Jaroslav Drobný

Jaroslav Drobný (Czech pronunciation: [ˈjaroslav

Jaroslav Drobný
ˈdrobniː];[3] 12 October 1921 – 13 September 2001)
was a world No. 1 amateur tennis and ice hockey
champion. He left Czechoslovakia in 1949 and
travelled as an Egyptian citizen before becoming a
citizen of the United Kingdom in 1959, where he
died in 2001. In 1951, he became the first and, to
date, only Egyptian to win the French Open, while
doing likewise at the Wimbledon Championships in
1954. He was inducted into the International Tennis
Hall of Fame in 1983. He played internationally for
the Czechoslovakia men's national ice hockey team,
and was inducted in the International Ice Hockey
Federation Hall of Fame.

Tennis career
Jaroslav Drobný (left) and Bob Mark in 1958
Drobný began playing tennis at age five, and, as a
Country (sports) Czechoslovakia (until 1939
ball-boy, watched world-class players including
and 1945–1950)
compatriot Karel Koželuh.[4] He had an excellent
Bohemia and Moravia
swinging left-handed serve and a good forehand.[5]
(1939-1945)
Drobný played in his first Wimbledon Championship
Egypt (1950–1959)
in 1938, losing in the first round to Alejandro
Great Britain (after 1959)
Russell. After World War II Drobný was good
enough to be able to beat Jack Kramer in the fourth Born 12 October 1921
round of the 1946 Wimbledon Championship before Prague, Czechoslovakia
losing in the semifinals.[6] In 1951 and 1952, he won Died 13 September 2001 (aged 79)
the French Open, defeating in the final Eric Sturgess Tooting, London, England
and then retaining the title the following year against Turned pro 1938 (amateur tour)
Frank Sedgman.[7] Drobný was the losing finalist at
Retired 1969
Wimbledon in both 1949 and 1952 before finally
Plays Left-handed (one-handed
winning it in 1954 by beating Ken Rosewall for the
backhand)
title, the first left-hander to capture Wimbledon since
Norman Brookes.[8] Int. Tennis HoF 1983 (member page (https://w
ww.tennisfame.com/hall-of-fa
He won three singles titles at the Italian mers/inductees/jaroslav-drobn
Championships (1950, 1951, and 1953).[9][10][11] y/))
Singles
Career record 1106–268 (80.5%)[1]
Drobný was ranked World No. 1 amateur in 1954 by Career titles 147
Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph.[2] He also Highest ranking No. 1 (1954, Lance Tingay)[2]
won the French Open doubles title in 1948, playing
Grand Slam singles results
with Lennart Bergelin, and he won the mixed
doubles title paired with Patricia Canning Todd at Australian Open 2R (1950)
1948 French Open. French Open W (1951, 1952)
Wimbledon W (1954)
Drobný held the distinction of having competed at
US Open SF (1947, 1948)
Wimbledon under four different national identities.
In 1938, at the age of 16, he started for his native Doubles
Czechoslovakia. A year later, following the German Career record 0–1 (Open Era)
invasion and occupation of Czechoslovakia, he was Grand Slam doubles results
officially representing the Protectorate of Bohemia
Australian Open F (1950)
and Moravia. After World War II, he started at
Wimbledon yet again as Czechoslovak but chose to French Open W (1948)
defect from the communist regime in 1949 – he left Wimbledon F (1951)
Czechoslovakia for good on 11 July 1949.[12] Grand Slam mixed doubles results
French Open W (1948)
Defection Wimbledon SF (1948)
After the Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948, Drobný Medal record
became increasingly dissatisfied with the way the Ice hockey
communist propaganda used him for its purposes. At
Representing Czechoslovakia
the time, he was Czechoslovakia's most renowned
Olympic Games
athlete together with the long-distance runner Emil
Zátopek. Increasingly, it was becoming apparent to 1948 St. Moritz Team competition
Drobný that he was no longer able to travel freely to World Championships
tournaments and he grew dissatisfied with the new 1947 Prague Team competition
regime. This ultimately resulted in his defection
from his native land.

