Ricardo Alonso González or Richard Gonzalez, (May 9, 1928 – July 3, 1995), who was generally known as Pancho Gonzales or, less often, as Pancho Gonzalez, was the World No. 1 tennis player for an unequalled 8 years in the 1950s and early 1960s. During that period, he played as a professional. Completely self-taught, he was also a successful amateur player in the late-1940s, twice winning the United States Championships. The tempestuous Gonzales is still widely considered to be one of the all-time great tennis players. Prior to the Open era, he was considered by many observers to be the greatest player in the history of the game. A 1999 Sports Illustrated article about the magazine's 20 "favorite athletes" of the 20th century said about Gonzales (their number 15 pick): "If earth was on the line in a tennis match, the man you want serving to save humankind would be Ricardo Alonso Gonzalez." The noted tennis commentator Bud Collins echoed this in an August 2006 article for MSNBC.com: "If I had to choose someone to play for my life it would be Pancho Gonzalez." ^[1] May 9 is the 129th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (130th in leap years). ... Year 1928 (MCMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar). ... July 3 is the 184th day of the year (185th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 181 days remaining. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... World number one male tennis player rankings is a year-by-year listing of both the male tennis player who, at the end of a full year of play, has generally been considered to be the best overall player for the entire year, and of the runner-up for that... For other uses, see Tennis (disambiguation). ... For the article about the U.S. Open 2006, click here. ... The Open Era in tennis began in 1968, when the Grand Slam events such as the Wimbledon Championships abandoned the longstanding rules of amateurism and allowed professionals to compete. ... The first issue of Sports Illustrated, August 16, 1954, showing Milwaukee Braves star Eddie Mathews at bat in Milwaukee County Stadium. ... Arthur Bud Collins (b. ...

Career

Amateur

Gonzales was given a 51-cent racquet by his mother when he was 12 years old and taught himself to play by watching other players on the public courts at nearby Exposition Park in Los Angeles. Once he discovered tennis, he lost interest in school and began a troubled adolescence in which he was occasionally pursued by truant officers and policemen. He was befriended by the owner of the tennis shop at Exposition Park and sometimes slept there. Because of his spotty school attendance and occasional minor brushes with the law, he was ostracized by the exclusively white, and predominantly upper-class, tennis establishment of 1940s Los Angeles, which was headquartered at the Los Angeles Tennis Club and which actively trained other top players such as the youthful Jack Kramer. Eventually he was arrested for burglary at age 15 and spent a year in detention. He then joined the Navy just as World War II was ending and served for two years, finally receiving a bad-conduct discharge in 1947. Exposition Park is located in South Los Angeles, across the street from the University of Southern California (USC). ... The Los Angeles Tennis Club is a private tennis club that was established in 1920. ... Jack Kramer as an amateur in 1947 John Albert Kramer (b. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

According to his autobiography, Gonzales stood 6'3" (1.91 meters) and weighed 183 pounds (83 kg) by the time he was 19 years old. Other sources generally credit him as being an inch or two shorter but in any case he would enjoy a clear advantage in height over a number of his most prominent rivals, particularly Pancho Segura, Ken Rosewall, and Rod Laver, all of whom were at least 5 or 6 inches shorter. Tony Trabert, who was badly beaten by Gonzales on their 101-match tour and who disliked him intensely, nevertheless once told the Los Angeles Times: "Gonzales is the greatest natural athlete tennis has ever known. The way he can move that 6-foot-3-inch frame of his around the court is almost unbelievable. He's just like a big cat.... Pancho's reflexes and reactions are God-given talents. He can be moving in one direction and in the split second it takes him to see that the ball is hit to his weak side, he's able to throw his physical mechanism in reverse and get to the ball in time to reach it with his racket." ^[2] The flamboyant Gussie Moran, who briefly toured with the Gonzales group, said that watching Gonzales was like seeing "a god patrolling his personal heaven." ^[3] Pancho Segura hitting his famous two-handed forehand Pancho Segura, born Francisco Olegario Segura (June 20, 1921) was a leading tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s, both as an amateur and as a professional. ... Ken Rosewall and Lew Hoad in a 1952 Davis Cup doubles match Ken Robert Rosewall (born November 2, 1934 in Sydney, Australia) is a former champion tennis player with a renowned backhand who enjoyed an exceptionally long career at the highest levels, from the early 1950s to the early 1970s. ... Rodney George (Rod) Laver (born August 9, 1938, in Rockhampton, Australia) is a former tennis player from Australia who was the World No. ... Marion Anthony Trabert (born August 16, 1930 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is a former star tennis player and longtime tennis author, TV commentator, instructor, and motivation speaker. ...

In spite of his lack of playing time while in the Navy, and as a mostly unknown 19-year-old in 1947, Gonzales achieved a national ranking of number 17 by playing primarily on the West Coast. He did, however, go East that year to play in the United States Championships at Forest Hills. He surprised the British Davis Cup-player Derek Barton, then lost a five-set match to the number-3 seed, Gardnar Mulloy. Following that, in the last major tournament of the year, the Pacific Southwest, played at the Los Angeles Tennis Club, he beat three internationally known names, Jaroslav Drobny, Bob Falkenburg, and Frank Parker, before losing in the finals to Ted Schroeder. Forest Hills is the name of some places in the United States of America: Forest Hills, Kentucky Forest Hills, Massachusetts (a suburb of Boston) Forest Hills, Michigan (a census-designated place) Forest Hills, Pennsylvania Forest Hills is also the name of a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New... Sir Derek Harold Richard Barton was a British physical chemist and Nobel Prize Laureate. ... Gardnar Putnam Mulloy (born November 22, 1913 in Washington, D.C.) is a tennis player primarily known for his play in doubles matches with partner Bill Talbert. ... Jaroslav Drobný (October 12, 1921 - September 13, 2001) was an male tennis player born in Prague, Czechoslovakia but became an Egyptian citizen from 1949 to 1954 and then moved to Great Britain, where he died in 2001. ... Robert (Bob) Falkenburg (born on January 29, 1926 in Brooklyn, NY, United States) was an American male tennis player of German descent. ... Frank Andrew Parker (born on January 31, 1916 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA – July 24, 1997) was an American male tennis player. ... Fred(e)rick Rudolph Ted Schroeder (born July 20, 1921) was an American male tennis player. ...

The following year, 1948, Perry T. Jones, the head of the Southern California Tennis Association, and the most powerful man in California tennis, relented in his opposition to Gonzales and sponsored his trip East to play in the major tournaments. The top-ranked American player, Ted Schroeder, decided at the last moment not to play in the United States Championships and Gonzales was seeded number 8 in the tournament. To the surprise of most observers, he won it fairly easily by a straight-set victory over the South African Eric Sturgess in the finals with his powerful serve-and-volley game. His persona at the time was strikingly different from what it would become in future years. American Lawn Tennis wrote that "the crowd cheered a handsome, dark-skinned Mexican-American youngster who smiled boyishly each time he captured a hard-fought point, kissed the ball prayerfully before a crucial serve, and was human enough to show nervousness as he powered his way to the most coveted crown in the world." This was Gonzales's only major tournament victory of the year, but it was enough to let him finish the year ranked as the number one American player. Eric William Sturgess (born on May 10, 1920) was an South African male tennis player. ... Serve and volley is a strategy used in lawn tennis (and rarely in real tennis) where a player serves and immediately moves forward to make the next shot a volley and hopefully a winner. ...

