PHILADELPHIA — The oldest living Wimbledon champion doesn’t take in much tennis anymore. It bores him. Too much power. Too many booming serves and baseline rallies. When Vic Seixas was learning the sport in Overbrook Park during the dawn of the Great Depression, working as a ball boy at the mediocre neighborhood clubs where his father played, he preferred a slashing, serve-and-volley style. Most players back then did. Get to the net. Challenge and finesse your opponent from there. That was how Seixas won Wimbledon in 1953 and the U.S. National Championship in 1954. That was how he helped the United States win one of the most memorable events in tennis history: the 1954 Davis Cup. That is why, even though Wimbledon’s qualifying rounds have begun and the men’s and women’s tournaments will start this Monday, Seixas will wait until the second week of matches to tune in. “I watch the end,” he said.
In the meantime, he will spend his days as he usually does, as he approaches a pair of remarkable milestones: the 70th anniversary of his Wimbledon victory on Tuesday, July 4, and his 100th birthday on Wednesday, Aug. 30. Wheelchair-bound, Seixas gets around OK inside his apartment at Harbor Point Tennis Club in Simi Valley, Calif.
“I keep pretty busy,” he said over the phone Monday.
