Francis Kovacs
| Full name | Frank Kovacs |
|---|---|
| Country (sports) |
 United States
|
| Born |
December 4, 1919 Oakland, California, USA |
| Died | February 1990 (aged 70) Oakland, California, USA |
| Height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) |
| Turned pro | 1941 (amateur tour from 1936) |
| Retired | 1957 |
| Plays | Right-handed (one-handed backhand) |
| Singles | |
| Highest ranking | No. 3 (1946, Karoly Mazak) |
| Grand Slam Singles results | |
| US Open | F (1941) |
| Professional majors | |
| US Pro | F (1950) |
| Wembley Pro | SF (1951) |
Frank Kovacs (December 4, 1919 – February 1990) was an American tennis player in the mid-20th century.
His father was a Hungarian immigrant upholsterer. Probably the most eccentric major player ever, stories of his antics are still told in the tennis world. Once, serving for a match point, he tossed three balls in the air - hitting the middle one for an ace. He was known to jump into the stands to applaud his opponents, and once staged a sit-down strike during a match. He often stopped play so that he could complain about the heavy nap on the balls, and would then shove the offending balls into his mouth so that he could chew on the nap.
Although he showed flashes of brilliance his career results were relatively disappointing. It was said of him that on the right days, when he was briefly "in the zone", he could be unbeatable: Fred Hawthorne, reporter for New York Herald-Tribune who watched nearly all the early matches of the 1941-1942 pro tour thought that Kovacs at his best reached "sheer brilliancy never before excelled", but at other times Frank played "surprisingly poor tennis." For instance in his first pro match, on December 26, 1941 he defeated Donald Budge and as late in his career as 1952, at 33, he was still able to defeat Pancho Gonzales then the best pro in the world.
Kovacs was the No. 3-ranked American amateur in 1940 and the No. 2 in 1941. He was ranked World No. 3 for 1946 in Karoly Mazak's amateur-pro combined rankings and the World No. 3 pro for 1941 by Ray Bowers. His best amateur result was a second-place finish in the U.S. Amateur National Singles Championship in 1941, losing to Bobby Riggs. The 1942 professional tour consisted of round-robin matches between Don Budge, Bobby Riggs, Fred Perry, and Kovacs. The seasoned Budge ended up with the best record while Kovacs had the second best. From 1943 to the end of WWII, Kovacs served in the army.
In the 1947 pro circuit, Kovacs scored 10 matches against Bobby Riggs', while losing 11 matches to Riggs, the 1947 Pro Champion. (See Bobby Riggs#Professional career.) In the pro circuit, Kovacs' greatest result was winning the World Pro Championships held at Lakewood just outside Cleveland where he defeated Pancho Segura in the final 6–2, 3–6, 6–3, 1–6, 9–7 on June 17, 1951. Unfortunately a week later he withdrew from the U.S. Pro Tennis Championships won by his last victim, Segura. The previous year, in 1950, he had reached the final of that tournament, losing to Pancho Segura. Kovacs also reached the semi-finals of the US Pro a further 4 times.
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