Frank Froehling was a great tennis champion and and an even greater human being. Remembered most by the public as the finalist in the national championships at Forest Hills in 1963 ,with a huge serve,a great forehand,and a will to win like no one else I ever knew, he was much more to those who knew him- kind,giving,honest,brave,forthright, a mentor so wise.
He was my coach on the WTA tour in 1978- He found me playing in a satellite event in Huntchinson Island- floundering,broke, discouraged-and he took me to live with him and Deborah in their abandoned plantation on the St. Lucie River- he coached me,two sessions a day,trained me physically-I had to run home after workouts to meet him at the house miles away. He changed my diet, he made a list of all my debts,and started me paying them off with the prize money I began to win,the smallest debts first,and on and on to the bigger ones. He taught me the right diet, he introduced me to country music-still my favorite,especially don wiilliams,he got me to start reading,first Siddartha by Herman Hesse,then works of the russian mystic philosopher Gourdjieff. I got strong mentally,physically,emotionally. When I got strong enough he sent me to live in Gainesville,to learn T'ai Chi. I went from the depths to pretty good. By winter i was on the Virginia Slims tour,Frank came to see me beat Virginia Ruzici[French Open winner in 1973] in the 'Slims in Washington, and Hana Mandlikova[US Open champ-1975]. in the 'Slims in Detroit,and he flew across the coast to watch me reach the finals and lose to Chrissie in three sets in Seattle. When I came back to new york in 1981 to resume my life's work as a doctor, he came up to my country home in Putnam County and built the most perfect and beautiful sand filled grass court anyone had ever seen up there -for me.
He was so modest,how many remember all those father and son national titles he won? who remembers that he retired and then came back to the tour in 1971,beat Arthur Ashe at Roland Garros and and got to the semis-where he lost to winner Ilie Nastase, or how many Davis Cup teams he was on, or that he won the 45 and over national clay court title when he was hardly even training for tournaments any more,or that he taught our US Fed Cup Captain Kathy Rinaldi when she was a kid and took her to win the Orange Bowl at the age of 12?
Still waters run deep. I am sure my time with Frank is not the only one which commands a debt of gratitude,an expression of love,admiration,and friendship. Long live Frank Froehling. Renee Richards