Jaroslav Drobný
Jaroslav Drobný (left) and Hubert Wilton in 1958
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| Country (sports) |
 Czechoslovakia Bohemia and Moravia Egypt United Kingdom
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|---|---|
| Born |
12 October 1921 Prague, Czechoslovakia |
| Died | 13 September 2001 (aged 79) Tooting, London, UK |
| Turned pro | 1938 (amateur tour) |
| Retired | 1969 |
| Plays | Left-handed (one-handed backhand) |
| Int. Tennis HoF | 1983 (member page) |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 398–107 |
| Career titles | 140 |
| Highest ranking | No. 1 (1954, Lance Tingay) |
| Grand Slam Singles results | |
| Australian Open | 2R (1950) |
| French Open | W (1951, 1952) |
| Wimbledon | W (1954) |
| US Open | SF (1947, 1948) |
| Doubles | |
| Grand Slam Doubles results | |
| Australian Open | F (1950) |
| French Open | W (1948) |
| Wimbledon | F (1951) |
| Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results | |
| French Open | W (1948) |
| Wimbledon | SF (1948) |
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Ice hockey | ||
| Olympic Games | ||
 |
1948 | Team Competition |
| World Championships | ||
 |
1947 | Team Competition |
Jaroslav Drobný (Czech pronunciation: [ˈjaroslav ˈdrobniː]; 12 October 1921 – 13 September 2001) was a former World No. 1 amateur tennis champion as well as being an ice hockey player. He left Czechoslovakia in 1949 and travelled as an Egyptian citizen before becoming a citizen of Great Britain in 1959, where he died in 2001. In 1954, he became the first and, to date, only player with African citizenship to win the Wimbledon Championships (aside from dual citizen Roger Federer, who holds South African citizenship but officially represents only Switzerland in sports).
Drobný began playing tennis at age five and, as a ball-boy, watched world-class players including compatriot Karel Koželuh. He played in his first Wimbledon Championship in 1938, losing in the first round to Alejandro Russell. After World War II Drobný was good enough to be able to beat Jack Kramer in the fourth round of the 1946 Wimbledon Championship before losing in the semifinals. In 1951 and 1952 he won the French Open, defeating in the final Eric Sturgess and then retaining the title the following year against Frank Sedgman. Drobný was the losing finalist at Wimbledon 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 since Norman Brookes.
He won three singles titles at the Italian Championships (1950, 1951 and 1953).
Drobný was ranked World No. 1 in 1954 by Lance Tingay of the Daily Telegraph. He has also won the French Open doubles title in 1948, playing with Lennart Bergelin, and he won the mixed doubles title paired with Patricia Canning Todd at 1948 French Open.
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