Parker, Frank A.
[Franciszek A. Paikowski]
Tennis
b. Feb. 16, 1916, Milwaukee, WI
Unemotional and steady, almost plodding, Parker was ranked among the top ten U. S. tennis players for 17 consecutive years, a record broken by Jimmy Connors in 1988. However, he won only two national singles titles, in 1944 and 1945, and those were considered rather spurious because most of the top players were overseas during World War II. (Parker was an Army sergeant, but he served in the United States.)
Parker was ranked eighth in the country in 1932, when he was seventeen. He was second behind Don Budge in 1936, behind Bobby Riggs in 1939, behind Ted Schroeder in 1942, behind Jack Kramer in 1947, and four times he was ranked third. But he reached the top spot only in those two wartime years.
After the war, Parker won the French Open singles two years in a row, 1948 and 1949. He also won the U. S. national men's doubles title with Jack Kramer in 1943, and he teamed with Pancho Gonzalez to win the French and Wimbledon doubles championship in 1949.
Parker won 12 of his 14 Davis Cup matches, and he was a member of the winning U. S. team in 1937 and 1948, when he won two singles matches in the cup final against Australia.
After losing in the semifinals of the U. S. National in 1949, Parker turned professional and toured with Jack Kramer, Pancho Gonzalez, and Pancho Segura. In 1968, he became the oldest ever to play in the U. S. Nationals, saying he wanted to be part of the Open era. He lost in the first round to Arthur Ashe, who went on to win the championship.