The following year, 1949, Gonzales did badly at Wimbledon and was derided for his performance by some of the press. A British sportswriter called him a "cheese champion" and, because of his name, his doubles partner of the time, Frank Parker, began to call him "Gorgonzales", after Gorgonzola, the Italian cheese. This was eventually shortened to "Gorgo", the nickname by which he was later known by his colleagues on the professional tour. (Jack Kramer, in his autobiography, says that it was Jim Burchard, the tennis writer for the New York World-Telegram who first called him a "cheese champ".)"^[4] The Championships, Wimbledon, commonly referred to as simply Wimbledon, is the oldest event in the sport of tennis. ... Frank Andrew Parker (born on January 31, 1916 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA – July 24, 1997) was an American male tennis player. ... Gorgonzola is a village in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, formerly with a separate identity, but now part of the Milan metropolitan area. ... Jack Kramer can refer to: Jack Kramer: a Major League Baseball player Jack Kramer: a tennis player This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

In 1949, Gonzales returned to the American championships and, once again to the surprise of many observers, repeated his victory of the previous year. Ted Schroeder, the number-1 seed, had beaten Gonzales 8 times in 9 matches during their careers and was heavily favored — the single time Gonzales had beaten Schroeder, he was playing with a nose that had been broken the day before by his doubles partner's tennis racquet during a misplayed point at the net. In a tremendous final that has been called the 11th greatest match of all time",^[5] Gonzales lost a 1-hour and 15-minute first set 16-18 but finally managed to prevail in the 5th set. Once again he finished the year as the number-one ranked U.S. amateur. Gonzales also won both his singles matches in the Davis Cup finals against Australia. Having beaten Schroeder at Forest Hills, he was clearly the best amateur in the world. Bobby Riggs and Jack Kramer, who had been counting on signing Schroeder to play Kramer on the professional tour, were then forced to reluctantly sign Gonzales instead. The great Australians Lew Hoad and Ken Rosewall with the Cup in 1953 The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in mens tennis. ... Bobby Riggs on the cover of Sports Illustrated just before his match with Billie Jean King in 1973 Riggs at Wimbledon in 1939 Robert Larimore (Bobby) Riggs (February 25, 1918 – October 25, 1995) was a 1930s–40s tennis player who was the World No. ... Jack Kramer can refer to: Jack Kramer: a Major League Baseball player Jack Kramer: a tennis player This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Professional

Kramer

Gonzales was badly beaten in his first year on the professional tour, 96 matches to 27, by the reigning king of professional tennis, Jack Kramer. During this time, Gonzales's personality apparently changed from that of a friendly, happy-go-lucky youngster to the hard-bitten loner he became known as for the rest of his life. According to Kramer in his 1979 autobiography, "The worst thing that ever happened to Gonzales was winning Forest Hills in 1949.... At a time when Gorgo wasn't mature as a player he was pitted against Kramer, an established pro at his peak." Moreover, says Kramer, "Pancho had no idea how to live or take care of himself. He was a hamburger-and-hot-dog guy to start with and had no concept of diet in training.... On the court Gorgo would swig Cokes through a match.... Also Gorgo was a pretty heavy cigarette smoker. He had terrible sleeping habits made even worse by the reality of a tour." Jack Kramer as an amateur in 1947 John Albert Kramer (b. ... For the song by the Smashing Pumpkins, see 1979 (song). ...

Kramer won 22 of the first 26 matches and 42 of the first 50. Gonzales improved enough to win 15 of the remaining 32 but it was too late. Bobby Riggs, the tour promoter, told Gonzales that he was now "dead meat": Kramer would need a new challenger for the next tour. As compensation, however, Gonzales had made $75,000 in his losing efforts. Kramer also said that "his nature had changed completely. He became difficult and arrogant. Losing had changed him. When he got his next chance, he understood that you either win or you're out of a job." He was now "a loner," said Ted Schroeder, "and always the unhappiest man in town." ^[6] Bobby Riggs on the cover of Sports Illustrated just before his match with Billie Jean King in 1973 Riggs at Wimbledon in 1939 Robert Larimore (Bobby) Riggs (February 25, 1918 – October 25, 1995) was a 1930s–40s tennis player who was the World No. ...

Gonzales practicing in Australia in 1954

Image File history File links Pancho_Gonzales_1954. ... Image File history File links Pancho_Gonzales_1954. ...

Semi-retirement

From 1951 to 1953 Gonzales was in semi-retirement. He bought the tennis shop at Exposition Park and ran that while playing in short tours and occasional professional tournaments throughout the world. In spite of his infrequent play (because first Riggs, then Kramer, as promoters of the pro tour, didn't want him as the headliner of their tours), he had nevertheless raised his game to a higher level than before and once again was winning most of his matches. Precise records of this time are difficult to locate but Gonzales asserts in his autobiography that after the decisive loss to Kramer in their 1949-1950 tour he then beat his old antagonist 11 times in their next 16 matches.

In the Southern Hemisphere summer of 1950-1951 Gonzales toured Australia and New Zealand with Dinny Pails, Frank Parker, and Don Budge. In December of 1950 Pails won the short tour in New Zealand but in January and February of 1951 Gonzales won a second and longer tour in Australia. Though Gonzales also won Wembley (where Kramer was not entered) in the fall of 1951, it is probable that both Kramer and Segura were marginally better players that year. In 1952, however, Gonzales reached the top level of the pros. In 1952 he entered 5 tournaments and captured 4: the Philadelphia Inquirer tournament, where he beat both Segura and Kramer; Scarborough, where he defeated Budge and Segura; Wembley, by again beating Segura and Kramer; Berlin, where Segura and Budge lost again to the American; he was also a finalist in the United States Professional Championships ("U.S. Pro") against Segura. In all, Gonzales beat Segura 4 matches out of 5 and Kramer twice in two matches. This was the first year that "Big Pancho" (Gonzales) dominated "Little Pancho" (Segura) in their head-to-head matches, and thereafter his superiority over Segura never wavered through their long careers. Dinny Pails (born March 4, 1921) won the mens singles championship at the Australian Open tennis tournament in 1947. ... Frank Andrew Parker (born on January 31, 1916 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA – July 24, 1997) was an American male tennis player. ... The Philadelphia Inquirer is one of a two Knight Ridder newspaper duopoly daily for the Philadelphia area. ...

Although the Professional Lawn Tennis Association issued rankings at the end of 1952 in which they called Segura the World No. 1, with Gonzales 2nd, the PLTA rankings were notoriously quirky — the year before, for instance, when Kramer had beaten Segura 64 matches to 28 (or 58-27 according to Kramer) in their championship tour, they had nevertheless ranked Segura as the World No. 1 player. A strong case can therefore be made that Gonzales was actually the World No. 1 player for 1952 or, at the least, shared that position with Segura.

At a professional event in 1951 the forehand drives of a number of players were electronically measured. Kramer was particularly known for his fine forehand, but Gonzales was recorded as hitting the fastest one, 112.88 mph, followed by Kramer at 107.8 and Welby Van Horn at 104. Since it was generally assumed at the time that Pancho Segura's two-handed forehand was the hardest in tennis, it is possible that he was not present at that event. ^[7]. The Three Major Professional Tournaments Professional tennis players in the years before the Open era began in 1968 played mostly on tours in head-to-head competition. ...

In 1953 Gonzales, drawn aside from the big pro tour by Kramer (by now also a promoter), featuring Frank Sedgman, a 7-time Grand Slam singles winner, Pancho Segura, Ken McGregor (the 1952 Australian Open champion) and ... Kramer himself, regressed because he hasn't met a very great player for 12 months between Wembley 1952 and Wembley 1953. Therefore in Wembley and two days after in Paris, Pancho was severely crushed by Sedgman, the future winner of these tournaments. Frank Allan Sedgman, born October 29, 1927, in Mt. ... In tennis, a singles player or doubles team that wins all four Grand Slam titles in the same year is said to have achieved the Grand Slam or a Calendar Year Grand Slam. ... Pancho Segura hitting his famous two-handed forehand Pancho Segura, born Francisco Olegario Segura (June 20, 1921) was a leading tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s, both as an amateur and as a professional. ... Ken McGregor is an Australian tennis player who won the Mens Singles Champions of the Australian Open in 1952. ... The Australian Open is the first of the worlds four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, held each January at Melbourne Park. ...

