Trabert Is Happy to See U.S. Men’s Drought End

PARIS —  Tony Trabert isn’t sorry he is no longer the answer to a trivia question.

Q: Who was the last American to win the French Open?

A: Until Sunday, it was Trabert.

Trabert, who won back-to-back in 1954 and 1955, watched from the television booth at Roland Garros as Chang became the new answer.

“I’m very, very happy for him,” said Trabert, who broadcast the final for an Australian network. “I think he played exceptionally well. As a matter of fact, I said before we went on the air that I thought he’d win.”

As the failures of U.S. players in the French Open grew, Trabert achieved a sort of annual notoriety as the last American to win it. Trabert found that distinction amusing.

“After all, I haven’t had anything to do with the other Americans not winning,” he said.

“Let’s face it, John McEnroe should have won it. That would have ended all this stuff.”

McEnroe lost the 1984 final to Ivan Lendl after winning the first two sets.

Coming into the tournament, Trabert had handicapped the U.S. hopefuls, but he didn’t include Chang.

“I certainly didn’t think Michael would win,” Trabert said. “In fact, I didn’t think any American would do it this year. John pulled out, Andre Agassi wasn’t in the best physical condition. I thought Michael didn’t have all the guns to do it.”

Trabert said he considers the French Open the most demanding of the four Grand Slam events because each point on clay takes so much energy to play.

“But Chang showed a lot of courage,” Trabert said. “When things were going badly for him, it would have been very easy for him to slide into the twilight.

“Both he and Stefan wanted to win. The question was who didn’t want to lose the most.”