Word: sirola
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When Australia began its defense of the Davis Cup last week in Sydney, the headlines belonged to the emotional antics of the pair of challenging Italians, Orlando Sirola and Nicola Pietrangeli, who had knocked out the U.S. team. Then onto the court for Australia walked a pair of lefthanders who never weep and never giggle, shudder at the idea of throwing a racket or a tantrum. All Neale Fraser, 27, and Rod ("Rocket") Laver, 22, ever seem to do is win-and last week they defended the Davis Cup with a brand of tennis that has become indisputably the best...
...Americans been shut out. Resigned to defeat, the Italians had even reserved seats on a plane flight leaving for home right after their matches with the U.S. The very first day of play nearly put the Italians on the plane: the U.S.'s belligerent Butch Buchholz, 20, beat Sirola 6-8, 7-5, 11-9, 6-2, and brooding Barry MacKay, 25, defeated Pietrangeli, 8-6, 3-6, 8-10, 8-6, 13-11. Muffling his sobs in a towel, Pietrangeli, the man the Roman fans call "Maritozzo" (Sugar Bun), had to sponge away the tears...
Sharp Blade. Then the Italians settled down to play. In the doubles, Pietrangeli's finesse and Sirola's power combined for a 3-6, 10-8, 6-4, 6-8, 6-4 victory over Buchholz and his boyhood partner from St. Louis, stocky Chuck McKinley, 19. Next day Pietrangeli kept Italy alive by using patty-ball tactics to befuddle the slugging Buchholz, 6-1, 6-2, 6-8, 3-6, 6-4. That put the team score at 2-2 and set up a showdown between MacKay and Sirola, two of the hardest hitters in tennis...
Grim as a hanging judge, MacKay never did get his big game started against the relaxed Sirola, who capered about like a jolly blade on a Sunday picnic. Using the full leverage of his height and weight (6 ft. 7 in., 224 Ibs.), Sirola mixed awesome serves with overhead smashes to win in a rout, 9-7, 6-3, 8-6. Unable to stand the strain of watching the match, Pietrangeli had nursed his anguish at a nearby beach, returned just in time to see the final point, crying: "The best match I never saw Orlando play...
Getting Their Kicks. For the defeated Americans, Sirola's totally unexpected victory was the culminating disaster of a disastrous trip. For weeks, the ill-mannered U.S. youngsters had been stirring up one of the biggest flaps in Australian tennis history by berating officials, swearing on court, hitting balls into the stands, and even heaving their rackets at spectators. Snapped Australian Tennis Boss Norman Strange: "Disgusting. In 36 years of tennis I have never seen anything so bad as their court behavior." Another official suggested that the young Americans, particularly Buchholz, needed "a swift kick in the pants." After Sirola...