In late 1953, Kramer, then a temporarily retired player (due to his back troubles), signed Gonzales (a 7-year contract) to play in a 1954 USA tour featuring also Pancho Segura, Frank Sedgman and Donald Budge (the latter being replaced in March 1954 by Carl Earn for the last weeks of the tour). In the subsequent matches Gonzales beat Segura 30-21 and Sedgman by the same score (Budge beat Gonzales only once in Los Angeles). After this tour Gonzales won the U.S. Pro where all the best, except Pails, were present. Then the American played in a Far East tour (September-October 1954) very slightly dominated by Segura where Kramer made his come-back in singles after a 14-month retirement. Then Gonzales had a new success : he swept an Australian tour in November-December 1954 by beating Sedgman, 16 matches to 9, McGregor 15-0, and Segura, 4-2. Even though Pancho was beaten by Pails in the last competition of the year, the Australian Pro, Gonzales had clearly established himself as the top player in the world in 1954.

Dominance

Gonzales was now the dominant player in the men's game for about the next eight years, beating such tennis greats as Sedgman, Tony Trabert, Ken Rosewall, Lew Hoad, Mal Anderson, and Ashley Cooper on a regular basis. Forty years after his matches with Gonzales, Trabert told interviewer Joe McCauley "that Gonzales' serve was the telling factor on their tour — it was so good that it earned him many cheap points. Trabert felt that, while he had the better groundstrokes, he could not match Pancho's big, fluent service."^[8] Marion Anthony Trabert (born August 16, 1930 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is a former star tennis player and longtime tennis author, TV commentator, instructor, and motivation speaker. ... Ken Rosewall and Lew Hoad in a 1952 Davis Cup doubles match Ken Robert Rosewall (born November 2, 1934 in Sydney, Australia) is a former champion tennis player with a renowned backhand who enjoyed an exceptionally long career at the highest levels, from the early 1950s to the early 1970s. ... Lewis Alan Hoad, born November 23, 1934 in Glebe, New South Wales, Australia - died July 3, 1994 in Fuengirola, Spain, was a champion tennis player. ... The Three Major Professional Tournaments Professional tennis players in the years before the Open era began in 1968 played mostly on tours in head-to-head competition. ... Ashley John Cooper (born 15 September 1936 in Melbourne) is a former tennis player from Australia who was World No. ...

In that period, Gonzales won the United States Professional Championship eight times and the Wembley professional title in London four times, plus beating, in head-to-head tours, all of the best amateurs who turned pro, which included every Wimbledon champion for 10 years in a row. During this time Gonzales was known for his fiery will to win, his cannonball serve, and his all-conquering net game, a combination so potent that the rules on the professional tour were briefly changed in the 1950s to prohibit him from advancing to the net immediately after serving. Under the new rules, the returned serve had to bounce before the server could make his own first shot, thereby keeping Gonzales from playing his usual serve-and-volley game. He won even so, and the rules were changed back. So great was his ability to raise his game to the highest possible level, particularly in the fifth set of long matches, that Allen Fox has said that he never once saw Gonzales lose service when serving for the set or the match. The Three Major Professional Tournaments Professional tennis players in the years before the Open era began in 1968 played mostly on tours in head-to-head competition. ... Wembley Arena at Night (Taken at a live WWE Show). ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Serve and volley is a strategy used in lawn tennis (and rarely in real tennis) where a player serves and immediately moves forward to make the next shot a volley and hopefully a winner. ... Allen Fox (born June 25, 1939 in Los Angeles, California) was an outstanding tennis player in the 1960s and 1970s who went on to be a college coach and author. ...

Trabert and Rosewall

In late 1955 and early 1956 Gonzales beat the athletic Tony Trabert by 74 matches to 27, a series made more compelling by the fact that the two players disliked each other intensely. At the end of 1956 Kramer signed Ken Rosewall to play another long series against Gonzales. In early 1957 Gonzales flew to Australia for the first 10 matches against Rosewall in his native country. Gonzales had developed a "half-dollar"-size cyst on the palm on his right hand and there was speculation in the newspapers that his tennis career might be over. Kramer's personal physician began to treat it with injections, and it gradually began to shrink. It was still painful, however, when Gonzales beat Rosewall in their initial match and eventually won their brief Australian tour 7 matches to 3, with Rosewall beating Gonzales in a tournament whose results did not count towards the series total. By the time the tour opened in New York in late February the cyst had shrunk considerably and Gonzales went on to beat Rosewall by a final score of 50 matches to 26.

Kramer has written that he was so worried that Rosewall would offer no competition to Gonzales and would thereby destroy the financial success of the tour that, for the only time in his career as a player or promoter, he asked Gonzales while in Australia to "carry" Rosewall in return for having his share of the gross receipts raised from 20 percent to 25 percent. Gonzales reluctantly agreed. After 4 matches, with Gonzales ahead 3 to 1, Gonzales came to Kramer to say that "I can't play when I'm thinking about trying to carry the kid. I can't concentrate. It just bothers me too much." By this time, however, it was apparent that Rosewall would be fully competitive with Gonzales, so Kramer told Gonzales to return to his normal game — and that he could keep his additional 5 percent.

Later that year Gonzales sued in California superior court to have his 7-year contract with Kramer declared invalid. As proof of his claim, Gonzales cited being paid 25 percent of the gate instead of the stipulated 20 percent. Judge Leon T. David found Gonzales's reasoning implausible and ruled in favor of Kramer. Gonzales remained bound to Kramer by contract until 1960."^[9]

Hoad

The most difficult challenge that Gonzales faced during those years came from Lew Hoad, the very powerful young Australian who had won five Grand Slam titles as an amateur. In the 1958 tour, Gonzales and Hoad played head-to-head 87 times. Hoad won 18 of the first 27 matches and it appeared that he was about to displace Gonzales as the best in the world. Gonzales, however, revamped and improved his backhand during the course of these first matches, just as Bill Tilden had had to do in 1920 in order to become the best in the world, and then won 42 of the next 60 matches to maintain his superiority by a margin of 51 to 36. Lewis Alan Hoad, born November 23, 1934 in Glebe, New South Wales, Australia - died July 3, 1994 in Fuengirola, Spain, was a champion tennis player. ... Justine Henin-Hardenne has one of the best one-handed backhands in todays tennis The backhand in tennis is a stroke hit by swinging the racquet away from ones body in the direction of where the player wants the ball to go. ... William Tatem Tilden II (February 10, 1893 – June 5, 1953), often called Big Bill, was an American tennis player who was the World No. ...

Much of Gonzales's competitive fire during these years derived from the anger he felt at being paid much less than the players he was regularly beating. In 1955, for instance, he was paid $15,000 while his touring opponent, the recently turned professional Tony Trabert, had a contract for $80,000. He had an often bitter adversarial relationship with most of the other players and generally travelled and lived by himself, showing up only in time to play his match, then moving on alone to the next town. Gonzales and Jack Kramer, the long-time promoter of the tour, were also bitter enemies dating to the days when Kramer had first beaten the youthful Gonzales on his initial tour. Now they fought incessantly about money, while Kramer openly rooted for the other players to beat Gonzales. As much as he disliked Gonzales, however, Kramer knew that Gonzales was the star attraction of the touring professionals and that without him there would be no tour at all.

Regarding the tour, Kramer writes that "even though [Gonzales] was usually the top name, he would almost never help promote. The players could have tolerated his personal disagreeableness, but this refusal to help the group irritated them the most. Frankly, the majority disliked Gonzales intensely. Sedgman almost came to blows with Gonzales once. Trabert and Gorgo hated each other. The only player he ever tried to get along with was Lew Hoad."

