Ex-Ace's 53 Years at the Australian Open

MELBOURNE, Australia, Jan. 29, 2005 — -- 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:

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.