Ken Rosewall - Miscellaneous Comments

Miscellaneous Comments

In his 1979 autobiography, Kramer writes that "Rosewall was a backcourt player when he came into the pros, but he learned very quickly how to play the net. Eventually, for that matter, he became a master of it, as much out of physical preservation as for any other reason. I guarantee you that Kenny wouldn't have lasted into his forties as a world-class player if he hadn't learned to serve and volley."

Kramer includes the Australian in his list of the 21 greatest players of all time.

During his long playing career he remained virtually injury-free, something that helped him to still win tournaments at the age of 43 and remain ranked in the top 15 in the world. Although he was a finalist 4 times at Wimbledon, it was the one major tournament that eluded him.

Rosewall was a finalist at the 1974 U.S. Open at 39 years 310 days old, making him the oldest player to participate in two Grand Slam finals in the same year, before that, in 1972 Rosewall won the Australian Open Final at age 37 and 2 months making him the oldest player ever (to date) to win a Grand Slam male Singles title.

In 1995 Gonzales said of him: "He became better as he got older, more of a complete player. With the exception of me and Frank Sedgman, he could handle everybody else. Just the way he played, he got under Hoad's skin, but he had a forehand weakness and a serve weakness." In 182 matches against Pancho Gonzales he won 75 and lost 107. In 70 matches against Lew Hoad he won 45 and lost 25.

Rosewall was also known as being extremely careful about his spending, like a number of other Australian players of the time. The Australians themselves characterised this as having "short arms and deep pockets." Kramer writes that an Australian radio reporter once asked Pancho Segura what his single biggest thrill in tennis had been. "'The night Frank Sedgman bought dinner", Segoo replied.