The Life of Tony Trabert
Part 1

Mark Winters


The great Tony Trabert passed away this February at age 90.

When I learned that Tony Trabert had passed away at his home in Ponte Vedra, Florida on February 3rd this year, I realized the curtain had closed for the final time with my "Big Three."

The Big Three were the most significant people I spent time with during my tennis career. Tennis legend Jack Kramer was the first to depart on September 12, 2009. The Honorable Robert Kelleher, the eternal advocate for Open Tennis, was called away on June 20, 2012. (For a tribute to Robert Kelleher, Click Here.) During the first week of this year's second month, Trabert, at the age of 90, made it a trio.

The group had a brotherly relationship. I became part of the family via good fortune that may have begun, quite simply, as blind luck. I first met Kramer in the 1960s. That led to an introduction to Trabert.

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Mark Winters has been a tennis journalist for 50 years. During that time, he has been a staff writer for Florida Tennis, Inside Tennis, Tennis Magazine, Tennis Life and Tennis Week. His freelance articles have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Daily News, and USA Today.

He has also contributed features to numerous other tennis and media outlets worldwide. Mark played on both the intercollegiate and professional levels. He coached college tennis and was a US Boys' Junior Davis Cup Team coach, working with Pete Sampras and Jim Courier among others.


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