Biofile: The Brian Gottfried Interview

By Scoop Malinowski

Status: Former ATP No. 3. Winner of 24 singles titles, 54 doubles titles. 1977 French Open finalist. Winner of three major doubles titles.

DOB: Jan. 27, 1952 In: Baltimore, MD

First Tennis Memory: “Orange Bowl juniors. We kept players at our house from Japan for the tournament. Eddie Herr approached my dad about housing players. I used to go watch them play and that’s how I started.”

Tennis Inspirations: “The Japanese players who started me [smiles]. I guess I really liked the old Australians, Roy Emerson is at the top of the list for me. Fitness was always a big part of his game. He was just such a physical player. And I loved it, that was sort of my M.O. when I was playing. I worked hard. He was at the top. Those guys were special. And eventually I played with them. And even now I do some corporate things with them, after the fact. It’s just a blast. And I picked the right heroes – they’re great guys.”

Greatest Sports Moment: “Gosh…I have some special memories. Winning the Davis Cup in Palm Springs in ’78. Winning the World doubles with Raul Ramirez in ’76 in Mexico City. Coming off the court when Wembley Arena was catching fire – when we were on court playing. Unusual memory. When I think back – I don’t remember anything bad, which is a crazy thing, there were only good memories. My closest friends are still the guys I had the toughest battles with – Harold Solomon, Eddie Dibbs, Jimmy Connors, the American group that was our age. Just good memories. It’s been a great sport for me.”

Most Painful Moment: “I got cheated in the 12 and under – to qualify for state. I didn’t qualify that year because I lost that match in Florida. They would take a certain amount of players from each district – depending on how you did at the qualifier. Yeah and so that was the most painful. Lasting scar as you can tell [smiles].”

Strangest Match: “One was against my doubles partner Raul Ramirez. We played each other in the Masters in Houston. Maybe ’76 or so. He got upset at a line call. Refused to play. And actually came off the court. Said: ‘I’m not playing anymore.’ And then the tournament director spent the next ten minutes trying to talk him into going back on the court. So that was unusual. The fire in Wembley Arena – rafters. They had to clear the facility. Walked back to the hotel which was next door. Those two were unusual.”

Funniest Players Encountered: “Eddie Dibbs has to rank at the top of the list. Unfortunate the public couldn’t get to see him in the locker room. I’m not sure anything he said could have been printed or seen on TV [smiles]. He could make you laugh. He was that way with everybody. I remember him coming off the court – he played Hans Pohmann one year at the French Open. And if you remember, Pohmann had an unusual game, two handed backhand. His strokes were unorthodox and he wouldn’t give you any rhythm. Dibbsy beat him something like 60 63 86 and he came into the locker room – I can’t remember every word – but basically: ‘Pohmann, you screwed up my game so bad.’ He won the match and he’s walking in with the guy that he just beat. Anybody else would have taken a swing at him but that was Dibbsy. He could say things like that.”

Embarrassing Tennis Memory: “11 or 12, ballboy at Nassau Country Club in New York. Grass court event. All the top players were there – Arthur Ashe, Clark Graebner, Marty Reissen. I was a national level player. I was out ballboying, I was back at the back of the court. And Arthur Ashe was playing Rod Sussman, his wife Karen Hantze Sussman won Wimbledon in about ’61. Anyway, I think Arthur won 12-10 in the third. And I had to go to the bathroom about midway through the second set. And I’ll just leave it at I’m glad that they were playing on a grass court [smiles]. So that was my most embarrassing.”

Favorite Court To Play On: “The court in Vienna, low bouncing. Surface was paint over wood. Very rough, like sandpaper. Ball stayed really low. My slice backhand stayed at the shoe-top level. And I was able to come in behind it. So it made it tough to pass. That was a court I really liked (Brian won four singles titles in Vienna).”

Why Do You Love Playing Tennis: “I don’t know. Right now I like the exercise. I love just striking the ball. I was always an athlete, I played baseball before I played tennis. I don’t know. Best thing I can think of is God put a passion in my heart and it never left.”

Favorite Players To Watch: “Now…I like, obviously, the guys at the top – Federer, Djokovic. I love to see players that work on their game and do stuff and see the results. Djokovic working on coming in a little bit more this year. Roger certainly volleys more. I love to see people doing stuff like that. Nadal, obviously. I remember when he first came on the Tour he wouldn’t go to the net. Now they say he’s one of the best volleyers on the tour.”

“Tennis is so physical. I’m tired just watching it’s so physical. And I just had this discussion with another guy who played a few years before me. He felt that we were in better shape than the current guys. I just don’t see it. As slow as the courts are, as heavy as the balls are, to be able to play five sets of singles for five hours, comeback the next day, they did that in Australia a few years ago. They do that regularly. I just can’t see how they are able to do that. We used to play three matches, singles, doubles and mixed, on one day. Come back and play the next day. You can count the number of balls we hit in a match at Wimbledon on one hand probably – return of serve and passing shot would have been a long rally. So yeah. But I don’t think I remember what the question was [smiles].”

Which Matches Were You At Your Best: “It’s been a while. That’s testing my memory. Maybe a comeback from two sets to love and 5-1 down one year at the French Open, against Mark Dickson, who’s now assistant coach at University of Miami. He talks about it more than I do [smiles]. I also remember being up 6-1 to Peter Fleming in the tiebreak in the third at Mission Hills. And Alan Stone once at La Costa. (How about the finals you played at the French Open vs. Vilas?) You know, going through it – my goal was to be the best player in the world – so when you’re going through it, if you’re not there, you’re not sort of looking back and saying ‘Hey, I’m having a good week.’ So when you finish those days and get well beyond them, you say, ‘Hey, I did okay there. Not too many people have done that.’ So at the time, it didn’t feel like much. I don’t know if that makes sense.”

Career Accomplishments: Reached career high ATP singles ranking of no. 3 in 1977; Won French Open doubles in ’75 and ’77 and won Wimbledon doubles in ’76; Turned pro in 1972, retired in 1984; Earned $2.8 million in career prize money; Reached Wimbledon semis and US Open quarters twice.

Brian Gottfried · Jimmy Connors · Roland Garros · Roy Emerson

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