Pancho Gonzales

Ricardo Alonso González generally known like Pancho Gonzales (born the May 9th 1928 with Los Angeles, California - died the July 3rd 1995 with Las Vegas) was a American tennis player which was the player of dominating Tennis of the Années 1950 at the beginning of the Années 1960.

During this period, he played as a professional. Entirely self-educated, he was also a champion amateur at the end of the Années 1940, gaining twice the US Open. An article of 1999 in “ Sports Illustrated ” which selected their 20 preferred athletes of the 20th century selected Gonzales like number 15: “If the fate of the Earth were in question, the man which you want to see being used for to save humanity would be Ricardo Alonso González. ”

Career

Amateur

Almost unknown at 20 years, Gonzales was number 17 with the the United States when it took part in its first national championship with Forest Hills in 1948. It was only head of series number 8 but gained the tournament rather easily with its powerful play of service-flight. The following year, he badly played Wimbledon and was criticized by part of the press. An English journalist treated it of “cheese champion” and, because of his name, its partner in double, Frank Parker, started to call it “Gorgonzales”, according to Gorgonzola, the Italian cheese. This name became possibly “Gorgo”, the nickname by which later it was known by his colleagues on the professional circuit.

In 1949 Gonzales remade the American championships and, with surprised of many observers, repeated its victory of the former year, leaf Ted Schroeder, the head of series number 1, at the time of the finale of five handles. Number 1 in America at the end of 1948 and 1949, Gonzales also gained its two matches of simple in the final of the Coupe Davis against the Australia. It then became professional.

Professional

Gonzales was frequently beaten at the time of its first year on the professional circuit by the reigning king of professional tennis, Jack Kramer, and then more or less disappeared from the topicality. It continued to gain tournaments occasionally, beating several times its old man Némésis Kramer. In 1953, Kramer, now promoter as much as player, organized a round in Australia with in the high-speed motorboat Frank Sedgman, Ken McGregor, Pancho Segura, and itself. Wounded with the back, however, Kramer indicated Gonzales to replace it. In the following matches, Gonzales easily beat Sedgman, gaining it of seven titles the simple ones of Grand Slam and outclassed McGregor, the champion of Australia in 1952. Playing in front of a number of spectators decreasing because of the clear superiority of Gonzales, Kramer then recruited another Australien champion, Dinny Pails, winner in 1947, to face the American. Gonzales beat it 47 matches with 7 and, with end of the year 1954, it was clearly established that he was the best player of the world.

Gonzales was now the player dominating for about ten years, regularly beating the great champions such as Sedgman, Tony Trabert, Ken Rosewall, Lew Hoad, Mal Anderson, and Ashley Cooper. For this period it gained eight times the American professional Championship and four times the professional championship of Wembley, England, regarded as the equivalent of Wimbledon. Moreover, it beat all the best amateurs become professional in long series of matches on the professional circuit. Gonzales was famous for its burning will to overcome, its service in ball of gun, and its play with the conquering net, a so powerful combination that the rules of the professional circuit were briefly changed in the Années 1950 to prohibit to him to advance with the net immediately after its service. It gained nevertheless, and the traditional rules were restored. So extremely was its capacity to raise the quality of its play to the more high level, especially with the fifth handle of the long matches, that Allen Fox said that it considering Gonzales to forever lose its service even only once when it was useful for the sleeve or the match.

The most difficult challenge for Gonzales during these years came from Lew Hoad, the very powerful young person Australien who gained five titles of the Large Slam like amateur. During the round of 1958, Gonzales was confronted with Hoad 87 times. Hoad gained 18 of the first 27 matches and it seemed that he went to supplant Gonzales like best world. Gonzales, however, remade and improved its reverse during the course of these matches (as Bill Tilden was obliged to do it in 1920 for then becoming best world), and after it gained 42 of the 60 following matches to maintain its superiority by a final margin from 51 to 36.

Much the competitive fire of Gonzales derived from the anger which it felt to be paid much less than the players that it beat regularly. In 1955, for example, it was paid only: 15000 $ although its usual adversary of the circuit, Tony Trabert, very recently become professional, had a contract for: 80000 $. Its relations with the other players were often coleric and bitter. Normally he only travelled between the stages, arriving just in time to make his match, then leaving all alone for the next city. Gonzales and Kramer, the promoter of the circuit during years, were also burning enemies since the days when Kramer had beaten the Gonzales young person during his initial round. Now they disputed without delay because of the money and Kramer expressed its desire openly to see Gonzales beaten by its adversaries. But in spite of its antipathy for Gonzales, Kramer knew extremely well that Gonzales was the great attraction of the professional players and that, in its absence, it would not have there a circuit of the whole.

the “open” Era

Most of the professional path of Gonzales was before the beginning of the “Open” era in 1968 and it was ineligible to play in the four tournaments which compose the Grand Slam of tennis between 1949, when it became professional, and 1967. As one noticed for other great champions such as Rod Laver, Gonzales would almost certainly have gained still many titles of Large Slam if it had been allowed to him to dispute these tournaments for this 18 years period. Jack Kramer, for example, speculated in an article in the theoretical champions of Forest Hills and Wimbledon that Gonzales would have gained 11 more titles in these two tournaments alone.