Trabert also told McCauley in their interview that "I appreciated his tennis ability but I never came to respect him as a person. Too often I had witnessed him treat people badly without a cause. He was a loner, sullen most of the time, with a big chip on his shoulder and he rarely associated with us on the road. Instead he'd appear at the appointed hour for his match, then vanish back into the night without saying a word to anyone. We'd all stay around giving autographs to the fans before moving on to the next city. Not Pancho. But on court he was totally professional as well as a fantastic player."^[10]

Life on the tour was not easy. "One night," Gonzales recalled later, "I sprained an ankle badly. The next night in another town I was hurting. I told Jack I couldn't play. He said to me, 'Kid, we always play.' Jack had a doctor shoot me up with novocaine, and we played. That's just the way it was. The size of the crowd didn't matter. They'd paid to see us play."^[11]

The rigors were not only physical ones. In the 1963 United States Professional Championship, which were held that year at the hallowed Forest Hills courts, Gonzales both dismayed and infuriated his colleagues by being the only player who was paid for his participation. Having learned by bitter experience about the exigencies of the pro tour, Gonzales had demanded, and received, $5,000 in advance for his appearance in the tournament. An out-of-shape, semi-retired Gonzales was beaten in the first round. Ken Rosewall eventually beat Rod Laver in the finals but neither of them collected a penny: the promoter had failed to meet his costs and couldn't pay any of the players. The Three Major Professional Tournaments Professional tennis players in the years before the Open era began in 1968 played mostly on tours in head-to-head competition. ... Forest Hills is the name of some places in the United States of America: Forest Hills, Kentucky Forest Hills, Massachusetts (a suburb of Boston) Forest Hills, Michigan (a census-designated place) Forest Hills, Pennsylvania Forest Hills is also the name of a neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New... Ken Rosewall and Lew Hoad in a 1952 Davis Cup doubles match Ken Robert Rosewall (born November 2, 1934 in Sydney, Australia) is a former champion tennis player with a renowned backhand who enjoyed an exceptionally long career at the highest levels, from the early 1950s to the early 1970s. ... Rodney George (Rod) Laver (born August 9, 1938, in Rockhampton, Australia) is a former tennis player from Australia who was the World No. ...

Open tennis

Most of Gonzales's career as a professional fell before the start of the Open era of tennis in 1968, and he was therefore ineligible to compete at the Grand Slam events between 1949 (when he turned pro) and 1967. As has been observed about other great players such as Rod Laver, Gonzales almost certainly would have won a number of additional Grand Slam titles had he been permitted to compete in those tournaments during that 18-year period. Jack Kramer, for instance, has speculated in an article about the theoretical champions of Forest Hills and Wimbledon that Gonzales would have won an additional 11 titles in those two tournaments alone. In tennis, a singles player or doubles team that wins all four Grand Slam titles in the same year is said to have achieved the Grand Slam or a Calendar Year Grand Slam. ... Rodney George (Rod) Laver (born August 9, 1938, in Rockhampton, Australia) is a former tennis player from Australia who was the World No. ... In tennis, a singles player or doubles team that wins all four Grand Slam titles in the same year is said to have achieved the Grand Slam or a Calendar Year Grand Slam. ...

The first major Open tournament was the French Championships in May of 1968, when Gonzales had just turned 40. In spite of the fact that he had been semi-retired for a number of years and that the tournament was held on slow clay courts that penalize serve-and-volley players, Gonzales beat the 1967 defending champion Roy Emerson in the quarterfinals. He then lost in the semi-finals to Rod Laver. He lost in the third round of Wimbledon but later beat the second-seeded Tony Roche in the fourth round of the United States Open before losing an epic match to Holland's Tom Okker. The French Open, officially the Tournoi de Roland-Garros (English: Roland Garros Tournament), is a tennis event held from the middle of May to the beginning of June in Paris, France, and is the second of the worlds Grand Slam tournaments. ... Roy Stanley Emerson (born November 3, 1936) is a former champion Australian tennis player. ... The Championships, Wimbledon, commonly referred to as simply Wimbledon, is the oldest event in the sport of tennis. ... Tony Roche was an Australian tennis player, born 17 May 1945 in Wagga Wagga. ... Tom Okker (born February 22, 1944), nicknamed The Flying Dutchman, is a former tennis player from the Netherlands. ...

The most famous match ever played

In 1969, however, it was Gonzales's turn to prevail in the longest match ever played till that time, one so long and arduous that it resulted in the advent of tie break scoring. As a 41-year-old at Wimbledon, Gonzales met the fine young amateur Charlie Pasarell and beat him in a 5-set match that lasted five hours and 12 minutes and took 2 days to complete. In the fifth set Gonzales won all seven match points that Pasarell had against him, twice coming back from 0-40 deficits. The final score was an improbable 22-24, 1-6, 16-14, 6-3, 11-9. Gonzales went on to the fourth round, where he was beaten in four sets by Arthur Ashe. The match with Pasarell, however, is still remembered as one of the highlights in the history of tennis and has been called one of "The Ten Greatest Matches of the Open Era" in the November/December 2003 issue of TENNIS magazine. [1] Arthur Ashe (1943-1993) Country: United States Height: 185 cm (6 ft 1 in) Weight: 73 kg (160 lb) Plays: Right Turned pro: 1966 Retired: 1980 Highest singles ranking: 1 (1968 and 1975) Singles titles: 34 Career prize money: $2,584,909 Grand Slam Record Titles: 3 Australian Open W...

Final professional years

Later that year Gonzales won the Howard Hughes Open in Las Vegas and the Pacific Southwest Open in Los Angeles, beating, among others, John Newcombe, Ken Rosewall, Stan Smith (twice), Cliff Richie, and Arthur Ashe. He was the top American money-winner for 1969 with $46,288. If the touring professionals had been included in the United States rankings, it is likely he would have been ranked number 1 in the country, just as he had been two decades earlier in 1948 and 1949. He could also beat the clear number-one player in the world, Rod Laver, on an occasional basis. In their most famous meeting, a $10,000 winner-take-all match before 15,000 in Madison Square Garden in February 1970, the 41-year-old Gonzales beat Laver in five sets. John Newcombe. ... Stan Smith (born December 14, 1946 in Pasadena, California) is an American tennis player who, with his partner Bob Lutz, was one of the best doubles players of all time. ...

Gonzales continued to play in the occasional tournament and became the oldest player to have ever won a professional tournament, winning the Des Moines Open over 24-year-old Georges Goven when he was three months shy of his 44th birthday. In spite of the fact that he was still known as a serve-and-volley player, in 1971, when he was 43 and Jimmy Connors was 19, he beat the great young baseliner by playing him from the baseline at the Pacific Southwest Open. James Scott (Jimmy) Connors (born September 2, 1952 in Belleville, Illinois) is a former American tennis champion who was the World No. ...

Roy Emerson, the fine Australian player who won a dozen Grand Slam titles during the 1960s as an amateur when most of the best players in the world were professionals, turned pro in 1968 at the age of 32, having won the French Open the year before. Gonzales, 8 years older, immediately beat him in the quarter-finals of the French championships. In the following years, Gonzales beat Emerson another 11 times, apparently losing very few matches to him. In the Champions Classic of 1970 in Miami, Florida, however, Emerson did beat Gonzales in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2. ^[12] Roy Stanley Emerson (born November 3, 1936) is a former champion Australian tennis player. ... In tennis, a singles player or doubles team that wins all four Grand Slam titles in the same year is said to have achieved the Grand Slam or a Calendar Year Grand Slam. ... The French Open, officially the Tournoi de Roland-Garros (English: Roland Garros Tournament), is a tennis event held over two weeks between mid May and early June in Paris, France, and is the second of the Grand Slam tournaments on the annual tennis calendar. ...

Another great Australian player was Ken Rosewall, who won 8 Grand Slam titles during his long career, first as an amateur, then as a professional in the early years of Open tennis. Gonzales played 160 matches against Rosewall, winning 101 and losing 59.

Personal and family life

González's parents, Manuel Antonio González and Carmen Alire, migrated from Chihuahua, Mexico to the U.S. in the early 1900s. González was born in Los Angeles, the eldest of seven children. Kramer writes that "Gorgo was not the poor Mexican-American that people assumed. He didn't come from a wealthy family, but from a stable middle-class background, probably a lot like mine. He had a great mother and there was always a warm feeling of family loyalty. If anything, he might have been spoiled as a kid. It's a shame he suffered discrimination because of his Mexican heritage." For other uses, see Chihuahua (disambiguation). ... Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,290. ...

