Frank Kovacs
Encyclopedia
Frank Kovacs was an American tennis
player in the mid-century; he was known as the "Clown Prince of Tennis" for his on-court antics but was a good enough player to be each year from 1940 to 1951 one of the best five in the world. He stood 6 ft 4 inches tall and had a backhand as good as Donald Budge.
, he tossed three balls in the air - hitting the middle one for an ace
. He was known to jump into the stands to applaud his opponents, and once staged a sit-down strike during a match. He often stopped play so that he could complain about the heavy nap on the balls, and would then shove the offending balls into his mouth so that he could chew on the nap.
Although he showed flashes of brilliance his career results were relatively disappointing. It was said of him that on the right days, when he was briefly "in the zone", he could be unbeatable: Fred Hawthorne, reporter for New York Herald-Tribune who watched nearly all the early matches of the 1941-1942 pro tour thought that Kovacs at his best reached "sheer brilliancy never before excelled", but at other times Frank played "surprisingly poor tennis." For instance in his first pro match, on December 26, 1941 he gave Donald Budge a tennis lesson and as late as 1952, at 33, he was still able to defeat Pancho Gonzales
then the best pro in the world.
His best amateur result was a second-place finish in the U.S. Amateur National Singles Championship
in 1941, losing to Bobby Riggs
;
In the pro circuit his only very great success was his win in the World Pro Championships held at Lakewood just outside Cleveland where he defeated Pancho Segura
in the final 6–2 3–6 6–3 1–6 9–7 on June 17, 1951. Unfortunately a week later he withdrew from the U.S. Pro Tennis Championships
won by his last victim, Segura. The previous year, in 1950, he had reached the final of that tournament, losing to Pancho Segura.
As tennis great Jack Kramer
, and Kovacs' near contemporary, has written: "Kovacs had picture strokes, but the reason he could never win anything is because he didn't have any idea how to go about winning. He never had a set plan for a match. Hell, he never had a set plan for a shot. He could sort of decide what to do with it halfway through the stroke." Kovacs' best shot, says Kramer, was "a hard, angled backhand crosscourt, but he could never figure out how to set it up so he could take advantage of it." As Riggs said to Kramer one day: "...don't worry about Frankie.... He looks great, but give him long enough and he'll find some way to keep you in the match, and give him a little longer and he'll find a way to beat himself." Nevertheless Kovacs had a very positive win-loss record against Kramer both in the amateur circuit (in that one Kramer almost never beat Kovacs) and in the pro circuit too.
Finally many forget that though the tennis activity was very limited between 1943 and 1945 Kovacs dominated all the players he met as Welby Van Horn
, Don McNeill
, Adrian Quist
, Bill Tilden
, Jack Crawford, Jack Jossi, Martin Buxby, Joe Whalen
, George Lott
, George Lyttelton Rogers.
Kovacs was also responsible for something of a scandal over money in tennis, which before the Open era was strictly divided into amateurs and professionals. After he was barred from amateur tennis in 1941 (leaving with a characteristic witticism - "Amateur tennis stinks - there's no money in it any more."), he talked about how money was quietly - and widely - paid to supposedly amateur players for entering tournaments.
After being evicted from the amateur ranks, he and Riggs turned professional at the same time. In December 1941 - April 1942 the Pro tour consisted of round-robin matches between Don Budge
, Bobby Riggs
, Fred Perry
, and Kovacs (with Gene Mako
, Lester Stoefen
and even Bill Tilden, for one match, as replacements). Budge ended up with the best record, 52 wins to 18 losses, ahead of Riggs 36-36 and Kovacs, 25 wins to 26 losses : Kovacs even led the very first part of the tour mainly because he had defeated Budge in their first five matches. After the tour he entered the U.S. Pro Championships and reached the semifinals and as the other great pros of the time he then joined the U.S. Army. He was still a force in professional tennis into the 1950s; he played Pancho Gonzales in a match at the California Tennis Club in San Francisco in 1955 and nearly beat him. He spent his later years teaching tennis at the Davie Tennis Stadium in Piedmont, in Florida and at public courts near his home in Oakland.
His cousin was the famous entertainer Ernie Kovacs
. He married San Francisco vocal coach Judy Davis in 1950 and they lived for many years in a beautiful home on Ivanhoe Road in the Rockridge district of Oakland, until his death in 1990.
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
player in the mid-century; he was known as the "Clown Prince of Tennis" for his on-court antics but was a good enough player to be each year from 1940 to 1951 one of the best five in the world. He stood 6 ft 4 inches tall and had a backhand as good as Donald Budge.