Drobný defected from Czechoslovakia together with a fellow Czech Davis Cup player Vladimír Černík
while playing at a tennis tournament in Gstaad, Switzerland on July 15, 1949, after disobeying
instructions from the USSR government to not play.[13] "All I had", he wrote later, "was a couple of
shirts, the proverbial toothbrush and $50."[4] Drobný and Černík were the core of the Czechoslovak Davis
Cup team. Twice, the two of them had carried their country to the Davis Cup semifinals, losing to
Australia in 1947 and in 1948. Drobný won 37 of his 43 Davis Cup matches.[7]

Becoming stateless, Drobný attempted to gain Swiss, US and Australian papers until finally Egypt offered
him citizenship. He represented Egypt at Wimbledon from 1950 through 1959, including his title winning
run in 1954. He is the only Egyptian citizen ever to win a Grand Slam tennis tournament. At the time of
his Wimbledon win in 1954, Drobný was already living in the United Kingdom (at Lake House, Dormans
Park, near East Grinstead Sussex) but only in his final appearance at Wimbledon in 1960, at the age of 38,
did he represent his new homeland Great Britain. The London Gazette announced on 24 July 1959 that he
had been 'naturalised' on 8 May the same year.[14]

Achievements
During his amateur career, Drobný won over 130 singles titles, and was world ranked in the top amateurs
10 from 1946 to 1955. Drobný was inducted in the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode
Island in 1983. He is the only person to win the rare combination of Wimbledon in tennis and a world
championship title in ice hockey.

In total, Drobný started in Wimbledon 17 times, always sporting his trademark tinted prescription glasses
as an old ice hockey injury affected his eyesight.[14] Drobný is the only male tennis player who ever won
a Wimbledon singles title while wearing glasses. Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova are the only
female Wimbledon champions wearing glasses. Arthur Ashe, who was known for playing with spectacles,
had switched to contact lenses by the time he won Wimbledon in 1975.

Drobný has won the most clay court titles of any one player (over 90).[15][16]

Ice hockey career

From 1938 to 1949 Drobný played center in the Czechoslovak ice hockey league.[4] He was a silver
medalist with the Czechoslovak ice hockey team in the 1948 Olympics. In the final match,
Czechoslovakia and Canada tied goalless but Canada won the gold medal due to a better overall goal
average. Drobný scored 9 goals in 8 games at the Olympics. Jaroslav Drobný was also a member of the
Czechoslovak national ice hockey team which won the gold medals at the 1947 World Ice Hockey
Championships in Prague.[14] He scored 15 goals in 7 games in the tournament including a hat-trick in
the decisive victory over USA which gave his country its first ever World Championships title. In 1997,
Drobný was inducted in the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame.[17][18] Drobný could have
become the first ever European player to start in the National Hockey League when the Boston Bruins put
him on their reserve in 1949. Apparently, he was offered $20,000 to come over to play for Boston but he
refused, preferring to remain playing amateur ice hockey and retain the flexibility to play tennis during
the summers.[19] The first European to play in the NHL eventually became Ulf Sterner from Sweden
when he started for the New York Rangers for the first time on 27 January 1965.

Autobiography
In 1955, Jaroslav Drobný published his autobiography titled
Champion in Exile. He was married to Rita Anderson Jarvis,
onetime English tournament player. He died 13 September 2001 in
Tooting, London a month before his 80th birthday.[14][20]

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 8 (3 titles, 5 runners-up)

Result Year Championship Surface Opponent Score

6–3,
6–2,
French Marcel
Loss 1946 Clay 1–6,
Championships Bernard
4–6,
3–6
4–6,
French Frank 5–7,
Loss 1948 Clay
Championships Parker 7–5,
6–8
Jaroslav Drobný's plaque at the 1st
6–3, Czech Lawn Tennis Club in Prague
0–6,
Ted
Loss 1949 Wimbledon Grass 3–6,
Schroeder
6–4,
4–6
1–6,
2–6,
French Budge
Loss 1950 Clay 6–3,
Championships Patty
7–5,
5–7

6–3,
French Eric
Win 1951 Clay 6–3,
Championships Sturgess
6–3

6–2,
French
Frank 6–0,
Win 1952 Championships Clay
Sedgman 3–6,
(2)
6–4
6–4,
Frank 2–6,
Loss 1952 Wimbledon Grass
Sedgman 3–6,
2–6
Jaroslav Drobný (r), playing for
13–11, Egypt, being congratulated by 18-
Ken 4–6, year-old Lew Hoad (l) after Drobný's
Win 1954 Wimbledon Grass
Rosewall 6–2,
9–7 victory in the final of the 1953 Italian
Championships in Rome.