González had a long scar across his left cheek that, according to his autobiography, some members of the mass media of the 1940s attributed to his being a Mexican-American pachuco and hence involved in knife fights. This was one more slur that embittered González towards the media in general. The scar was actually the result of a prosaic street accident in 1935 when he was 7 years old: pushing a scooter too fast, he ran into a passing car and had his cheek gashed open by its door handle. He spent two weeks in the hospital as a result. A pachuco was a Chicano youth in the mid-20th century who wore flashy clothes (such as a Zoot Suit). ...

Although his name was properly spelled "González", during most of his playing career he was known as "Gonzales". It was only towards the end of his life that the proper spelling began to be used. Kramer, however, writes that one of González's wives, Madelyn Darrow, "decided to change his name. Madalyn discovered in the Castillian upper-crust society, the fancy Gonzales families spelled their name with a z at the end to differentiate from the hoi polloi Gonzales. So it was Gonzalez for a time, and even now you will occasionally see that spelling pop up. I don't think Pancho gave a damn one way or the other."^[13] In his ghost-written 1959 autobiography, "Gonzales" is used throughout. The hoi polloi protesting their perceived maltreatment by the wealthier classes. ...

For decades González had made $75,000 a year from an endorsement contract with Spalding for racquets and balls but was unable to get along with the company personnel. Finally, in 1981, after nearly 30 years, Spalding refused to renew the contract. He had also been the tennis director and tournament director at Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip for 16 years, another lucrative job. In 1985 he was fired after refusing to give private lessons to the wife of his boss. ^[14] As S. L. Price wrote about González in a 2002 Sports Illustrated article, "There was no more perfect match than Pancho and Vegas: both dark and disreputable, both hard and mean and impossible to ignore." Spalding may refer to: // Albert Spalding (1850–1915), American baseball player and sporting goods manufacturer Albert Spalding (violinist) (1888–1953), American composer and leading concert violinist Baird Thomas Spalding (1857–1953), English-American author Mother Catherine Spalding (1793-1858) was an influential American Roman Catholic nun Charles H. Spalding, American... Caesars Palace is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada. ... The south end of The Strip. ...

González married and divorced six times and had seven children: he wed his childhood sweetheart, Henrietta Pedrin, on March 23, 1948; they had 3 children. He married actress (and Miss Rheingold of 1958) Madelyn Darrow twice; they had 3 children, including twin girls. He married his dental hygenist, Betty, in Beverly Hills and had one daughter. His last wife, Rita, is the sister of Andre Agassi. According to Price's article, Rita's father, Mike Agassi, a 1952 Olympian on the Iranian boxing team who had become a successful casino greeter in Las Vegas, hated Gonzáles so much that he considered having him killed. Gonzáles had coached the young Rita until she had rebelled against her father's 5,000-balls-a-day-regimen and first moved in with, then married, on 31 March 1984, the much older Gonzáles. Years before, Mike Agassi, already a tennis fanatic, had once served as a linesman for one of Gonzáles's professional matches in Chicago. Gonzáles had upbraided Agassi so severely for perceived miscalls that Agassi had walked away and gone to sit in the stands. Overview Rheingold Beer was a New York beer that held 35 percent of the states beer market from 1950 to 1960. ... Andre Kirk Agassi (born April 29, 1970, in Las Vegas, Nevada) is a former World No. ... Emmanuel Mike Agassi is best known for being the father of number one tennis player Andre Agassi. ...

Kramer says that "Gonzales never seemed to get along with his various wives, although this never stopped him from getting married.... Segura once said, 'You know, the nicest thing Gorgo ever says to his wives is "Shut up." González died in penury and almost friendless, estranged from his ex-wives and children except for Rita and their son, Skylar, and daughter, Jeanna Lynn. Andre Agassi paid for his funeral.

Place among the all-time great tennis players

For about 35 years from around 1920 to 1955, Bill Tilden was generally considered the greatest player of all time. From the mid-1950s to about 1970, many people thought that Gonzales had claimed that title. Since then, champions of the Open era such as Rod Laver, Björn Borg, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Pete Sampras, and Roger Federer have been considered by many of their contemporaries to be greater players than either Tilden or Gonzales. William Tatem Tilden II (February 10, 1893 – June 5, 1953), often called Big Bill, was an American tennis player who was the World No. ... Rodney George (Rod) Laver (born August 9, 1938, in Rockhampton, Australia) is a former tennis player from Australia who was the World No. ...   (born June 6, 1956, in Stockholm, Sweden) is a former World No. ... James Scott (Jimmy) Connors (born September 2, 1952 in Belleville, Illinois) is a former American tennis champion who was the World No. ... John Patrick McEnroe, Jr. ... Country: Czechoslovakia/United States Residence: Greenwich, Connecticut Height: 187 cm (6 ft 2 in) Weight: 79 kg (175 lb) Plays: Right Turned pro: 1978 Retired: 1994 Highest singles ranking: 1 (28 Feb 1983) Singles titles: 94 Career Prize Money: US$21,262,417 Grand Slam Record Titles: 8 Australian Open... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Roger Federer (born August 8, 1981) is a Swiss tennis professional, currently ranked World No. ...

However, some people connected with the game still consider Gonzales to be the best male player in tennis history, primarily because he was the World No. 1 tennis player for probably 8 years — the status of a few of the earlier years is still unclear. He was possibly the No.1 in 1952, but then was probably the World No. 1 for 7 consecutive years, 1954 through 1960. In the article World number one male tennis player rankings Bill Tilden with Rod Laver are the next closest to Gonzales with 7 No. 1 ratings, followed by Pete Sampras and Ken Rosewall with 6 each. Pancho Segura, who played, and frequently beat, all of the great players from the 1930s through the 1960s has said that he believes that Gonzales was the best player of all time. Other tennis greats such as Lew Hoad, and Allen Fox have agreed with this assessment. In a 1972 article about an imaginary tournament between the all-time greats, Gene Scott had the fourth-seeded Gonzales upsetting Bill Tilden in the semi-finals and then using his serve to destroy Rod Laver in the finals. World number one male tennis player rankings is a year-by-year listing of both the male tennis player who, at the end of a full year of play, has generally been considered to be the best overall player for the entire year, and of the runner-up for that... For other uses, see Tennis (disambiguation). ... World number one male tennis player rankings is a year-by-year listing of both the male tennis player who, at the end of a full year of play, has generally been considered to be the best overall player for the entire year, and of the runner-up for that... Pancho Segura hitting his famous two-handed forehand Pancho Segura, born Francisco Olegario Segura (June 20, 1921) was a leading tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s, both as an amateur and as a professional. ... Eugene Lytton Scott (December 28, 1937-March 20, 2006), was an American tennis player of the 1960s. ...

Bud Collins, the editor of the massive Total Tennis, The Ultimate Tennis Encyclopedia, is guarded. He writes on page 673 that Gonzales was "probably as good as anyone who ever played the game, if not better." On page 693, however, he writes that Rod Laver would "be known as possibly the greatest player ever." And on page 749 he calls Bill Tilden "perhaps the greatest player of them all." Arthur Bud Collins (b. ...

In 2005 a tennis historian who visited the International Tennis Hall of Fame interviewed several great Australian players who had toured against Gonzales. Who, they were asked, was the best player they had ever played against?^[15] The International Tennis Hall of Fame is a not-for-profit tennis museum at the Newport Casino in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. It maintains a Hall of Fame for prominent personalities and players from the tennis world. ...

