Frank Kovacs: Forgotten Clown Prince of a Golden Era

[johnyandell]

Let's discuss Tom LeCompte's article, "Frank Kovacs: Forgotten Clown Prince of a Golden Era"

[klacr]

The Open Throat racquet before it became "the status quo".

In a way, I get the sense that Kovacs had a slight similarity to Lew Hoad. Both were dashing, athletic, uber-talented players who were often not always at their best, but when they were, It was a sight to behold. Both are often overlooked in the annals of the history books, Kovacs more so than Hoad.

The antagonism and antics certainly ruffled a few feathers back in the day where the game was more prim and proper. Nice article. Love that Tom LeCompte is bringing back these stories of tennis yesteryear. Good writing and research.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[gzhpcu]

Years back, before the days of tennisplayer.net, I ordered via internet 30 page, typed manuscript from Frank Kovacs on the "secrets" of the serve. It was illustrated with hand drawings, but had lots of useful information which was not available those days. Unfortunately, I can no longer find it, but it was really a good analysis. Cost me 20 bucks...

[stotty]

I liked the article very much. I love to read these things.

I wouldn't say Frank was a forgotten player. His antics were legendary and he was perhaps the most outrageous of them all. It's great the author of the article keeps these memories alive so that others can pass them down. I was telling my son about Kovacs yesterday. He found his character appealing, as he would, my son being just 19 years of age.

As Klacr points out there is a similarity between Kovacs and Lew Hoad (and I would add Ellsworth Vines to that) in that when they were on they were really on. The difference being of course that Lew won stuff, and his greatness was also cemented by Pancho Gonzales who deemed Lew the best player he had ever played. Without Pancho, Lew would not have looked so good. It's handy when someone truly great like Gonzales rubber stamps you, especially if you have underachieved, or had your career cut short, as in the case of Lew Hoad. Jack Kramer rubber stamped Ellsworth Vines in much the same way.

That Don Budge rubber stamped Kovacs does mean something, but it is diminished by Kovacs's lack of achievement. The bottom line is that you simply have to achieve to be truly respected. I believe this has always been case in tennis since day one.

Stotty

[johnyandell]

One of the stunning things for me is that this guy was living in Berkeley for almost 20 years when I was teaching and working in San Francisco. I will admit he was basically unknown to me but if I knew then what I know now I would have been over there interviewing him in a heartbeat.