Biography
His father was a Hungarian immigrant upholsterer. Probably the most eccentric major player ever, stories of his antics are still told in the tennis world. Once, serving for a match pointMatch point
Match point may refer to:* Match point is won if the player in the lead scores * Match Point, a 2005 film directed by Woody Allen* Bridge...
, he tossed three balls in the air - hitting the middle one for an ace
Ace (tennis)
In tennis, an ace is a legal serve that is not touched by the receiver, winning the point.In professional tennis, aces are generally seen on a player's first serve, where the server can strike the ball with maximum force and take more chances with ball placement .The most common placement of an ace...
. He was known to jump into the stands to applaud his opponents, and once staged a sit-down strike during a match. He often stopped play so that he could complain about the heavy nap on the balls, and would then shove the offending balls into his mouth so that he could chew on the nap.
Although he showed flashes of brilliance his career results were relatively disappointing. It was said of him that on the right days, when he was briefly "in the zone", he could be unbeatable: Fred Hawthorne, reporter for New York Herald-Tribune who watched nearly all the early matches of the 1941-1942 pro tour thought that Kovacs at his best reached "sheer brilliancy never before excelled", but at other times Frank played "surprisingly poor tennis." For instance in his first pro match, on December 26, 1941 he gave Donald Budge a tennis lesson and as late as 1952, at 33, he was still able to defeat Pancho Gonzales
Pancho Gonzales
Ricardo Alonso González , generally known as Richard "Pancho" Gonzales was an American tennis player. He was the world no. 1 professional tennis player for an unequalled eight years in the 1950s and early 1960s...
then the best pro in the world.
His best amateur result was a second-place finish in the U.S. Amateur National Singles Championship
U.S. Open (tennis)
The US Open, formally the United States Open Tennis Championships, is a hardcourt tennis tournament which is the modern iteration of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, the U.S. National Championship, which for men's singles was first contested in 1881...
in 1941, losing to Bobby Riggs
Bobby Riggs
Robert Larimore "Bobby" Riggs was a 1930s–40s tennis player who was the World No. 1 or the co-World No. 1 player for three years, first as an amateur in 1941, then as a professional in 1946 and 1947...
;
In the pro circuit his only very great success was his win in the World Pro Championships held at Lakewood just outside Cleveland where he defeated Pancho Segura
Pancho Segura
Pancho Segura, born Francisco Olegario Segura , was a leading tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s, both as an amateur and as a professional. In 1950 and 1952, as a professional, he was the World Co-No. 1 player...
in the final 6–2 3–6 6–3 1–6 9–7 on June 17, 1951. Unfortunately a week later he withdrew from the U.S. Pro Tennis Championships
U.S. Pro Tennis Championships
The U.S. Pro Tennis Championships was the oldest professional tennis tournament played until its final year of 1999 and is considered as a part of the professional grand slam from 1927 - 1967 until the advent of Open Era...
won by his last victim, Segura. The previous year, in 1950, he had reached the final of that tournament, losing to Pancho Segura.
As tennis great Jack Kramer
Jack Kramer (tennis player)
John Albert Kramer was an American tennis player of the 1940s. A World Number 1 player for a number of years, he is a possible candidate for the title of the greatest tennis player of all time. He was considered the father and the leading promoter of the professional tennis tours...
, and Kovacs' near contemporary, has written: "Kovacs had picture strokes, but the reason he could never win anything is because he didn't have any idea how to go about winning. He never had a set plan for a match. Hell, he never had a set plan for a shot. He could sort of decide what to do with it halfway through the stroke." Kovacs' best shot, says Kramer, was "a hard, angled backhand crosscourt, but he could never figure out how to set it up so he could take advantage of it." As Riggs said to Kramer one day: "...don't worry about Frankie.... He looks great, but give him long enough and he'll find some way to keep you in the match, and give him a little longer and he'll find a way to beat himself." Nevertheless Kovacs had a very positive win-loss record against Kramer both in the amateur circuit (in that one Kramer almost never beat Kovacs) and in the pro circuit too.
Finally many forget that though the tennis activity was very limited between 1943 and 1945 Kovacs dominated all the players he met as Welby Van Horn
Welby Van Horn
Welby Van Horn is a retired American professional tennis player who later went on to have a career as a major tennis coach.As a 19-year-old player, Van Horn reached the finals of the 1939 U.S. Nationals only to lose to Bobby Riggs in just 56 minutes...