Doubles: 4 (1 title, 3 runner-up)

Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score

Win 1948 French Clay Lennart Harry Hopman 8–6, 6–1, 12–
Championships Bergelin Frank 10
 Sedgman

French Tony Trabert 6–2, 1–6, 10–

Loss 1950 Clay Bill Talbert
Championships Eric Sturgess 8, 6–2

John
Australian Eric 6–3, 5–7, 4–6,
Loss 1950 Grass Bromwich
Championships Sturgess 6–3, 8–6
Adrian Quist

Ken McGregor
Eric 3–6, 6–2, 6–3,
Loss 1951 Wimbledon Grass Frank
Sturgess 3–6, 6–3
Sedgman

Mixed Doubles: 1 (1 title)

Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score

Doris Hart
French Patricia
Win 1948 Clay Frank 6–3, 3–6, 6–3
Championships Canning Todd
Sedgman

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

Key
W F SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH

(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin
stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate
(events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.

Tournament 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948

Australian Open A A A Not held A A A

French Open A A Not held F A F

Wimbledon 1R 3R Not held SF QF 2R

US Open A A A A A A A A A SF SF

Win–loss 0–1 2–1 10–2 8–2 12–3

1 Drobný did not play. His opponent got a walkover.

In popular culture
Ivan Blatný wrote a poem called Wimbledon which addresses Drobný.[9][21][22]

