“A lot of the top players were missing, but we were delighted to be there and we knew how important the moment was,” said Rosewall, who, then 33, was part of a group of men’s and women’s professionals under contract with the American promoter George McCall’s barnstorming National Tennis League.
Rosewall had won at Roland Garros in 1953 before turning professional after the 1956 season. The 1968 tournament was his first Grand Slam event in 12 years.
He had prepared unconventionally, spending the week before the tournament on Long Island with Bobby Riggs, the American tennis star and inveterate gambler who was then 50 but still an accomplished player (and hustler).
“We were going to have some friendly tennis, but every time I played a set with Bobby he wanted to put some money on it,” Rosewall said. “We ended up driving into New York every day to play with some of his friends, including Jack Dreyfus of Dreyfus Funds. All these guys played for money, and at the end of the day Bobby said to me, ‘Let’s have a set of singles for 100 dollars.’ I didn’t want to do it, but he kept pushing, and I won that day. And the next day he wanted a handicap so we had to start with him up 30-0 each game, and the next day it was a 30-0 lead plus the sidelines, and the day after that it was a 30-0 lead and a 4-0 lead to start each set.
“I won all of those, but on the last day I lost to him because he said, ‘You only get one serve.’ So he got back to even in the end, but I think it all kind of got me in good form going into Paris, and all those times we played in New York was on a clay court.”
Rosewall, with his tactical acumen and strong single-handed backhand, would go on to win the 1968 title in Paris, defeating his fellow Australian pro Rod Laver, 6-3, 6-1, 2-6, 6-2, in the final after a tough five-set semifinal against the Spaniard Andres Gimeno.
Source : NYtimes