Mal Anderson named Gonzales, who "was very difficult since if you did get ahead, he had a way to upset you, and he could exploit your weaknesses fast. Though over the hill, he beat Rod [Laver] until Rod lifted his game." He added, "Lew Hoad, in his day was scary, though Gonzales was best day in and day out." Ashley Cooper also named Gonzales, whom "I never beat on the tour. But I did beat him a couple of times on clay where his serve wasn’t as good." Gonzales's frequent opponent Frank Sedgman said, "I played against probably the greatest of all time, Jack Kramer. He could put his serve on a dime and had a great first volley. The second best was Gonzales. I played him a lot — a great competitor — a great athlete.” The Three Major Professional Tournaments Professional tennis players in the years before the Open era began in 1968 played mostly on tours in head-to-head competition. ... Ashley John Cooper (born 15 September 1936 in Melbourne) is a former tennis player from Australia who was World No. ... Frank Allan Sedgman, born October 29, 1927, in Mt. ...

Jack Kramer, on the other hand, who became a world-class player in 1940 and then beat Gonzales badly in the latter's first year as a professional, has stated that he believes that although Gonzales was better than either Laver or Sampras he was not as good as either Ellsworth Vines or Don Budge. Kramer, who had a long and frequently bitter relationship with Gonzales, rates him only as one of the four players who are second to Budge and Vines in his estimation.^[16] Kramer also, perhaps surprisingly, writes that Bobby Riggs would have beaten Gonzales on a regular basis. Ellsworth Vines as an amateur in 1933 Ellsworth Vines (September 28, 1911 – March 17, 1994) was an American tennis champion of the 1930s, the World No. ... Don Budge hitting a backhand as an amateur in 1935 John Donald (Don) Budge (June 13, 1915 – January 26, 2000) was an American tennis champion who was a World No. ... Bobby Riggs on the cover of Sports Illustrated just before his match with Billie Jean King in 1973 Riggs at Wimbledon in 1939 Robert Larimore (Bobby) Riggs (February 25, 1918 – October 25, 1995) was a 1930s–40s tennis player who was the World No. ...

Early in 1986 Inside Tennis, a magazine edited in Northern California, devoted parts of four issues to a lengthy article called "Tournament of the Century", an imaginary tournament to determine the greatest of all time. They asked 37 tennis notables such as Kramer, Budge, Perry, and Riggs and observers such as Bud Collins ^[17] to list the 10 greatest players in order.This was probably as prestigious and knowledgeable a group of tennis experts as has ever been assembled. Northern California, sometimes referred to as NorCal, is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. ... Arthur Bud Collins (b. ...

Twenty-five players in all were named by the 37 experts in their lists of the 10 best. The magazine then ranked them in descending order by total number of points assigned. The top eight players in overall points, with their number of first-place votes, were: Rod Laver (9), John McEnroe (3), Don Budge (4), Jack Kramer (5), Björn Borg (6), Pancho Gonzales (1), Bill Tilden (6), and Lew Hoad (1). Gonzales was ranked the sixth-best player, with only Allan Fox casting a vote for him as the greatest of all time.

Gonzales's views of other players as of 1995

• Pete Sampras: "I rate him potentially with anybody, including Lew Hoad."
• Andre Agassi: "He was a natural but when he turned pro at 15, he couldn't cover the court."
• Björn Borg: "He was tough. I played him when he was 18 and I was 42... and beat him 6-1, 6-1. My best game against his best game, he would be one of the toughest. One of the all-time greats." ^[18]
• Jimmy Connors: "My wide serve would've been effective against his two-handed return."
• John McEnroe: "He's right up there behind Hoad, except that he didn't hit the ball quite as hard."
• Rod Laver: "At his best, I think I might've had too much court coverage for him. He was a great athlete, but he didn't have the thinking part."
• Ken Rosewall: "With the exception of me and Frank Sedgman, he could handle everybody else... but he had a forehand weakness and a serve weakness."
• Lew Hoad: "He was the only guy who, if I was playing my best tennis, could still beat me. I think his game was the best game ever. Better than mine."
• Don Budge: "Even now, I think he had the best backhand ever developed... His ball off the backhand was the heaviest ball I can remember."

All quotations are from a New York Times article of 12 March 1995. Gonzales died four months later of cancer in Las Vegas.

Gonzales was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame at Newport, Rhode Island in 1968. This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Andre Kirk Agassi (born April 29, 1970, in Las Vegas, Nevada) is a former World No. ...   (born June 6, 1956, in Stockholm, Sweden) is a former World No. ... James Scott (Jimmy) Connors (born September 2, 1952 in Belleville, Illinois) is a former American tennis champion who was the World No. ... John Patrick McEnroe, Jr. ... Rodney George (Rod) Laver (born August 9, 1938, in Rockhampton, Australia) is a former tennis player from Australia who was the World No. ... Ken Rosewall and Lew Hoad in a 1952 Davis Cup doubles match Ken Robert Rosewall (born November 2, 1934 in Sydney, Australia) is a former champion tennis player with a renowned backhand who enjoyed an exceptionally long career at the highest levels, from the early 1950s to the early 1970s. ... Frank Allan Sedgman, born October 29, 1927, in Mt. ... Lewis Alan Hoad, born November 23, 1934 in Glebe, New South Wales, Australia - died July 3, 1994 in Fuengirola, Spain, was a champion tennis player. ... Don Budge hitting a backhand as an amateur in 1935 John Donald (Don) Budge (June 13, 1915 – January 26, 2000) was an American tennis champion who was a World No. ... The New York Times is a daily newspaper published in New York City by Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. ... The International Tennis Hall of Fame is a not-for-profit tennis museum at the Newport Casino in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. It maintains a Hall of Fame for prominent personalities and players from the tennis world. ... Newport is a city in Newport County, Rhode Island, about 30 miles (48 km) south of Providence. ...

Notes

1. ^ The Collins article: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14489546/
2. ^ Man with a Racket, The Autobiography of Pancho Gonzales, as Told to Cy Rice (1959), page 129
3. ^ The Lone Wolf, by S. L. Price, Sports Illustrated, 26 June 2002
4. ^ The Game, My 40 Years in Tennis (1979), Jack Kramer with Frank Deford (ISBN 0-399-12336-9), page 177
5. ^ Tennis Magazine, on page 330 of The Tennis Book, Edited by Michael Bartlett and Bob Gillen
6. ^ The Lone Wolf, by S. L. Price, Sports Illustrated, 26 June 2002
7. ^ The History of Professional Tennis, Joe McCauley, page 57
8. ^ The History of Professional Tennis, Joe McCauley
9. ^ All information about the Australian tour with Rosewall is from The Game, My 40 Years in Tennis, pages 225-228
10. ^ The History of Professional Tennis, Joe McCauley
11. ^ The History of Professional Tennis, Joe McCauley
12. ^ World of Tennis Yearbook 1971, by John Barrett, page 142
13. ^ The Game, My 40 Years in Tennis (1979), Jack Kramer with Frank Deford (ISBN 0-399-12336-9), page 201
14. ^ The Lone Wolf, by S. L. Price, Sports Illustrated, 26 June 2002
15. ^ Interviews by tennis historian Rich Hillway in 2005 at the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
16. ^ In his 1979 autobiography Kramer considered the best ever to have been either Don Budge (for consistent play) or Ellsworth Vines (at the height of his game). The next four best were, chronologically, Bill Tilden, Fred Perry, Bobby Riggs, and Pancho Gonzales. After these six came the "second echelon" of Rod Laver, Lew Hoad, Ken Rosewall, Gottfried von Cramm, Ted Schroeder, Jack Crawford, Pancho Segura, Frank Sedgman, Tony Trabert, John Newcombe, Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith, Björn Borg, and Jimmy Connors. He felt unable to rank Henri Cochet and René Lacoste accurately but felt they were among the very best.
17. ^ The 37 were: Vijay Amritraj, Arthur Ashe, Lennart Bergelin (Björn Borg's coach), Nick Bollettieri, Norm Brooks, Don Budge, Nick Carter, Bud Collins, Allison Danzig, Donald Dell, Cliff Drysdale, Allan Fox, John Gardiner, Dick Gould, Slew Hester, Bill Jacobsen, Alan King, Jack Kramer, Art Larsen, Rod Laver, Bob Lutz, Barry MacKay, Marty Mulligan. Yannick Noah, Manuel Orantes, Charlie Pasarell, Fred Perry, Whitney Reed, Bobby Riggs, Vic Seixas, Stan Smith, Bill Talbert, Eliot Teltscher, Ted Tinling, Tony Trabert, Dennis van der Meer, Erik van Dillen.
18. ^ Either Gonzales's memory was faulty or The Times had a typographical error: Borg, who was born in 1956, would have been 14 when Gonzales was 42; conversely, Gonzales would have been 46 when Borg was 18

