Tennis: That Special Feeling

Throughout most of his career on the tennis court, Clark Graebner, 25, has suffered from two ailments: a tight back and a loose lip. Two years ago, for example, after winning a berth on the U.S. Davis Cup team, he was dropped from the competition for the ungentlemanly way in which he cussed out a ball boy.

A week before this year’s Cup matches against Australia Graebner’s back was troubling him, and the nonplaying captain of the U.S. team, Donald Dell, announced that Graebner would probably not be one of his starters. In front of the other U.S. players, Dell scolded: “You’re a quitter, Clark. You haven’t got the guts to get back onto this team.” The shock therapy worked. Suddenly, Graebner’s game improved. After he had trounced two of his teammates in practice rounds, Dell changed his mind and named him at the last moment to represent the U.S. in the opening match.

With Graebner and Arthur Ashe, both of whom have bested some of the world’s top pro players in the past year, and Stan Smith and Bob Lutz, who own almost every national amateur doubles title, the U.S. boasted its strongest Davis Cup team since it last won the trophy five years ago. The Australians, on the other hand, hurting because most of their top players have defected to the pro ranks, could only assemble a young, relatively green team, none of whom had any previous Cup experience.

Big Brother. Regardless, Dell was not taking any chances. In his first year as captain, the 30-year-old lawyer and former Davis Cup player (1961) was determined to restore some semblance of spirit to the team, which in prior years was plagued by dissension and a marked lack of enthusiasm. Acting as a strict but understanding big brother, he succeeded in his aim by imparting, as Ashe describes it, “this special feeling. Having him as captain is like having John Kennedy for President.”

Graebner opened the Challenge Round in Adelaide, Australia, last week on a chilly, gusty day. Normally as taut as the gut strings in his racket, he played confidently, looking to the sidelines now and then for reassurance from Dell. At every crucial point, Dell leaned forward in his chair and turned the palm of his hand downward. Meaning: cool it, baby. Though he started haltingly, Graebner soon found his booming serve and defeated Australian Bill Bow-rey 8-10, 6-4, 8-6, 3-6, 6-1. Ashe, as calm and poised as a man taking his morning constitutional, kept Southpaw Ray Ruffels puffing all over the court with his threadneedle forehand shots. Though he had to serve at three-quarter speed because of an ailing elbow, Ashe won handily 6-8, 7-5, 6-3, 6-3. As expected, Smith and Lutz downed the team of Ruffels and Teeny-Lobber John Alexander, 17, in straight sets. In the final two singles matches, Bowrey upset Ashe, but Graebner outlasted Ruffels in five sets, and the U.S. recaptured the Cup with an impressive 4-1 victory,