UK Edition
Tony Mottram, top British tennis player – obituary
Tony Mottram, who has died aged 96, dominated post-war British tennis, representing his country in 56 Davis Cup matches and reaching the Wimbledon doubles final in 1947; he later became an influential coach.
The son of a leather bicycle seat salesman, Anthony John Mottram was born in Coventry on June 8 1920. Tony, the second of three children, was a bright, hard-working boy who, despite his family’s modest means, won a scholarship to Bablake School at the age of 11.
Tall and wiry, he showed an early talent for ball games, encouraged by his mother, a keen golfer. Although none of the family played tennis, Tony’s passion for the sport was sparked when a friend took him to play at Earlsdon Tennis Club.
He soon began playing regularly at 6.30 am to fit in two hours of games and drills before school. This meticulous approach formed the basis of his classic all-court game and immaculate technique. By his late teens, he was a regular in the strong Warwickshire county side.
Mottram first appeared at the Priory Club’s Whitsuntide international tournament at Edgbaston in 1938 at the age of 17. He was already tipped for stardom.
Despite losing in Wimbledon’s Northern Qualifying event weeks later, he improved with every match. The following year The Times reported from the Priory that the young Warwickshire player “lost through inexperience” but had “all the shots and a strong service”.
Although the Second World War halted the European tournament circuit, Mottram belatedly fulfilled his promise, eventually winning the Priory tournament in 1946.
He joined the RAF early in the war and volunteered to fly. He started his training to be a pilot in Southern Rhodesia, whose future prime minister, Ian Smith, was also a pupil. In Rhodesia Mottram was deeply affected by the death of his great friend and fellow Davis Cup team-mate, Ronnie Shayes, in a flying accident. Never a religious man, Mottram lost all trace of faith.
After completing the advanced phase of his training in South Africa, he returned to Britain and converted to the Hampden before joining No 489 (NZ) Squadron. The bomber had been modified to carry torpedoes and the squadron’s role was to attack shipping in the North Sea.
On September 17 1942 Mottram took off from RAF Wick on a shipping search accompanied by two other Hampdens. Off the coast of Norway near Egersund the formation sighted two large merchant vessels with an escort of five flak ships. The three aircraft attacked under heavy fire and dropped their torpedoes. As Mottram turned away he saw his torpedo strike Karpfanger. Another aircraft’s torpedo hit the second ship. Throughout the attack, the anti-aircraft fire was intense and Mottram’s aircraft was hit in one of its two engines. All three aircraft returned to base safely.
It was later confirmed that both vessels had been sunk. This was the first major success by torpedo-carrying Hampdens and it is often referred to as “the squadron’s finest hour”. Mottram was later awarded the DFC.
After six months he was rested but in late 1944 he returned to operations. Promoted to squadron leader, he was appointed a flight commander of No 272 Squadron based in Italy and flying the Beaufighter.
On December 9 he led six aircraft, escorted by six Spitfires, to attack shipping in the Gulf of Trieste with rockets. Intense anti-aircraft fire met the formation and one Beaufighter was lost. He continued to fly on operations over the Adriatic, when coastal shipping was the main target.
In January 1945 he returned to Britain and for the last few months of the war he served as the station adjutant at RAF Banff in north-east Scotland, home to three Beaufighter squadrons attacking shipping in the Norwegian fjords.
Mottram left the RAF and resumed his tennis career after the war, but tournaments including Grand Slams were restricted to amateurs, with no prize money and only travel expenses paid. Lacking the private income of many of his rivals, Mottram funded his tournament play through journalism, as Observer tennis correspondent for more than a decade. He also contributed a series on “How To Play Tennis” to the children’s section of The Daily Telegraph in 1951.
He defied widespread anti-Nazi sentiment by arguing strongly for the prohibition on German players competing at Wimbledon to be lifted. To his sorrow the ban remained until 1951, even though several German players had opposed the Nazis and the 1936 finalist, the gentle homosexual Baron Gottfried von Cramm, was even briefly imprisoned for his relationship with a young Jewish actor.
Mottram himself was reaching the height of his powers, his chiselled, Boy’s Own Paper good looks, attacking game and sportsmanship making him a favourite with the crowds.
In 1947 he reached the Wimbledon doubles final with the Australian Bill Sidwell but lost to the favourites Jack Kramer and Bob Falkenburg. In 1948 he was a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon, his best singles showing there, but bowed out to US No 1 Gardner Molloy. He also reached the 4th round of the French Open in 1947 and 1948.
By now he had fallen in love with the vivacious blonde international Joy Gannon, but both families opposed the match since she was only 20. During a tennis tour of Switzerland in 1949, however, the pair married discreetly, “almost an elopement” according to his son Buster, then presented their parents with a fait accompli.
Meanwhile Mottram and the Surrey star Geoff Paish became the backbone of the British Davis Cup team from 1947. That year the Telegraph’s John Oliff lionised Mottram for playing “the best tennis since Perry”. He went on to win 30 out of his 56 matches.
Both men would have sons who also played internationally and when a young Chris “Buster” Mottram played alongside Paish’s son John in the 1972 tie against France, it created a record: the first time two sons of Davis Cup team-mates had competed in the same side.
In 1955 Mottram took the decision to end his tournament career and become a teaching professional. The strict demarcation between amateurs and professionals meant that he was forced to resign his coveted membership of All England, but two years later the committee relented and voted him an honorary member.
He and Joy, who also coached, were based at the unfashionable Woodborough Club at Putney, which boasted just five shale courts and an old-fashioned wooden clubhouse. Despite this, Mottram soon attracted many promising young players, whom he taught to hit through the ball crisply.
His three children, whom he drilled on the Wimbledon indoor courts after school, became fine stylists, although the youngest, Karen, did not play competitively. Buster, the eldest, was British No 1 for seven years during the 1970s and 1980s and world ranked 15, while his elder daughter Linda was British No 2 before becoming a coach.
As children, she and Buster demonstrated stroke production on Mottram’s well-received television series on tennis and in his coaching manuals. Mottram succeeded Dan Maskell as a popular head of LTA Training in 1974.
A courteous, intensely private man, who exemplified the old-fashioned virtues of modesty and restraint, Mottram coped stoically with losses from Lloyds Insurance syndicates in the late 1980s, which also affected Buster, Mark Cox and Virginia Wade.
He remained mentally sharp and tennis-mad to the end, commenting pithily on Andy Murray’s epic Davis Cup battle days before his death. He is survived by his wife Joy and their three children.
Tony Mottram, born June 8 1920, died October 6 2016