Jaroslav Drobný

Jaroslav Drobný (October 12, 1921, Prague – September 13, 2001, London) was an amateur tennis champion as well as being an ice hockey player for the Czechoslovakian national team. He became an Egyptian citizen from 1949 to 1954, and then moved to Great Britain, where he died in 2001.

He was a silver medallist with the Czechoslovakian ice hockey team in the 1948 Olympics. As a tennis player he was good enough as early as 1946 to be able to beat Jack Kramer in the round of 16 at Wimbledon before losing in the semi-finals. It was Kramer's last significant singles defeat before turning pro two years later. Drobný was the losing finalist in both 1949 and 1952 before finally winning it in 1954 by beating Ken Rosewall for the title, the first left-hander to capture Wimbledon.

Drobný was inducted in the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island in 1983. He died in Tooting, London.

Grand Slam record

Australian Championships
*Doubles finalist: 1950

French Championships
*Singles champion: 1951, 1952
*Singles finalist: 1946, 1948, 1950
*Doubles champion: 1948
*Doubles finalist: 1950
*Mixed Doubles champion: 1948

Wimbledon
*Singles champion: 1954
*Singles finalist: 1949, 1952
*Doubles finalist: 1951

Grand Slam singles finals

Wins (3)

Runner-ups (5)

In popular culture

Ivan Blatný wrote a poem called "Wimbledon" which addresses Drobný [ [http://www.radio.cz/en/article/50806 Ivan Blatný, Wimbledon, in English] ] .

References