Fractional, Yaroslav

Performances for Czechoslovakia

From early childhood, Yaroslav Fractional showed abilities for sports. His first hobby was football, but when he was five years old, his father found work at the Prague Tennis Club, where Yaroslav first began to serve the players with balls, and then participate in games. Later, he recalled that he had a chance to play against the future parents of Martina Navratilova and Ivan Lendl . At the age of 12 he began to win the national championships of Czechoslovakia, and in 1938, at the age of 16, he first performed at the Wimbledon tournament . A special subscription was organized for his trip to London, which allowed him to collect the necessary money. Fractional played this year as a citizen of Czechoslovakia, but in his second appearance at Wimbledon, he had to perform under the flag of Bohemia and Moravia - a Nazi protectorate formed in Czechoslovakia. Then, his participation in international tournaments was interrupted by the war, during which he worked at the plant, producing fuel barrels and cartridge cases ^[4] .

After the war, Fractional simultaneously acted as a tennis player and as a hockey player . Already in 1946 he reached the final of the tennis championship of France , then at Wimbledon he defeated Jack Cramer (becoming the last tennis player who managed to do this in an amateur tournament) and reached the semifinals, and a year later he made a hat-trick in Prague in the final match the world hockey championship , becoming one of the key players who brought the Czechs the first in the history of the country gold medal of world hockey championships. A year later, the Czechoslovak national team with the participation of Fractional only lost the gold of the Olympic Games in St. Moritz to the Canadians , who tied with them in a round-robin tournament, only by the difference of goals scored and missed. ^[5] Just a few weeks after this success, Fractional reached the final of the French tennis championship in all three categories, losing to the single finals to Frank Parker , but winning both the men's and mixed doubles. In these two years, he reached the semifinals of the US Open , and was also the undisputed leader of the Czechoslovak tennis team , having twice won the European Davis Cup group with her; both times Czechoslovakians were stopped in the interzonal finals by the Australians , in those years, along with the US national team, dominated world tennis, and both times Fractional was the player who brought points to the losing side - he won the only singles game in 1947 and two of his three games a year later. In total, he spent 43 games for the national team, winning 37 of them.

Fractional's hockey career ended abruptly after he suffered an eye injury when falling, forcing him to wear glasses for the rest of his life ^[4] . Nevertheless, in 1949 he reached the finals of the Wimbledon singles tournament, losing there to Ted Schroeder but then politics intervened in the development of his career.

Performances for Egypt

In 1950, when the Czechoslovak team arrived at the Davis Cup match in Switzerland, Fractional fled with teammate Vladimir Chernik . In his memoirs, he wrote that he did this because he did not want to obey the decisions of communist officials who decided where and when to play ^[4] . Usually in such cases, refugees turned into stateless people , but not this time: Egypt provided Fractional with his passport so that he could continue to travel. Thus, he continued to perform under the flag of Egypt and in the next three years twice brought his new country victory in singles at the French championship. Also under the flag of Egypt, he won the Italian championship three times from 1950 to 1953.

In 1954, at 32, Fractional won the main trophy of the Wimbledon tournament for Egypt, defeating Ken Roswall in a marathon of 58 games and becoming the first left-hander to win Wimbledon in singles. In total, during his appearances for Egypt, he five times went to the finals of the Grand Slam singles (three wins) and three times to the men's doubles, including forcing in 1951 to play all five sets of future Grand Slam owners - the Australian Sedgeman and McGregor . From 1947 to 1955, he was annually among the ten best amateur tennis players in the world compiled by the Daily Telegraph magazine, and in the year of his Wimbledon victory he won first place in this hierarchy ^[6] . Fractional continued to play tennis until 1960, when at the age of 38 he last appeared on Wimbledon's courts. At the same time, in the last years of his career, he constantly lived in England and, after completing an active career, received British citizenship. As a British citizen, he won the Wimbledon Veterans Tournament with Philippe Washer four years in a row in the late 60s and early 70s until a stroke forced him to completely stop playing. At the same time, he maintained a sporting goods store ^[4] .

Yaroslav Drobny was left-handed, wore glasses and was distinguished by a massive physique. Despite this, he was a formidable opponent on the court. His crown kick was a laugh. If the enemy tried to throw the “Fractional” who came out to the grid, he bent his whole body back to deliver a decisive blow. He was also distinguished by one of the most powerful innings of the postwar years, although subsequently a shoulder injury forced him to moderate the force of the blows. He was good at cutting and twisting punches ^[4] .

Singles (3 + 5)

Men's Doubles (1 + 3)

Mixed Doubles (1 + 0)

• Yaroslav Drobny on the site of the International Tennis Hall of Fame
• Yaroslav Fractional on the IIHF website
• Profile on ITF website
• Profile on the Davis Cup website