Washington (AFP)
Former great American tennis champion Tony Trabert, winner of five Grand Slams in the 1950s, died Wednesday at the age of 90, the International Hall of Fame announced Thursday.
To his credit one of the best seasons in the history of the yellow ball in 1955, when he won no less than 18 tournaments including three Majors out of four: Roland Garros, which he had already won the previous year, Wimbledon, and the US Open (then called US National Championships) where he won for the first time in 1953.
During that season, he had won 106 matches, including 38 in a row, and had lost only 7. And it took a great Ken Rosewall in the semi-finals of the Australian Open, to deprive him of this last lift.
He is part of the closed club of seven players to have won three major titles in a single season.
Only Don Budge (1938), Rod Laver (1962, 1969), Mats Wilander (1988), Roger Federer (2004, 2006, 2007), Rafael Nadal (2010) and Novak Djokovic (2011, 2015) have achieved this.
Trabert, who was president of the Hall of Fame from 2001 to 2011 and was a consultant for 30 years on American television, had also converted to coach.
Captain of the American Davis Cup team from 1976 to 1980, he notably guided John McEnroe to the titles in 1978 and 1979.
“He didn't just show us how to be a great champion. He was also a role model coach, a fair and effective leader, someone who was a great ambassador for tennis. He was a good one. friend to me and to many others and we will miss him dearly ", paid homage to him the president of the Hall of Fame, Stan Smith.
© 2021 AFP