Jack Kramer - Career

Career

He began his tennis career by taking lessons from legendary teaching professional, Dick Skeen. Within a year, he was playing junior tournaments. Because of his obvious ability and his family's lack of money, he came under the guidance of Perry T. Jones. at the Los Angeles Tennis Club (LATC). Jones was the President of the Southern California Tennis Association (SCTA). Kramer traveled many hours each day from his home in Montebello, California, to play tennis at the LATC and the Beverly Hills Tennis Club. He was able to play against such great players as Ellsworth Vines, Bobby Riggs, and Bill Tilden. He was the National Boys' Champion in 1936, and the winner of the 1938 National Juniors Interscholastics. He competed occasionally in men's tournaments on grass courts in the East. He won matches against nationally ranked men such as Elwood Cooke. He also played with high school teammate, George Richards, who later was nationally ranked. Lost tournaments to Arthur Marx, son of Groucho, in the Juniors.

During World War II, Kramer served in the United States Coast Guard, but continued to win prizes in the United States, since the war had effectively put an end to international tennis. He turned professional to play Bobby Riggs on December 26, 1947 at Madison Square Garden, after winning Wimbledon and the United States Championships in 1947. 15,114 people showed up for the match in one of the worst snow storms in New York history to watch Riggs win. Kramer went on to win the tour with Riggs and became the top professional for the next six years. He retired in 1954 to promote his Pro Tour. In his 1979 autobiography, The Game: My 40 Years in Tennis, Kramer calls Helen Wills Moody the best women's tennis player that he ever saw. "She was the champion of the world when I was 15 and played her – she won seven Forest Hills and eight Wimbledons.... I beat her, but Helen played a good game." Bobby Riggs and Kramer convinced Sarah Palfrey Cooke and Pauline Betz to turn professional and play matches prior to their main contest. 1947 Australian Championships winner, Dinny Pails, and 4-time US Championships semi finalist, Pancho Segura, also turned professional in late 1947 and played against each other on the undercard of the 1948 Kramer vs. Riggs tour.

This is how he ranked the best possessors of tennis shots as of 1979:

• First Serve: Ellsworth Vines had the finest serve, along with Pancho Gonzales
• Second Serve: John Newcombe by far
• Backhand: Donald Budge, Frank Kovacs, and Ken Rosewall were the best
• Return Of Serve: Don Budge the best
• Forehand Volley: Wilmer Allison and Budge Patty.
• Backhand Volley: Close among Don Budge, Frank Sedgman, and Ken Rosewall, with Sedgman having the edge
• Overhead: Ted Schroeder, the best
• Lob: Bobby Riggs, of course
• Half-Volley: Pancho Gonzales and Ken Rosewall
• Forehand: Pancho Segura and Ellsworth Vines

Kramer's serve and forehand were equal to the best players in the game, but he would not talk about his own strokes.

Kramer attended Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, and he played on the tennis team in the 1941 and 1942 seasons. Pauline Betz was there at the same time.

Kramer retired from competitive tennis in 1954 due to arthritic back problems, making brief comebacks on tours with Hoad and Rosewall in the late 1950s. He started working for the BBC as a commentator on the Wimbledon Championships in 1960, a role in which he was very popular because of his intimate off-court knowledge of most of the players. He was paired with Dan Maskell in the commentators booth. However, he was dropped by the BBC in 1973 because of his role in the ATP boycott of Wimbledon that year, which saw 81 players, including defending champion, Stan Smith, stay away from the tournament.

The following tennis notables worked for Kramer on his Pro Tour: John Gardner, Olen Parks, Vic Braden, and Myron Mc Namara.