June 26 is the 177th day of the year (178th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 188 days remaining. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... June 26 is the 177th day of the year (178th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 188 days remaining. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... June 26 is the 177th day of the year (178th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 188 days remaining. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... The International Tennis Hall of Fame is a not-for-profit tennis museum at the Newport Casino in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. It maintains a Hall of Fame for prominent personalities and players from the tennis world. ... Don Budge hitting a backhand as an amateur in 1935 John Donald (Don) Budge (June 13, 1915 – January 26, 2000) was an American tennis champion who was a World No. ... Ellsworth Vines as an amateur in 1933 Ellsworth Vines (September 28, 1911 – March 17, 1994) was an American tennis champion of the 1930s, the World No. ... William Tatem Tilden II (February 10, 1893 – June 5, 1953), often called Big Bill, was an American tennis player who was the World No. ... Fred Perry hitting a backhand volley Frederick John Perry (May 18, 1909 – February 2, 1995) in Stockport, Cheshire. ... Bobby Riggs on the cover of Sports Illustrated just before his match with Billie Jean King in 1973 Riggs at Wimbledon in 1939 Robert Larimore (Bobby) Riggs (February 25, 1918 – October 25, 1995) was a 1930s–40s tennis player who was the World No. ... Rodney George (Rod) Laver (born August 9, 1938, in Rockhampton, Australia) is a former tennis player from Australia who was the World No. ... Lewis Alan Hoad, born November 23, 1934 in Glebe, New South Wales, Australia - died July 3, 1994 in Fuengirola, Spain, was a champion tennis player. ... Ken Rosewall and Lew Hoad in a 1952 Davis Cup doubles match Ken Robert Rosewall (born November 2, 1934 in Sydney, Australia) is a former champion tennis player with a renowned backhand who enjoyed an exceptionally long career at the highest levels, from the early 1950s to the early 1970s. ... Gottfried von Cramm hitting a volley in 1937. ... Fred(e)rick Rudolph Ted Schroeder (born July 20, 1921) was an American male tennis player. ... Jack Crawford John Herbert Crawford, known as Jack Crawford, was a great Australian tennis player of the 1930s. ... Pancho Segura hitting his famous two-handed forehand Pancho Segura, born Francisco Olegario Segura (June 20, 1921) was a leading tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s, both as an amateur and as a professional. ... Frank Allan Sedgman, born October 29, 1927, in Mt. ... Marion Anthony Trabert (born August 16, 1930 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is a former star tennis player and longtime tennis author, TV commentator, instructor, and motivation speaker. ... John Newcombe. ... Arthur Ashe (1943-1993) Country: United States Height: 185 cm (6 ft 1 in) Weight: 73 kg (160 lb) Plays: Right Turned pro: 1966 Retired: 1980 Highest singles ranking: 1 (1968 and 1975) Singles titles: 34 Career prize money: $2,584,909 Grand Slam Record Titles: 3 Australian Open W... Stan Smith (born December 14, 1946 in Pasadena, California) is an American tennis player who, with his partner Bob Lutz, was one of the best doubles players of all time. ...   (born June 6, 1956, in Stockholm, Sweden) is a former World No. ... James Scott (Jimmy) Connors (born September 2, 1952 in Belleville, Illinois) is a former American tennis champion who was the World No. ... Henri Jean Cochet (December 14, 1901 in Villeurbanne, near Lyon - April 1, 1987) was a champion tennis player, one of the famous Four Musketeers from France who dominated tennis in the late 1920s and early 1930s. ... René Lacoste Jean René Lacoste (July 2, 1904 - October 12, 1996) was a famous French tennis player, businessman, and innovator, nicknamed the crocodile by fans; he is now mostly known as being the namesake of the Lacoste tennis shirt, which he introduced in 1929. ... Vijay in a scene from Octopussy Vijay Amritraj (Hindi: विजय अम्रित्रज, Urdu: وِجے اَمرِترج), born December 14, 1953, in Madras, India, is a former tennis champion and actor. ... Arthur Ashe (1943-1993) Country: United States Height: 185 cm (6 ft 1 in) Weight: 73 kg (160 lb) Plays: Right Turned pro: 1966 Retired: 1980 Highest singles ranking: 1 (1968 and 1975) Singles titles: 34 Career prize money: $2,584,909 Grand Slam Record Titles: 3 Australian Open W...   (born June 6, 1956, in Stockholm, Sweden) is a former World No. ... Nicholas James Bollettieri (b. ... Don Budge hitting a backhand as an amateur in 1935 John Donald (Don) Budge (June 13, 1915 – January 26, 2000) was an American tennis champion who was a World No. ... Arthur Bud Collins (b. ... Allison Danzig (1899-1987) was an American sportswriter who specialized in writing about tennis but also covered U.S. college football, many Olympic Games, and rowing. ... Donald Dell (born June 17, 1938 in Bethesda, Maryland, USA) was an outstanding tennis player, U.S. Davis Cup captain, tennis leader and administrator. ... The Three Major Professional Tournaments Professional tennis players in the years before the Open era began in 1968 played mostly on tours in head-to-head competition. ... Allen Fox (born June 25, 1939 in Los Angeles, California) was an outstanding tennis player in the 1960s and 1970s who went on to be a college coach and author. ... John Gardiner could refer to: Sir John Eliot Gardiner (b. ... Alan King Alan King (December 26, 1927 – May 9, 2004), born Irwin Alan Kniberg, was an American comedian known for his biting wit and often angry humorous rants. ... Jack Kramer can refer to: Jack Kramer: a Major League Baseball player Jack Kramer: a tennis player This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Arthur David Tappy Larsen (born on April 17, 1925 in Hayward, California, United States) was an American male tennis player. ... Rodney George (Rod) Laver (born August 9, 1938, in Rockhampton, Australia) is a former tennis player from Australia who was the World No. ... Bob Lutz may refer to: Bob Lutz (tennis player) Bob Lutz, current CEO of General Motors This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Barry MacKay, born Aug 31, 1935 in Cincinnati, Ohio is a former tennis player, tournament director, television broadcaster from the United States. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Yannick Noah (born May 18, 1960, Sedan, Ardennes, France) is a former professional tennis player from France. ... Manuel Orantes, born February 5, 1949 in Granada, Spain was a tennis champion in the 1970s and 1980s. ... Fred Perry hitting a backhand volley Frederick John Perry (May 18, 1909 – February 2, 1995) in Stockport, Cheshire. ... Whitney Reed (born August 21, 1932, in Oakland, California) was an outstanding tennis player in the 1950s and 1960s. ... Bobby Riggs on the cover of Sports Illustrated just before his match with Billie Jean King in 1973 Riggs at Wimbledon in 1939 Robert Larimore (Bobby) Riggs (February 25, 1918 – October 25, 1995) was a 1930s–40s tennis player who was the World No. ... Vic Seixas (August 30, 1923) was an American male tennis player who was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ... Stan Smith (born December 14, 1946 in Pasadena, California) is an American tennis player who, with his partner Bob Lutz, was one of the best doubles players of all time. ... Bill Talbert (September 4, 1918 - February 28, 1999) was an American lawn tennis player. ... Eliot Teltscher (born March 15, 1959 in Palos Verdes, California) is a former tennis player from the United States, who won ten singles titles during his professional career. ... Ted Tinling (June 23, 1910 - May 23, 1990), sometimes known as Teddy Tinling, was a British tennis player, fashion designer, spy and author. ... Marion Anthony Trabert (born August 16, 1930 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is a former star tennis player and longtime tennis author, TV commentator, instructor, and motivation speaker. ...

