From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Frank "Frankie" Andrew Parker (born Franciszek
Andrzej Pajkowski of Polish immigrant parents on January 31, 1916
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA – July 24,
1997) was an American male tennis player.
Parker is one of the few Americans to win both the French
Championships (1948, 1949) and the U.S. Championships (1944, 1945).
Others have been Don
Budge (1937), Don
McNeill (1939-'40), Tony Trabert (1953-'54), Andre Agassi (1994,
1999).
Parker also a singles champion (1941) and four-time singles
finalist at Cincinnati, and
won the Canadian title in 1938.
Writing about Parker in his 1949 autobiography, Bobby Riggs, who had
played Parker many times, says "Parker is a tough man to get past.
Equipped with a wonderful all-court game, he plays intently and
with classic form. His footwork is marvelous. You never see Frankie
hitting the ball from an awkward position." [1] Jack
Kramer, however, writing in his own autobiography, says
"...even as a boy [Parker] had this wonderful slightly overspin
forehand drive. Clean and hard. Then for some reason, Frankie's
coach, Mercer Beasley, decided to change this stroke into a chop.
It was obscene." It also impaired his game, particularly in
preventing him from getting to the net, and Parker dropped in the
rankings. A few years later, however, he worked hard to regain his
original forehand and, according to Kramer, did indeed greatly
improve his stroke. But it was never again as good as it had once
been. [2]
Parker was inducted into the International Tennis Hall
of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, in
1966.
Notes
- ^
Tennis Is My Racket, by Bobby Riggs, New York, 1949, page
58.
- ^
The Game, My 40 Years in Tennis (1979), Jack Kramer with
Frank Deford, page 48
Sources
- Tennis Is My Racket, by Bobby Riggs, New York,
1949
- The Game, My 40 Years in Tennis, Jack Kramer with
Frank Deford, New York, 1979
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