Word: larsen
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...sellout crowd of 13,000 jammed into the West Side Tennis Club stadium at Forest Hills last week for the semifinals of the national championship tournament; the biggest U.S. tennis gallery since 1946 was primed for white-hot competition. One bracket pitted Australian Frank Sedgman against Art Larsen, the flashy, unpredictable U.S. champ; the other match paired husky Dick Savitt, who had earned his No. 1 seeded position by knocking off the Australian and Wimbledon titles, against Vic Seixas, flashing the best play of his five-year career...
Three Theories. In spite of the fact that Art Larsen is U.S. champion, at Forest Hills Savitt is seeded No. 1. His rise to the top is recent, and looks fast. In fact, it took him quite a while to get there. Like all athletes of championship caliber, he is sure of his own ability: "If I am on my game, nobody can beat me ... The others are coming uphill to me ... I'm the man to beat." A man in his tennis shoes has to believe that, but he has yet to convince his peers that...
...layoff brought his game back to its peak. Dick whipped U.S. Champion Larsen (6-1, 6-4, 6-4) in the quarterfinals. But his big test did not come until his semi-final match with dogged Herb Flam, another fighter and a player who relies on agility and retrieving rather than power. In twelve meetings, Savitt had never beaten Flam. When Flam won the first set, 6-1, it looked like the same old story. The second set was a backbreaker, 15-13, and Savitt won it after trailing 1-5. After that it was easy...
...worry about a lot of people. One year there might be 20 guys who, if they beat you, you don't feel bad. Last year there were about three for me. This year there's nobody." Dick's worries (in order): 1) Sedgman and Trabert; 2) Larsen, Flam and Talbert; 3) Patty and McGregor. Those seven, along with Savitt, make an imposing list of talent, but a list without standouts...
...Have to Think." Though Dick worries about his chief opponents, he plays them mostly by instinct and experience. Says he: "You just know, somehow, how to play each guy ... I don't have to think. With Larsen, I just try to overpower him. Flam, I play his forehand. With Sedgman, you have to keep the ball deep, he comes to the net so much. He and Larsen are the quickest. With McGregor, you just can't let him volley. Patty doesn't let you play good-looking tennis. Flam hits those looper balls. Before the war, they...