Ted Schroeder
 |
|
| Full name | Frederick Rudolph Schroeder |
|---|---|
| Country (sports) |
 United States
|
| Born |
July 20, 1921 Newark, NJ, United States |
| Died | May 26, 2006 (aged 84) La Jolla, CA, United States |
| Plays | Right-handed (1-handed backhand) |
| Int. Tennis HoF | 1966 (member page) |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 12–2 |
| Highest ranking | No. 1 (1949, Pierre Gillou) |
| Grand Slam Singles results | |
| Wimbledon | W (1949) |
| US Open | W (1942) |
| Doubles | |
| Career record | 1–2 |
| Grand Slam Doubles results | |
| Wimbledon | F (1949) |
| US Open | W (1940, 1941, 1947) |
| Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results | |
| US Open | W (1942) |
| Team competitions | |
| Davis Cup | W (1946, 1947, 1948, 1949) |
Frederick Rudolph "Ted" Schroeder (July 20, 1921 – May 26, 2006) was an American tennis player who won the two most prestigious amateur tennis titles, Wimbledon and the U.S. National. He was the No. 1-ranked American player in 1942; the No. 2 for 4 consecutive years, 1946 through 1949, and the latter year saw Schroeder ranked World No. 1 by Pierre Gillou (president of the Fédération Française de Tennis). He was born in Newark, New Jersey, but developed as a tennis player in Southern California under the guidance of Perry T. Jones.
Schroeder was an almost exact contemporary of Jack Kramer, having been born only 10 days earlier in 1921, and they began to play against each other as top boy players in the mid-1930s. Schroeder's career is similar to Kramer's in that they both became top players whose careers were then interrupted by World War II. They were also lifelong friends and at least once Schroeder mortgaged his house on short notice in order to be able to lend an unsolicited $25,000 to Kramer. Schroeder, however, attended college for 4 years, the first two at the University of Southern California (USC), and the last two at Stanford University, while Kramer, apparently, spent only two years at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. After the war Kramer proved himself to be slightly better than Schroeder in the amateur ranks. Kramer then turned professional, where he immediately established himself as the best player in the world by demolishing the pro champion, Bobby Riggs, by 69 victories to 20 losses in the 1948 tour.
Riggs then semi-retired and became the promoter of the tour. He and Kramer decided that the only player who could oppose Kramer for a financially successful tour would be Schroeder. The youthful Pancho Gonzales was the reigning American amateur champion, due to his upset win at the U.S. Open Championships in 1948, but during his brief career had been beaten by Schroeder 8 matches out of 9. Schroeder, playing during vacation time from his job, won Wimbledon in June 1949. According to his obituary in the New York Times, he . . .
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