From the S&S archives: Nothing seems to bother Tracy

STUTTGART, Germany — Tracy thought she was still warming up, officials wanted to start the match and her German opponent was ready — Tracy just kept hitting practice serves.

The referee had just said to 15-year-old American sensation Tracy Austin, in German, "Please start the match." Tracy, still in her sweats, replied with a couple more practice serves.

Realizing that all activity had stopped and not knowing just what was going on, Tracy told the official, "I'm sorry, I didn't understand." Then he told her, this time in English, that he wished to start the match.

Not wanting to delay play any longer, Tracy didn't take the time to remove her warmups. That surprised the tradition-oriented German spectators and officials because no one ever plays in sweats.

That was Tracy's introduction to professional women's tennis and to Germany. Talking about it the next day, Tracy broke out in her pixieish grin. Obviously the incident didn't bother her, she coolly chalked up a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Germany's Elke Renz, a top-ranked local-area player.

In fact nothing seems to bother Tracy. A basically shy 10th grader with an ample supply of freckles who just shed her braces last May, the youthful Austin seems to take everything pretty much in stride.

The fact that she just turned pro and had just won her first match, plus having been made the favorite in her very first pro tournament — Chris Evert had pulled out due to an injury — was obviously no big thing to her.

As for why she had decided to turn pro at this juncture in her budding career, it appeared to be a matter of having no new worlds to conquer.

"I've been thinking about it for several months now," said Tracy Tuesday. "I had remained an amateur so that I could play in the junior tournaments. But I've won all of them (including Wimbledon this year), I've been the top-ranked junior now for the past three years and I've beaten all the best junior players.

"So there wasn't really anything else for me to gain by continuing to play in the juniors. There was no real reason for me to not to turn pro. And, too, I could keep the money," mused Tracy who seems to handle, unhesitatingly, any query with a refreshing straight-forward approach.

It wasn't only that, pointed out her mother, Jeanne Austin, who is traveling with her daughter, for the first time, on this trip which will. also include the Wightman Cup matches next week in London.

"Tracy has gotten to the point where she has beaten all the juniors; if she is to improve, she has to play women," said Mrs. Austin.

Still Tracy won't be constantly on the road like many of her older counterparts. Mostly she is gone for a few days or a week, plays and returns home, Mrs. Austin pointed out.

"One of the reasons she balked at turning pro was the memory of hardly ever seeing her sister and brothers (four of the five Austin children are now or have been tennis professionals) for six or seven weeks at a time," recalls the senior Austin. She added that Tracy, who still attends high school on a regular basis, could simply not afford to do that.

"She's only missing these two weeks now and two weeks earlier in the season — that's all," said Tracy's mother who pointed outs that her daughter is a straight-A student despite her busy schedule, and works very hard to keep caught up on her schoolwork despite the occasional absences. She also noted that she and Tracy find time to keep up on the road too — on their own without special tutoring.

As for Tracy's turning pro, Mrs. Austin felt that it was important for her youngest daughter to take the big step now because "you can't hold back now even though she is younger than most of the others, because you can't take a chance on her losing interest," referring to the rejected alternative of continuing to play the junior circuit which Tracy has dominated completely for some years.

Talking about the development of Tracy's skills and her past reliance on the backcourt game which has resulted in some observers calling her daughter's game boring, Mrs. Austin noted that Tracy is "getting more aggressive as she gets older, bigger and stronger," adding:

"She will continue to develop a more aggressive game as time goes on," she said.

Tracy apparently has been growing. Mrs. Austin noted that her daughter is now almost 5-foot-3. Tracy insisted she is 5-3½..

In a practice session between matches, she displayed flawless form, picture-book style — and surprising power for a 103-pounder.

There is a developing maturity in the face of the "little girl" who burst onto the big-time tennis scene by reaching the semifinals of the 1977 Wimbledon tournament.

How did Tracy get started in tennis? It was a natural, coming from a family where mother and father as well as four older brothers and sisters were more or less seriously involved in the game. Much of the family's life for many years has revolved around the Jack Kramer Tennis Club in Rolling Hills, Calif., where they live.

Tracy started play at five and played her first tournament match at seven but for a long time it was not a serious thing, just a game, her mother recalls.

Her oldest sister, Pam, who is now 28 and retired from the tour, was the first on the pro circuit, followed by Jeff, 26, and John, at 21 still an active participant. Only Doug, who had a tennis scholarship offer but who had no real interest in the game on that serious a level, remained outside the net circle, so to speak.

Tracy has perhaps had an advantage of a more fixed home life as her father, George Austin, who spent 20 years as an officer in the Air Force, retired (as a lieutenant colonel) in 1964 and the family has been at Rolling Hills ever since. Jeanne Austin admitted that after 20 years on the move, that she, and the children, were ready to stay put for a while.

During his Air Force days, George, a radar officer who is now a physicist with TRW, a research and development firm in the Los Angeles area, almost wound up bringing his family to Wiesbaden, Germany. But what the family considered a better assignment in California came up and the Austins opted for that instead.

Now, those 14 years later, Tracy and her mother are getting a belated look at Germany. They admit being fascinated by the beautiful, always green landscape now dotted with a touch of fall coloring, the quaint towns and intrigued by a first-ever experience with those German featherbeds.

They are also impressed with immaculate, super-modern facilities at Tennis Club Filderstadt which is hosting the Porsche Grand Prix of Stuttgart, official name of the first GP tour stop on the continent.

Tracy is anything but awed at being thrust into the favorite's role for the tourney — she insists she has given it little thought.

She concedes that Holland's Betty Stove, ranked above her on the Colgate ratings but apparently not on the computerized list with which tournament officials made the seedings, may be her toughest opposition. But she points out that there are a number of other girls equally capable of a winning performance.

As for the $24,000 Porsche which will go to the winner, Tracy beamed when asked how it would be to take home the car.

"That would be just great," said the 15-year-old who won't be eligible for a regular driver's license until Dec. 12.