Gonzales–Rosewall rivalry

American tennis player Pancho Gonzales had a long-running rivalry ^[1] with Australian Ken Rosewall. Gonzales is still sometimes considered to be a candidate for the greatest tennis player of all time; he was the dominant player of the 1950s and still holds the men's all-time record of being ranked world No. 1 for eight years. Rosewall became the world's best player upon Gonzales's semi-retirement in 1961 and held that position either by himself or sharing it with others for six years. Rosewall was signed in 1956 by the promoter Jack Kramer, a former #1 player himself, to join his small band of touring professionals in 1957. He then engaged in a round-the-world, head-to-head tour against Gonzales, the defending world's champion, over the next five months, winning 26 matches but losing 50. In his 1979 autobiography Kramer included both Gonzales and Rosewall in his list of the 21 greatest players of all time.^[2] Kramer, however, initially "panicked" upon signing Rosewall.

He was a cute little fellow with a dink serve, who operated mostly from the baseline. That great volley of his hadn't been developed yet. I was afraid that Gorgo would eat him alive and put us out of business the rest of the way. But like a lot of people I completely underestimated Rosewall.^[3]

Before their opening match in Melbourne, Kramer went to Gonzales and asked him to "carry" Rosewall, giving him a better share of the gate to gain his assent. Gonzales did try to carry out his part of the deal for a few matches, but then called it off, telling Kramer that he was no longer able to play his normal game. Kramer agreed. "It was... obvious that Rosewall was not the pushover I had feared. (In fact, Gonzales only beat him 50–26, and it was always competitive.)"^[4] Thirteen years later, in 1970, Gonzales defeated Rosewall, who was six years his junior, 6–4, 6–4, in the 200th and next-to-last match they ever played—Gonzales was 42 years old at the time and Rosewall was considered to be the co-No. 1 player in the world.

Head-to-head tally

The following is a breakdown of their documented head-to-head results:

Player	1957	1958	1959	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969	1970	Total
Pancho Gonzales	51	14	4	20	4	0	0	4	7	2	2	4	3	1	116
Ken Rosewall	27	3	6	5	6	0	0	14	3	5	2	8	4	2	85

• All Matches: Gonzales 116–85
• World Pro Tours (1957, 1960): Gonzales 70-30
• All Finals: Rosewall 8–7
• Pro Slams: Rosewall 3–2
• Grand Slams: 0–0
• By surfaces played on, both indoors and outdoors:

• • Canvas: Gonzales 51–25; their final match on canvas was #121, on 23 March 1960
  • Carpet: Rosewall 7–4; none played before match #164 in mid-1965
  • Clay: Rosewall 16–12; Gonzales won the first seven, Rosewall 16 of the last 21
  • Grass: Gonzales 22–12
  • Hard (including concrete): Gonzales 10–7

• • Unknown: Rosewall 6–4
  • Wood: Gonzales 13–12

List of all matches

• (i) means it was played indoors; (O) means it was played outdoors
• The star (*) means it was most probably indoor wood, but there is a chance it was indoor hard

See also

• List of tennis rivalries

Sources

• Joe McCauley, The History of Professional Tennis, London 2001
• World Tennis (The US Magazine)
• World of Tennis (Annuals edited by John Barrett)
• Marion Anthony "Tony" Trabert in Tennis de France (French magazine)
• ATP Gonzales Rosewall Head to Head

Notes