Frank Parker

For other people named Frank Parker, see Frank Parker (disambiguation).

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. He was coached by Mercer Beasley.

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 elected to the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in 1960.

Parker was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1966.

Notes

  1. ^ Tennis Is My Racket, by Bobby Riggs, New York, 1949, page 58.
  2. ^ The Game, My 40 Years in Tennis (1979), Jack Kramer with Frank Deford, page 48

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