Word: wimbledon
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Kurt Nielsen is a broad-shouldered, 22-year-old Danish tennis player who gets comparatively little chance to play on grass; the outdoor season in Denmark is too short. Wimbledon's tennis fathers knew him by reputation: a dangerous player in the indoor game, sometimes lamentably given to clowning, kicking the ball and glowering at umpires. But they saw no reason to seed him among the top ten at Wimbledon this year. Last week they sat watching nervously as Denmark's Nielsen made his bid to become the first unseeded player in history to win the Wimbledon title...
...tournament. In each case, his victim had a physical alibi: the U.S.'s Gardnar Mulloy (No. 5) a leg cramp, Australia's Ken Rosewall (No. 1) a queasy stomach, Czech-born Jaroslav Drobny (No. 4) a wrenched leg muscle. Nonetheless, there Nielsen was: a Wimbledon finalist, and the first unseeded one since...
Denmark vibrated with pride, and the Danish state radio flew over a special broadcaster. The night before the finals, Kurt drank a victory toast (champagne) to himself and asked cheerfully: "What have I got to lose?" The celebration ended on Wimbledon's center court next day, when the youthful Nielsen faced the U.S.'s second-seeded Vic Seixas, a robust 29-year-old playing the best tennis of his nomadic life (TIME, March...
Seixas promptly broke Nielsen's big serve, then took full command. Displaying a champion's full repertory of shots-hard-hit passing drives, volleys and smashes-Vic swept on, 9-7, 6-3, 6-4, to win his first major title (and the sixth Wimbledon taken by an American since the postwar renewal in 1946). The wife of a Danish embassy official handed Kurt Nielsen a bunch of red and white carnations (Danish colors). Kurt pulled one out and handed it to Vic Seixas. The U.S.'s new Wimbledon champion made Denmark's unseeded finalist...
...Wimbledon, Australian tennis suffered an unexpected bump in the quarterfinals when Ken Rosewall was upset by Denmark's Kurt Nielsen, and Lewis Hoad was beaten by Philadelphia's Vic Seixas...