References
1. Garcia, Gabriel. "Jaroslav Drobny: Career match record" (https://web.archive.org/web/20180
 729113502/https://app.thetennisbase.com/?enlace=playern&player1=DROBNY,%20JAROS
LAV&sub=2#aSubmenu). thetennisbase.com. Madrid, Spain: Tennismem SL. Archived from
the original (https://app.thetennisbase.com/?enlace=playern&player1=DROBNY,%20JAROS
LAV&sub=2#aSubmenu) on 29 July 2018. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
2. United States Lawn Tennis Association (1972). Official Encyclopedia of Tennis (First
Edition), p. 426.
3. "Jaroslav" in isolation: [ˈjaroslaf].
4. "Jaroslav Drobny" (https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/sep/15/guardianobituaries).
The Guardian. 5 September 2001. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
5. "Jaroslav Drobny" (https://web.archive.org/web/20171004084903/http://www.tennis.co.nf/JA
ROSLAV%20DROBNY.htm). www.tennis.co.nf. Archived from the original (http://www.tennis.
co.nf/JAROSLAV%20DROBNY.htm) on 4 October 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
6. "Wimbledon – The Championships 1946 – Gentlemen's Singles" (https://www.wimbledon.co
m/en_GB/scores/draws/archive/pdfs/1946_MS_A4.pdf) (PDF). AELTC.
7. "Jaroslav Drobný, 79, a Star In Tennis and Olympic Hockey" (https://www.nytimes.com/200
1/09/16/sports/jaroslav-drobny-79-a-star-in-tennis-and-olympic-hockey.html). The New York
Times. 16 September 2001.
8. "Wimbledon draws archive – 1954 Gentlemen's Singles" (https://www.wimbledon.com/en_G
B/scores/draws/archive/1954/MS/rFs1.html). AELTC.
9. "Hall of Famers – Jaroslav Drobny" (https://www.tennisfame.com/hall-of-famers/inductees/ja
roslav-drobny/). International Tennis Hall of Fame.
10. "Hoad Beaten By Drobny" (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article160487166). The Newcastle
Sun. NSW. 12 May 1953. p. 12 – via National Library of Australia.
11. "Muster wins another clay court title" (https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=COsyAAAAI
BAJ&sjid=dxUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4495%2C2063866). Star-News. AP. 20 May 1996.
12. Sarah Kirkham (7 August 2014). "Throwback Thursday: The many faces of Jaroslav Drobný"
(https://web.archive.org/web/20150518102629/http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/news/arti
cles/2014-08-07/throwback_thursday_.html). www.wimbledon.com. AELTC. Archived from
the original (https://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/news/articles/2014-08-07/throwback_thurs
day_.html) on 18 May 2015.
13. "CZECH TENNIS STARS DEFY GOVERNMENT" (http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/CZE
CH-TENNIS-STARS-DEFY-GOVERNMENT/4a344d27fe3e493584322e8f1cb6de17). AP
Archive. 25 July 1949. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
14. Jaroslav Drobný (https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/dr/jaroslav-drobny-1.h
tml) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20141008064158/http://www.sports-reference.co
m/olympics/athletes/dr/jaroslav-drobny-1.html) 8 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine.
sports-reference.com
15. Garcia, Gabriel. "Jaroslav Drobny: Career tournament results - Clay" (https://app.thetennisb
ase.com/?enlace=playern&player1=DROBNY,%20JAROSLAV&sub=4&idjugador=39802&ye
ar=&surface=C&tipo_de_torneo=&tipo_de_cuadro=W&tm_category=&tm_torneo=&rondaplu
s=#aSubmenu). thetennisbase.com. Madrid, Spain: Tennismem SL. Retrieved 19 November
2017.
16. Velickkovic, Nikola (29 June 2017). "Jaroslav Drobny Wimbledon Champion from Africa" (htt
ps://web.archive.org/web/20171201042909/https://www.intelligencerpost.com/jaroslav-drobn
y-mr-tennis/). Intelligencer Post. Archived from the original (https://www.intelligencerpost.co
m/jaroslav-drobny-mr-tennis/) on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
17. "Síň slávy IIHF" (https://www.ceskyhokej.cz/cesky-hokej/historie-cslh/sin-slavy-iihf). Czech
Ice Hockey Association (in Czech). 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023.
18. "2.14 Jaroslav Drobny" (https://www.hhof.com/IZone/izone.member.info.do?mem=14).
Hockey Hall of Fame. 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
19. Grasso, John (2011). Historical Dictionary of Tennis (https://archive.org/details/historicaldicti
o00gras). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. pp. 88 (https://archive.org/details/historicald
ictio00gras/page/n112), 89. ISBN 978-0810872370.
20. "Jaroslav Drobny" (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1340544/Jaroslav-Drobny.ht
ml). Telegraph Newspaper. 15 September 2001. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
21. Martin Tharp, Rachel Mikos, David Vaughan (22 February 2004) Ivan Blatny: the strange
story of a Czech poet in English exile (http://www.radio.cz/en/article/50806). radio.cz
22. Jaroslav Drobný (http://www.iihf.com/iihf-home/the-iihf/100-year-anniversary/100-top-stories/
story-85.html). International Ice Hockey Federation

Further reading
Wallechinsky, David and Jaime Loucky (2009). "Ice Hockey: Men". In The Complete Book of
the Winter Olympics: 2010 Edition. London: Aurum Press Limited. p. 23.
Drobný, Jaroslav (1955). Champion in Exile: The Autobiography of Jaroslav Drobny.
London: Hodder and Stoughton. OCLC 1115128 (https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/1115128).

External links
Jaroslav Drobný (https://www.tennisfame.com/hall-of-famers/inductees/jaroslav-drobny) at
the International Tennis Hall of Fame
Jaroslav Drobný (https://www.itftennis.com/en/players/jaroslav-drobny/800172341/gbr) at
the International Tennis Federation
Jaroslav Drobný (https://www.atptour.com/en/players/-/D531/overview) at the Association of
Tennis Professionals
Jaroslav Drobný (https://www.daviscup.com/en/players/player.aspx?id=800172341) at the
Davis Cup
Jaroslav Drobný (https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/85299) at Olympedia (archive (https://
web.archive.org/web/20231231000000/https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/85299))
Jaroslav Drobný (https://olympics.com/en/athletes/jaroslav-drobny) at Olympics.com
Biographical information and career statistics from Eliteprospects.com (http://www.eliteprosp
ects.com/player.php?player=77613&lang=en)

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