The grinder has returned.
For the 53rd consecutive year, Frederick (Ted) Schroeder, 83, of La Jolla, Calif., has swept onto the sidelines of the Australian Open and begun dispensing acerbic advice and opinions about international tennis.
Schroeder was the 1942 U.S. Champion and the 1949 Wimbledon Champion; his memory of the game goes back beyond virtually every other observer of tennis.
His working title here, off-air talent booker for an Australian sports radio service, serves as a cover for the sport's most mischievous and amusing, self-proclaimed "troublemaker."
"Nobody else has got 74 years in the game and 53 [years] in Australia," said Schroeder, who uses "grinder" to describe his approach to the sport and life.
He grinds out his opinions, too:
On marathon five-hour matches: "Those guys could come to the same conclusion in half the time, if they would just serve and volley."
Anyone who takes the risk of rushing the net, he said, "has a bigger advantage than Vegas casinos have over the gamblers."
On the U.S. Open: "Not first class. All it is is money, money, money, money. … I think class and style still have a place in sport, and I don't think [the U.S. Open] compares to Australia and Wimbledon."
On highly paid tennis players: "Some guys are so dumb, they haven't finished high school. Yet they're making seven figures. It's ridiculous."
As an amateur, Schroeder says, he earned an $80 gift certificate to a London department store for winning the Wimbledon title.
As a talent booker for Southern Cross, an Australian radio service, the silver-haired Schroeder arranges interviews for the service's on-air talent. This year, for the first time, Schroeder arrived with a wheelchair -- but pushed it from place to place, then sat in it, seeking help to keep his balance, but otherwise undaunted in his pursuit of good interviews.
"I'm competing against ESPN, ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company), Channel 7 [and] Channel 10 (Australian television services), and radio is déclassé," he said, indicating it captures a smaller audience, even though it reaches 93 percent of Australians living outside the big cities.
