Kenneth Rosewall

One of the top male tennis players of all time, Ken Rosewall was born Kenneth Robert Rosewall on November 2, 1934 in Sydney, Australia. He was born into a family of tennis players, a fact which no doubt contributed to his love for the sport.

Rosewall started to play tennis with the help of his father. He was jokingly named ‘Muscle’ by fellow players because of his tall, soft physique which no doubt was a factor in his having a relatively soft serve. Rosewall was an accurate hitter, however, and he compensated for his serve with a hard and deadly sliced backhand, skills which would eventually help him stay on top professionally for three decades.

He won his first Men’s tournament in Manly at the age of 16 and a year later was playing in the quarterfinals of the US Championships. He was 18 when he won the singles title at the Australian, French and Pacific Southwest Championships in 1953.

He turned pro in 1957 and played his first professional tournament against the famed Pancho Gonzales, who defeated him before he was defeated by Frank Sedgman and Pancho Segura at the Australian Pro and US Pro respectively. Rosewall compensated by defeating Segura for the Wembley title that September.

Rosewall managed to gather a 5-2 win/loss record against Pancho Gonzales. In 1960 he won at Rolland Garros and Wembley, and in 1962 won seven of the eight biggest events of the year.

Despite winning almost all grand tournaments, Rosewall never won a singles tournament in Wimbledon. He decided to devote his time to practice for Wimbledon in the 70s, refusing to play in Roland Garros in 1969 to conserve his energy for Wimbledon. The singles title eluded him, but he won in doubles twice.