchholz Jr. took hold under Kramer's tutelage, put some power into his scrambling game, upset both Anderson and the U.S.'s Alex Olmedo in the New South Wales championships, and went to the finals before losing to Cooper. Cried the Sydney Daily Telegraph: "A tennis prodigy." Headlined the Melbourne Sun News-Pictorial: THIS U.S. BOY COULD TAKE DAVIS...
...fact, the Cup seemed safe enough for Australia this year. U.S. Kingpin Ham Richardson was far off his game, and Butch Buchholz was still a year or so away from top form. But Kramer is more of a threat to the Aussies as a promoter than a coach. If he succeeds in luring away Cooper and Anderson in 1959, Buchholz & Co. may give the U.S. its best chance in five years to recover...