The amateur years
United States · born Newark, New Jersey, 1921 · died 2006 · right-handed · Wimbledon champion 1949, US champion 1942
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1949
Wimbledon champion as top seed, his next major after 1942
3
US doubles titles with Jack Kramer, 1940, 1941 and 1947
20-2
Record in deciding fifth sets before the 1949 US final
4
Davis Cup wins in a row, 1946 to 1949
13-6
Davis Cup record, 1946 to 1951
Frederick Rudolph Schroeder was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1921 and grew up in Glendale, California, where Perry T. Jones of the Los Angeles Tennis Club took him on. His schoolboy doubles partner and lifelong friend was Jack Kramer; together they won the US doubles title in 1940 and 1941. He studied at the University of Southern California and then at Stanford, won the national intercollegiate title in 1942 and that September won the US singles at Forest Hills, beating Frank Parker 8-6, 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2. He also took the mixed title with Louise Brough and was ranked No. 1 in the United States.
He then served in the Navy and flew as a fighter pilot. After the war he never played full time: he married, raised a family and worked for a commercial refrigeration company, later as its vice-president. He still played Davis Cup from 1946 to 1951, winning four Cups in a row from 1946, and in 1947 won a third US doubles title with Kramer.
In 1949 he went to Wimbledon as top seed and won it, beating Jaroslav Drobný 3-6, 6-0, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the final after five-set escapes in earlier rounds. Pierre Gillou ranked him world No. 1 amateur that year. He lost the US final in September to Pancho Gonzales from two sets up. He declined repeated offers from Kramer to turn professional, and Gonzales signed instead. He entered the Hall of Fame in 1966 and died at his home in La Jolla, California, in 2006, aged 84.
| Wimbledon 1949 | Came from two sets down to beat Gardnar Mulloy in the first round, then won five-set matches against Frank Sedgman in the quarter-final, Eric Sturgess in the semi-final and Jaroslav Drobný in the final, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon doubles | Final 1949 with Gardnar Mulloy, lost to Pancho Gonzales and Frank Parker 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 |
| US final 1949 | Lost to Pancho Gonzales at Forest Hills 16-18, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 after winning the first two sets; the 18-16 opening set was a tournament record at the time |
| US doubles finals lost | 1942 with Sidney Wood, lost to Gardnar Mulloy and Bill Talbert 7-5, 9-7, 6-1. 1948 with Frank Parker, lost 1-6, 9-7, 6-3, 3-6, 9-7 |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1949 | Men's singles | |
| US Championships | ||
| 1940 | Men's doubles | with Jack Kramer |
| 1941 | Men's doubles | with Jack Kramer |
| 1942 | Mixed doubles | with Louise Brough |
| 1942 | Men's singles | |
| 1947 | Men's doubles | with Jack Kramer |
| Eastern Grass Court Championships (South Orange) | ||
| 1942 | Men's singles | |
| 1947 | Men's singles | |
| Newport, Rhode Island | ||
| 1947 | Men's singles Newport Casino Invitational | |
| 1950 | Men's singles Newport Casino Invitational | |
| Southampton (Meadow Club) | ||
| 1942 | Men's singles Southampton Invitational | |
| Queen's Club | ||
| 1949 | Men's singles | |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"The most spectacular, most aggressive player I've ever seen."
The person behind the player.
Forest Hills, September 1942
Two days after beating Frank Parker in a final the New York Times called "one of the most enthralling matches the tournament ever has provided", Schroeder was measured for a Navy uniform. He did not play another major for seven years. In 1944, at the Navy base in Pensacola, he lost a match to Joe Hunt, who had won the national title in his absence.
Source: Tennis AbstractWimbledon 1949
Seeded first, he needed five sets again and again, and by the end the British were calling him "Lucky Ted". Against Frank Sedgman in the quarter-final he faced two match points in the fifth set; on the second he was called for a foot-fault on his first serve, charged the net behind the second and won the point with a volley off the frame.
Source: Tennis AbstractLondon, 1949
His New York Times obituary recalled that he "captivated London as an outgoing, straightforward Yank smoking a corn-cob pipe."
Source: Wikipedia, citing The New York TimesLos Angeles, May 1949
With Bob Falkenburg he beat Pancho Gonzales and Hugh Stewart 36-34, 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 19-17 in the doubles at the Southern California Championships, a 135-game match.
Source: John Grasso, Historical Dictionary of Tennis (2011)Friendship
Kramer, who wanted him on the professional tour, never persuaded him to join it, but the friendship held. Schroeder once mortgaged his house at short notice to lend Kramer $25,000, without being asked. The two later invested together in racehorses.
Source: Wikipedia; New Jersey Sports HeroesAfter 1945
He never meant to turn professional, saying he took tennis too emotionally to treat it as a job. He played between the demands of family and work at a refrigeration equipment company, and his son John became a professional golfer who won on the PGA Tour.
Source: WikipediaFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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