view raw text
Yanks Wimbledon Singles Choices Trabert, Connolly Rated Standouts Stars From 34 Countries Will Challenge Americans When Play Begins Monday By ROBERT C. DOWSON United Press Sports Writer WIMBLEDON, England, June 19. — Tony Trabert and Maureen Connolly are favored to win the mens and womens single titles, in the 67th Wimbledon lawn tennis championships which begin Monday. .Stars from 34 countries will challenge the two favorites, for what are universally regarded as the world amateur tennis crowns. The husky, 23 -year-old Trabert* of Cin cinnati, holder of the United States and French Championships, will be making his second bid for the Wimbledon title. In the 1950 tournament, Trabert was eliminated in the second round by Britains Tony Mottram who, although still Britains number one player, is not even seeded in the draw this year. Davis Cup matches in Australia and championship tournaments at home and in Europe have shown Trabert to be a handful for any world class players today. Bight behind Trabert in favor come Australias Davis Cup heros Lew Hoad and Ken Rosewall, both 19 and both "fancied"" in Australian tennis circles to upset the short 6 to 4 odds bookmakers are quoting for Trabert. Seixas, Patty Held at 8-to-l Vic Seixas, the defending champion from Philadelphia and Budge Patty, Los Angeles star who took the title in 1950, are rated no better than 8 to 1 shots to win the mens singles championship in a field of 128. For the womens crown, few experts or fans expect any of the other 95 contestants to dethrone "Little Mo" Connolly. Maureen swept through to victory in 1952 in her first attempt at the age of 17. The head-bobbing blonde from San Diego, Calif., retained the title last year. On that occasion, Doris Hart of Coral Gables, Fla., gave Maureen an 8-6, 7-5 battle in one of the best womens finals seen at Wimbledon. Doris could do so again, since the girls are in opposite halves of the draw. Three other United States women are in there with what must be regarded as an outside chance. They are Shirley Fry of Akron, Ohio, and former titleholders Louise Brough of Beverly Hills, Calif., and Mrs. Margaret duPont of Wilmington, Del. The rest of the international field appears to be coming to Wimbledon just for the ride. The first round of the mens singles will be held Monday. The first round matches involving Americans with seedings in parentheses: Trabert first vs P. Wooler, Britain; Seixas fourth vs C. A. Caff, Britain; Lar-sen sixth vs H. C. Bernstein, Britain; Patty seventh vs B. J. Bucknell, Britain; Gardnar Mulloy 12th vs N. R. Lewis, Britain; Hugh Stewart, Pasadena, Calif vs L. H. Norgarb, South Africa; Gil Shea, Presidio, Calif., vs C. W. Hannam, Britain; Hal Burrows, Charlottesville, Va:, vs G. L. Ward, Britain; Gene Garrett, New York, vs Ramanathan Krishnan, India; Herb Flam, Beverly Hills, Calif., ys D. H. Shaw, Britain; Andy Paton, Ann Arbor, Mich., vs P. Moys, Britain; Tony Vincent, Miami, Fla., vs I. Devroe, Belgium; Malcolm Fox, Baltimore, vs Roy Emerson, Australia; John Ager, Atlanta, Ga., vs H. F. Walton, Britain; M. Murphy vs Nicola Pietrarigeli, Italy; Julius Heldman, New York vs Jacques Brichant, Belgium.