, Don McNeill
Don McNeill (tennis)
William Donald McNeill was an American male tennis player. He was born in Chickasha, Oklahoma and died in Vero Beach, Florida, United States....
, Adrian Quist
Adrian Quist
Adrian Karl Quist was an Australian male tennis player.-Biography:Adrian Quist was born in Medindie, South Australia. The tennis legend grew up in Adelaide and once played Harry Hopman, however he lost, only because he gave Hopman a head start...
, Bill Tilden
Bill Tilden
William Tatem Tilden II , nicknamed "Big Bill," is often considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time. An American tennis player who was the World No. 1 player for seven years, he won 14 Majors including ten Grand Slams and four Pro Slams. Bill Tilden dominated the world of...
, Jack Crawford, Jack Jossi, Martin Buxby, Joe Whalen
Joe Whalen
Joe Whalen was an American tennis player in the 1930s who won a number of championships; he was originally from Millinocket, Maine, but grew up in Miami, Florida.His most significant championship win was the 1936 United States Pro Championship....
, George Lott
George Lott
George Martin Lott was an American tennis player and tennis coach who was born in Springfield, Illinois, United States. Lott is mostly remembered as being one of the greatest doubles players of all time. He won the U.S. title five times with three different partners: John Hennessey in 1928; John...
, George Lyttelton Rogers.
Kovacs was also responsible for something of a scandal over money in tennis, which before the Open era was strictly divided into amateurs and professionals. After he was barred from amateur tennis in 1941 (leaving with a characteristic witticism - "Amateur tennis stinks - there's no money in it any more."), he talked about how money was quietly - and widely - paid to supposedly amateur players for entering tournaments.
After being evicted from the amateur ranks, he and Riggs turned professional at the same time. In December 1941 - April 1942 the Pro tour consisted of round-robin matches between Don Budge
Don Budge
John Donald Budge was an American tennis champion who was a World No. 1 player for five years, first as an amateur and then as a professional...
, Bobby Riggs
Bobby Riggs
Robert Larimore "Bobby" Riggs was a 1930s–40s tennis player who was the World No. 1 or the co-World No. 1 player for three years, first as an amateur in 1941, then as a professional in 1946 and 1947...
, Fred Perry
Fred Perry
Frederick John Perry was a championship-winning English tennis and table tennis player who won 10 Majors including eight Grand Slams and two Pro Slams. Perry won three consecutive Wimbledon Championships between 1934 and 1936 and was World No. 1 four years in a row...
, and Kovacs (with Gene Mako
Gene Mako
Constantine Mako is a former American tennis player and is also an art gallery owner. He was born in Budapest, capital of Hungary. He won four Grand Slam doubles titles in the 1930s...
, Lester Stoefen
Lester Stoefen
Lester Stoefen was an American tennis player of the 1930s.Stoefen won three Grand Slam doubles titles: 1934 Wimbledon Championships, 1933 and 1934 U.S. National Championships....
and even Bill Tilden, for one match, as replacements). Budge ended up with the best record, 52 wins to 18 losses, ahead of Riggs 36-36 and Kovacs, 25 wins to 26 losses : Kovacs even led the very first part of the tour mainly because he had defeated Budge in their first five matches. After the tour he entered the U.S. Pro Championships and reached the semifinals and as the other great pros of the time he then joined the U.S. Army. He was still a force in professional tennis into the 1950s; he played Pancho Gonzales in a match at the California Tennis Club in San Francisco in 1955 and nearly beat him. He spent his later years teaching tennis at the Davie Tennis Stadium in Piedmont, in Florida and at public courts near his home in Oakland.
His cousin was the famous entertainer Ernie Kovacs
Ernie Kovacs
Ernie Kovacs was a Hungarian American comedian and actor.Kovacs' uninhibited, often ad-libbed, and visually experimental comedic style came to influence numerous television comedy programs for years after his death in an automobile accident...
. He married San Francisco vocal coach Judy Davis in 1950 and they lived for many years in a beautiful home on Ivanhoe Road in the Rockridge district of Oakland, until his death in 1990.
Personal life
Kovacs was married to Adelaide in his later years. Adelaide was known professionally as "Judy Davis, voice teacher to the stars", in Oakland, California. He was also married to Virginia Kovacs, also a tennis professional; they had a son, Frank.See also
- World number one male tennis player rankings
- Major professional tennis tournaments before the Open Era