Word: lutze
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...shoot." Rod Laver does not even smoke. The tennis world has, in fact, sorely lacked an outstanding male player with personality to match since the heyday of dashing, temperamental Pancho Gonzales. Now there is a promising candidate for Pancho's old role. He is Breezy-Mannered Bachelor Bob Lutz, who last week became the first American in ten years to win the U.S. Professional Tennis Championship...
With his shag-style haircut and aquiline nose, 24-year-old Lutz looks like a cross between Actress Jane Fonda and former Baseball Swinger Ken ("The Hawk") Harrelson. His hazel eyes are as adept at staring soulfully at a pretty girl across a crowded room as they are at following a speeding ball across a net. Then there is the Lutz smile, or smirk, that has helped make him the idol of tennis "groupies." On court, he contends, the smile helps him relax. But it is the sort of constant expression that can get on an opponent's nerves...
Displaying a devastating assortment of backhand shots, unseeded Lutz vanquished some formidable opponents. He knocked out top-seeded John Newcombe of Australia in the first round, scoring the final point in a tense tie breaker with typically audacious anticipation of a cross-court drive. "Fortune favors daring," Lutz later explained. Lutz's other victims, in order, were New Zealander Brian Fairlie, Aussie Laver, South African Cliff Drysdale and Dutchman Tom Okker. Okker was out-hustled in the final by Lutz, who earned $10,000 for his 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 triumph...
...become unstoppable. With a strategy built around deadly backhand volleys, Lutz polished off Cliff Drysdale in the semifinals, then overpowered Tom Okker, the fastest man on the circuit, in a four-set final...
...Lutz quickly grabbed the $10,000 first prize and headed off to Cleveland. The vultures shifted loyalties to Okker and Laver, both of whom lost in the second round of the Cleveland Classic Wednesday...