Most significant results

Grand Slam Tournament wins:

• United States Championships:
  • Men's Singles champion - 1948, 1949
• Wimbledon:
  • Men's Doubles champion - 1949
• French Championships:
  • Men's Doubles champion - 1949

Professional World Singles Tournament wins: The U.S. Open is the fourth and final event of the Grand Slam in tennis. ... Wimbledon logo The Championships, Wimbledon, commonly referred to as simply Wimbledon, is the oldest and arguably most prestigious event in the sport of tennis. ... The French Open, officially the Tournoi de Roland-Garros (English: Roland Garros Tournament), is a tennis event held over two weeks between mid May and early June in Paris, France, and is the second of the Grand Slam tournaments on the annual tennis calendar. ... The Three Major Professional Tournaments Professional tennis players in the years before the Open era began in 1968 played mostly on tours in head-to-head competition. ...

• Wembley, England
  • Singles champion - 1950, 1951, 1952, 1956, 1966
  • Singles runner-up - 1953

• United States Professional Championship
  • Singles champion - 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961
  • Singles runner-up - 1951, 1952, 1964

• U. S. Professional Indoor Championship at White Plains, N. Y
  • Singles champion - 1964

• French Professional Championship
  • Singles runner-up - 1953, 1956, 1961

• World Professional Championship
  • Singles champion - 1964

• Howard Hughes Open
  • Singles champion - 1969 (over Arthur Ashe), 1970 (over Rod Laver)

• United States Professional Doubles Championship
  • Doubles champion - 1953, 1954, 1957, 1958, 1969

Professional Tour Results: Wembley Arena at Night (Taken at a live WWE Show). ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the King (Queen) England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Queen Queen Elizabeth II  -  Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification  -  by Athelstan 967  Area...

Gonzales won 7 major pro tours (see Tennis, male players statistics) in 1954, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960 and 1961, more than anyone else before the open era. // Grand Slam tournaments (8 titles) Australian Championships (excluding professionals): 1953, 1955 Australian Open (amateurs and professionals): 1971, 1972 French Championships (excluding professionals): 1953 French Open (amateurs and professionals): 1968 U.S. Championships (excluding professionals): 1956 U.S. Open (amateurs and professionals): 1970 Major professional tournaments before the open era began...

• 1949-1950 — Beginning 25 October 1949 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Jack Kramer beat Gonzales 96 matches to 27, the last match being on 21 May 1950 in Dayton, Ohio.
• 1950 — In March, at the Philadelphia Pro Championships, beat Kramer in finals, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4. Won his first major Pro title at Wembley, England, in October, beating Welby Van Horn in the finals, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2. At the end of 1950 toured New Zealand briefly with Dinny Pails, Frank Parker, and Don Budge. Pails beat Gonzales 4 matches to 3. Results against the others are unknown.
• 1951 — In early 1951 the New Zealand tour continued into Australia. Gonzales had 36 wins, Pails 27, Parker 14, and Budge 9. In his autobiography Gonzales says that he was 45-7 against Pails and Parker in Australia and New Zealand but he is not precise about the year or years. In the Philadelphia Round Robin Kramer was 5-0, Gonzales 4-1, Segura 3-2, Kovacs 2-3, Van Horn 1-4, and Riggs 0-5. In the United States Pro Championships at Forest Hills on July 4 Segura defeated Gonzales in the finals 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. In the Wembley, England, championships, Gonzales defeated Segura in the finals 6-2, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. In September, in the German International Round Robin in Berlin, Gonzales finished third in an 8-man field behind Segura and the little-known American Carl Earn.
• 1952 — There was no headline tour. Gonzales, however, played a minor one, touring with Frank Parker, Bill Tilden, and George Littleton-Roger, a relatively unknown player. The only known result is when Gonzales beat Tilden, aged 59, 6-1, 6-2. In the Philadelphia Round Robin Gonzales beat Kramer and finished first, with Segura second. In June, the U.S. Pro. Championship was combined with the World Pro. Championship in Lakewood, Ohio, and Segura beat Gonzales in the final 3-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-0. Gonzales had an upset stomach throughout the match. In July Gonzales won the Slazenger Professional Championship in Scarborough, England, by beating Segura 15-13, 6-3, 6-3. Also in England, he won the Wembley championship for the second year in a row, coming back to beat Kramer in a bitterly fought battle 3-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 7-5. Kramer cried in the locker room afterwards. Finally, in the Berlin Pro. Championship late in the year Gonzales beat Segura in the semifinals and Budge in the finals, 8-6, 7-5.
• 1953 — Gonzales played relatively little. He won the U.S. Professional Championship for the first of 8 times, defeating Budge 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 in the final, but the field was very weak, without Kramer, Segura, or Sedgman. Sedgman beat him in the finals at Wembley, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 and also in the French Professional Championship, 6-1, 6-3. Gonzales won two minor titles, the California State Pro against Budge, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, and the Canadian Pro Championship at Quebec City, against Riggs, 6-0, 6-4, 6-4.
• 1954 - Sources are unclear and contradictory about Gonzales's record in late 1953 and all of 1954. One source says that he played a short Australian tour in 1953, beating Sedgman 15 matches to 9, and beating McGregor 15-0. Since these same figures are also repeated for 1954, in which it is also said that Gonzales beat Sedgman 30-21 and Pancho Segura 30-21 in a series of round-robin matches, it is difficult to establish the precise record, but it is likely that they represent matches in 1954. It is also said that Gonzales beat Dinny Pails 47-7 in 1954. Kramer says in his autobiography that the American tour was a "mini-tournament" format between Gonzales, Sedgman, Segura, and Budge. He reports that Gonzales beat Sedgman 30-20 and Segura by the same score, with Budge winning only a few times. In any case, it is clear that Gonzales was the dominant player in the world in 1954.
• 1955-1956 - Gonzales beat Tony Trabert 74-27
• 1957 - Gonzales beat Ken Rosewall 50-26
• 1958 - Gonzales beat Lew Hoad 51-36
• 1959 - Gonzales beat Mal Anderson, Ashley Cooper, and Hoad in round-robin matches
• 1959-1960 - Gonzales beat Alex Olmedo, Segura, and Rosewall in round-robin matches
• 1961 - Gonzales was the major winner in a tour that included Butch Buchholz, Barry MacKay, Andres Gimeno, Hoad, Olmedo, Sedgman, Trabert, and Cooper.

Davis Cup: Alex Olmedo Legally Luis Alejandro Rodriguez Olmedo was ranked number 1 in the world in 1959 as a tennis player of the 1950s and 60s. ... The Three Major Professional Tournaments Professional tennis players in the years before the Open era began in 1968 played mostly on tours in head-to-head competition. ... Barry MacKay, born Aug 31, 1935 in Cincinnati, Ohio is a former tennis player, tournament director, television broadcaster from the United States. ... Andrés Gimeno (born August 3, 1937) is a retired Spanish tennis player. ... The great Australians Lew Hoad and Ken Rosewall with the Cup in 1953 The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in mens tennis. ...

• Member of the U.S. Davis Cup winning team in 1949 (won two singles rubbers in the final against Australia).

Sources

• The Game, My 40 Years in Tennis (1979), Jack Kramer with Frank Deford (ISBN 0-399-12336-9)
• The History of Professional Tennis (2003), Joe McCauley
• Man with a Racket, The Autobiography of Pancho Gonzales, as Told to Cy Rice (1959)
• Rich Hillway, tennis historian http://www.coloradotennis.com/cta/website.asp?Dept=News&Sec=Features&Page=Rich%20Hillway
• The Tennis Book (1981), Edited by Michael Bartlett and Bob Gillen ISBN 0-87795-344-9
• The Lone Wolf, by S. L. Price, Sports Illustrated, 26 June 2002
• World of Tennis Yearbook 1971 (1971), by John Barrett, London

June 26 is the 177th day of the year (178th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 188 days remaining. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ...

External links

• International Tennis Hall of Fame profile
• Pancho González at the Internet Movie Database