Harold Solomon

True Grit

 

The game of tennis has altered radically in recent years. Once a stately, even staid, gentleman's game played elegantly before respectfully hushed crowds at country clubs, it has become a mass sport played by millions on city courts all over the country, and watched by tens of millions on television extravaganzas. Big money, endless worldwide tours and international attention have revolutionized the sport; and the game itself has changed. Only Wimbledon of the world's major tournaments remains a competition on grass; all the circuit competition is dominated by slower clay or synthetic surfaces.

In this age when strategy and cunning are as crucial as a powerful serve-and-volley game used to be, and when canny hustlers dominate the game once peopled by polite gamesmen, perhaps no one is more representative of the "new breed" of tennis player than Harold Solomon. By sheer determination and tenacity, Solomon has clawed his way to recognition as one of the world's top-ranking players.

At 5'6" and one hundred thirty-eight pounds, he is the smallest player in major tennis. He has an unimpressive first serve, a weaker second serve, and rarely goes to the net to put away a flashy winning stroke. At the beginning of most matches, he can easily appear to be overmatched.