Jaroslav Drobný: The Egyptian Citizen Who Won Three Grand Slam Titles

Jaroslav Drobný was born in Czechoslovakia in 1921, the same year the country joined the International Lawn Tennis Federation.

Drobný began playing tennis at the age of five. However, tennis was not his only sporting pursuit, as he also played ice hockey. By the age of 16, he had made a name for himself with the Czechoslovakian national team in the Davis Cup, following a notable match against American tennis champion Don Budge.

Drobný made his Wimbledon debut in 1938, when he was 16 years old. The following year, the outbreak of World War II brought uncertainty and fear to his life and sporting career, as it did for much of Europe. The war forced him away from tennis for several years, during which he worked in a factory in Prague.

After the war, Drobný visited Moscow and realised that he could not live or adapt to the political climate there. When he returned to his homeland, which had become a communist state, he found that the authorities wanted to use him for propaganda purposes. He refused to live under communism and began looking for a country where he could seek refuge and obtain citizenship. He eventually planned and successfully carried out an escape to the United States.

Drobný tried to obtain British and American citizenship but was turned down several times. During this difficult period, he struggled to make ends meet. Recalling those days, he said: “All I had at the time was two shirts, a toothbrush and just $50.”

However, fate had a different plan for the tennis star. King Farouk, Egypt’s monarch at the time, was a keen tennis enthusiast who had followed Drobný’s performances in the Davis Cup. After learning about his circumstances and stateless status, the king wanted to grant him Egyptian citizenship so he could represent Egypt in the competition.

Drobný was eventually granted Egyptian citizenship, only to discover that Davis Cup regulations prevented him from representing Egypt because he had already played for Czechoslovakia in the same competition.

Despite this setback, Drobný went on to achieve historic success for Egyptian tennis. Competing under Egyptian nationality, he won two French Open titles, now known as Roland-Garros, in 1951 and 1952, before claiming the Wimbledon title in 1954.

Many tennis analysts consider the years Drobný spent as an Egyptian citizen to have been the peak of his career. On several occasions, he also expressed his gratitude to Egypt, saying he owed the country a great deal for giving him a new nationality and a new life.

King Farouk, the man who granted him citizenship, left Egypt following the July 1952 Revolution. Drobný, meanwhile, continued to compete under Egyptian nationality until 1959, before obtaining British citizenship and settling in the United Kingdom.