First Serves

There will be a 1942 tennis season. And it may be the most exciting in years.

Ordinarily, at this time of year, top flight U.S. tennists would be warming up for the Seabright tournament, classic curtain raiser of the Eastern grass-court season. This year, for the first time in half a century, there may be no tournament at Seabright. But Longwood, Rye, Newport and Southampton hope to carry on in their traditional roles as tune-ups for the National at Forest Hills, and with rationing (three for each match) there will be enough balls to last the summer.

In 1918, nine of the first ten ranking U.S. tennists were in the armed forces. This year the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association has again lost its headliners, though not to the war alone. Four of the first ten (Don McNeill, Ted Schroeder, Gardnar Mulloy, Bitsy Grant) are in the service; three (Bobby Riggs, Frank Kovacs, Wayne Sabin) turned pro last winter; and third-ranking Frank Parker, who--with Riggs and Kovacs out of the way--might at last have won the National title, is unwilling to leave his Hollywood job.

Therefore, this week, two tournaments that caused no great splash in former years have unusual interest: the National Professional championship and the National Clay Court championship.

The Pros, holding their annual tournament on the hallowed grass at Forest Hills for the first time in eleven years (with 10% of the gross receipts going to Navy relief), are staging the best tennis show of the season. Except for Defending Champion Fred Perry, who fell on his arm opening night of last winter's professional barnstorming tour and is still unable to bend his elbow without wincing, its cast includes most of this generations best shotmakers. Favorite among the field of 32 is Don Budge, now a physical education director at Miami's Embry-Riddle Aviation School and still considered America's No. 1 tennist.

The Amateurs, meeting in St. Louis for their annual clay court championship, have no headliners, but their second-rate show may unveil some future stars. Among the up & coming kids who will get a fair crack at the title this year are: Cincinnati's Bill Talbert (ranked No. 10), who beat Bobby Riggs in straight sets in a major tournament last year; University of Southern California's Ted Olewine (No.11) and Charlie Mattmann (No. 15), national Intercollegiate Doubles Champions; Northwestern's Seymour Greenberg (No. 19), onetime Public Parks champion; University of North Carolina's Victor Seixas, national Interscholastic champion.

The Kids. Though one of these youngsters will probably play the lead at Forest Hills, a couple of even younger tennists may well steal the spotlight this summer. They are: 18-year-old Edward ("Budge") Patty,* and 16-year-old Bob Falkenburg. In this pair, the Southern California Tennis Association thinks it has another Budge & Mako.

Handsome Patty, a product of Los Angeles public courts and protege of Movie Stars Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck, is the National Junior champion. Equally handsome Bob Falkenburg, kid brother of much-photogled Jinx, and a boy friend of Shirley Temple, is the only tennist ever to win both the National Boys' Singles and Doubles championship two years in a row.

Considered the most promising youngster since Don Budge, Young Bob has outshone his older, 17-year-old brother Tom, who is brilliant but more erratic. "They caught tennis like measles," says Mother Falkenburg (onetime national tennis champion of Brazil). Recently, in a friendly doubles match at the Los Angeles Tennis Club, the fabulous Falkenburg kids gave Don Budge & Gene Mako a trouncing. For side bets of soda pop, Bob plays left-handed with less talented members of the club, usually wins. Last summer, playing with a broken left arm in a cast, he won the Boys' Eastern championship.

* Patty's nickname is not derived from any likeness to Don Budge, but from his brother's inability to pronounce his original nickname: "Pudgy" or "Pudge."

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