POINT OF FACT
? Have the U.S. Singles Championships always been held at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, N.Y.?
• No. The first men's championship was played in 1881 at The Casino in Newport, R.I., and it was held there for the next 33 years. From 1915 to 1920 the championship was played at Forest Hills and from 1921 to 1923 at the Germantown Cricket Club in Philadelphia. In 1924 it was moved back to Forest Hills and has been played there ever since. The first women's championship was in 1887 at Philadelphia's Cricket Club. The tournament was held there until 1921 when it, too, was moved to Forest Hills.
? The U.S. Singles Championships (August 29-September 9) will have the largest international field ever to compete. Why?
• Eddie Eagan's People-to-People Sports Committee, in cooperation with the USLTA and the West Side Tennis Club, has invited 80 foreign players to the tournament and will transport them from Europe to New York by chartered plane. Russia, for the first time, will be represented in the championships.
? The U.S. women's title has been won by only three foreign players. Who were they?
• The title left the U.S. for the first time in 1930 when Betty Nuthall of England beat Mrs. L. A. Harper of California in a 36-minute final. Anita Lizana of Chile upset Jadwiga Jedrzejowska of Poland in 1937 to become the first South American to win the U.S. title, and in 1959 South American Maria Bueno of Brazil, trounced England's Christine Truman in the finals.
? The U.S. men's championship has been won eight times by Australians. Who were the Australian champions and when did they win?
• Frank Sedgman was the first Australian to win the championship (1951), and he successfully defended his title the following year. Since 1956 Australians have been the sole U.S. titleholders—Ken Rosewall in 1956, Malcolm Anderson in 1957, Ashley Cooper in 1958, Neale Fraser in 1959 and 1960, and Roy Emerson in 1961.
? Has any other foreign player won the men's title?
• Yes. Englishmen have taken four championships (Hugh Doherty, 1903 and Fred Perry 1933, 1934 and 1936) and Frenchmen three titles (René Lacoste 1926 and 1927 and Henri Cochet 1928).
? Who was the last American to win the men's singles?
• Tony Trabert of Cincinnati beat Ken Rosewall 9-7, 6-3, 6-3 to win the title in 1955. Except for Peruvian Alex Olmedo in 1959, Australians have faced each other in the final round every year since 1955.
? a) What man holds the record for winning the most singles titles? b) What woman?
• a) Richard D. Sears (1881-1887), William A. Lamed (1901-1902. 1907-1911) and Bill Tilden (1920-1925, 1929) have all won the men's championship seven times, b) The women's record is also seven victories—Mrs. Molla Bjurstedt Mallory (1915-1916, 1918, 1920-1922, 1926) and Mrs. Helen Wills Moody (1923-1925, 1927-1929, 1931).
? What was the longest set ever played in a U.S. singles final?
• In 1949 Ted Schroeder beat fellow Californian Pancho Gonzalez in the first set, 18-16. The previous record had been a 16-14 set won by John Doeg over Frank Shields in 1930. Gonzalez, unlike Shields, was able to come back and take the match and the championship 16-18, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.
? What player was runner-up the most times in the championships?
• Little Bill Johnston, playing at the same time as Big Bill Tilden, was runner-up six times (1916, 1920, 1922-1925). Johnston, however, won the men's title in 1915 and 1919.
ILLUSTRATION