"Too Much Tennis"

Australia is a very fine place.

Keep away! Keep away!

--Old Chantey After a steady diet of three months of tennis in Australia, Tony Trabert and Vic Seixas, top U.S. amateurs, were obviously fed up. Being fed up, they blew up--and with a resounding bang. The Americans' trouble was twofold:1) they were losing instead of winning, and 2) they were losing in Australia.

Unlike the smallish crowds that watch tennis with Emily Post decorum in the U.S., Australian tennis zealots turn out by the thousands, even for minor tournaments. And they would no more think of repressing their natural partisanship than a crowd of U.S. baseball fans. A visiting American can expect to have his court errors lustily cheered, can count on cries of "Lout!" and "Mug!" if he shows temper or disgruntlement.

U.S. Champion Trabert, who had an nounced his hopeful intention of winning all four of the world's major tennis titles,* was the first to snap. It came in the quarter-finals of the Australian championship, against a canny old (35) party named John Bromwich, who first won Australia's title when Trabert was a lad of eight.

Tony breezed through the first two sets, 6-1, 6-1. Then, while the Aussies cheered themselves hoarse, Bromwich began rushing the net. And Trabert, further embittered by a close line decision, kicked the match away. He refused Bromwich's thoughtful offer to forfeit rather than beat the tournament's No. 1 drawing card, went down 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 in the last three sets. Stomping off the court, Trabert snapped at Aussie newsmen: "I have noth ing to say. You can make up your own story." Next day it was Seixas' turn to make another story. Playing in a doubles match with Partner Trabert, Wimbledon Cham pion Seixas was aced to match point.

The Aussie crowd cheered happily, and the shout drifted to Seixas' burning ears: "Go home, you mug!" "Come down here and say that!" shouted Seixas at the stands, then went on to lose the match.

Next day he was also ousted from the singles by third-ranked Aussie Mervyn Rose, who later won the title.

U.S. Davis Cup Captain Billy Talbert, who had flown home before the blowups, had a three-word explanation for his teammates' tantrums: "Too much tennis."

* Only Don Budge, in 1938, ever managed to win the Australian, French, Wimbledon and U.S. championships in one year.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.