IN THE PIPELINE:A tennis legend in our midst

The three-time French Open finalist moves fluidly across the tennis court, setting her opponent up with a well-disguised drop shot and then finishing the point with a cross-court overhead.

I am not watching the Tennis Channel, nor am I seated in the grandstand at Roland Garros near Paris, where the French Open is in full swing. Rather, I am at a local tennis center watching a legend do what she’s done for nearly 70 years: play tennis with grace, energy and smarts. Lots of smarts.

Her name is Dorothy Knode, she’s 81 and she lives right here in Huntington Beach.

It’s a wonderful time for local sports right now, what with the Angels and especially the Ducks playing so well. But for tennis fans (of which I am a huge one), the French Open presents a unique, seductive appeal.

Sliding across the slow, unpredictable, red brick-colored clay, players seem more dramatic, more warrior-like.

Knode knows the feeling well. She was (and is) a clay-court specialist with a particular fondness for the French. After all, Knode reached the women’s singles final of the French Championships in 1955 and came within two points of owning the crown (she lost to Angela Mortimer Barrett 2-6, 7-5, 10-8).

In 1957, she made it back to the finals and lost to Shirley Bloomer Brasher, 6-1, 6-3. In 1956, she and her partner, Darlene Hard, were the runners-up in the French Open’s doubles championships, losing to the team of Althea Gibson and Angela Buxton.

From 1952 through 1957, Knode reached the semifinals of six other Grand Slam singles tournaments and also racked up plenty of titles: the singles winner at the German Championships in 1950, 1952 and 1953 as well as the singles title at the U.S. Clay Court Championships in 1951, 1955, 1958 and 1960, and the bronze medal at the 1959 Pan American Games in Chicago. And it goes on.

We first met at her home as she was preparing for a weekend garage sale. My son and I helped her organize some items, sifting through old trophies, certificates and other evidence of a successful, globetrotting tennis life.

Still energetic and wonderfully chatty, Knode’s eyes light up as she describes playing in the City of Light before the existence of million-dollar contracts and endorsements or guarantees (interestingly, celebrities back then would sometimes sponsor a favorite player to help pay for travel, equipment, etc.)

“I loved the people, the food, the wine — it was a wonderful era to be in Paris.” She recounts the then-exotic travel, her friendship with the legendary Althea Gibson, and how close she came to that French title.

“I was serving for the match, and the score was 30-15. Just two points away. Oh well, it just wasn’t meant to be, I guess.”

On her wall are old photos that reveal how much tennis styles have changed since the 1950s, before the game’s elegance and formality gave way to neon-colored costumes and space-age racquets.

But you won’t find Knode bemoaning the current state of tennis. Hardly.

“I really enjoy following Roger Federer, James Blake and Maria Sharapova, among some others,” she says in her musical, lilting voice. “Of course, I wish we could have made their money, but it was a different time, and we did incredibly interesting things and met wonderful people.”

And Knode doesn’t just enjoy watching the game today — she is still an active participant in international and national senior events, and still manages to play for fun several times a week. (She won the 80-and-over Super-Seniors World Individual Championships in Antalya, Turkey, in 2005 and leaves to play in a tournament in Forest Hills, N.Y., in just a few weeks.)

Watching her run a delicate finger over a big, old, unpolished singles trophy, one senses that she relishes those glory days. And why not? It had to be heady stuff for a California girl back then to be playing at Wimbledon, Paris, Egypt and many other far-off corners of the globe. A yellowed, illustrated poster on her wall features her pretty, smiling, 24-year-old face — and her star quality is evident.

But as tempting as it might be to sit and relive the past, that’s not Knode’s game. She still has a career after all, and watching her play today it’s evident how competitive and crafty her style is.

Her game face is on as she moves the younger player around the court, dispensing occasional bits of advice but always looking for the winner. After playing for about 90 minutes, she puts the last shot away.

But I can tell you, as someone who watches (and plays) a lot of tennis, some of those shots were just too good — no matter how quick the opponent.

This weekend, when the finals of the French Open are on, Knode will be watching at home in Huntington Beach. And she’ll know what the players are going through, because she’s been there.

If you’d like to see Dorothy Knode playing tennis today, I created a video at www.hbindependent.com/ video/.