The first tournament of the Large Slam of the Open era was Roland Garros in May 1968, when Gonzales had just been 40 years old. In spite of the fact that it has been in semi-retirement for a few years and that the tournament was practiced on the slow beaten ground surface which handicaps the players of service-flight, Gonzales beat the holder of the title Roy Emerson in the quarterfinals. It then lost against Rod Laver in the semi-finals. It lost in the third turn of Wimbledon but after having beaten Tony Roche, the head of series number 2, in the fourth turn of the US Open before losing a match epic vis-a-vis the Dutchman Tom Okker.

Very famous match

In 1969, however, it was the turn of Gonzales to gain a so long and difficult match which that encouraged with the adoption of the decisive Jeu. A 41 year old veteran, Gonzales faced in Wimbledon the excellent young person amateur Charlie Pasarell and beat it in a match which lasted 5 hours and 12 minutes and which took two days to finish. In the fifth handle, Gonzales was confronted with seven match points and all gained them, twice tonic of a deficit of 0-40. The final score was an incredible 22-24, 1-6, 16-14, 6-3, 11-9. Gonzales continued until the fourth turn, where it was beaten by Arthur Ashe in four handles. The match with Pasarell, however, remains one of the nails of the history of tennis.

Last professional years

Later in the year, Gonzales gained the Howard Hughes Open with Las Vegas and Pacific Southwest Open in Los Angeles, leaf, among others, John Newcombe, Ken Rosewall, Stan Smith (twice), Cliff Richie, and Arthur Ashe. Among the American players, Gonzales earned the most money for the year 1969: 46288 $. If the professionals of the circuit had been included in the national list, it is probable that it would have been number 1 in the United States, as it was two decades earlier in 1948 and 1949. Moreover, there remained able to beat, from time to time, the player number 1 of the world, Rod Laver. In their meeting most famous, a match for: 10000 $, the-gain-take-all, in front: 15000 people with the Madison Square Garden with New York in February 1970, Gonzales, 41 years, beat Laver in five handles.

Gonzales continued to make tournaments from time to time and he became the oldest player having gained a professional tournament, gaining the Monks Open against French Georges Goven, 24 years, in three months his 44e birthday. In spite of the fact that it was always known like a player of service-flight, when it 43 years and Jimmy Connors 19 only, it had beat the large young person baseliner while playing of the basic line in Pacific Southwest Open.

Roy Emerson, the large Australian player who gained a dozen titles of Large Slam in the Années 1960 as amateur when the majority of better players of the world were professionals, became professional in 1968 at the 32 years age, while having gained Roland Garros the front year. Gonzales, eight years older, immediately beat it in the quarterfinals of the French championship of 1968. In the following years, Gonzales beat Emerson still 11 times, never not yielding a match.

Another Australian great champion was Ken Rosewall, which gained 8 titles of Large Slam during its long career, initially like amateur, then like professional in the first years of the Open era. Gonzales played 160 matches against Rosewall, it gained 101 of them and lost 59 of them.

Its personal life

The parents of Gonzales, Manual Antonio González and Carmen Alire, emigrated in the United States since Chihuahua, Mexico, at the beginning of the Années 1900. Gonzales was born with Los Angeles, the elder one of seven children. Although its name is correctly written “González”, during the majority of its career of tennis player it was known like “Gonzales”. It was only towards the end of its life that correct orthography started to be employed.

The Gonzales young person had a disturbed adolescence and learned how to all alone play without any encouragement of the Establishment of tennis enough high-company of Los Angeles of the Années 1940. He had some problems with the law and engaged in the military marine at the 16 years age, making two years of service.

Gonzales married six times (twice with the actress Madelyn Darrow) and had seven children. His last wife, Rita, are the sister of the champion of tennis Andre Agassi. Gonzales died, about mown and without friends, in a tiny house close to the airport of Las Vegas in 1995. Its funeral was paid by Andre Agassi.

Its place among the best players of all times

For about 35 years, of 1920 with 1955, Bill Tilden was generally regarded as the best player of all times. Years 1950 at the years 1970, much of observers estimated that Gonzales deserved this title. Since, champions of the Open era such as Rod Laver, Björn Borg, and Pete Sampras, were regarded as better than Tilden or Gonzales. There is, however, of the qualified experts who always estimate that Gonzales was the best player of the history. Kramer jack, for example, which became a player of world class in 1940 and which beat Gonzales easily in its first year on the professional circuit, declared that Gonzales was better than Laver and Sampras. Pancho Segura, which often beat all the large players since the years 1930 until the years 1960, said that he believed that Gonzales was the best of all times. Other great champions such as Gift Budge, Lew Hoad, and Allen Fox are of agreement with this estimate. In an article in 1972, the player Gene Scott imagined a tournament between all the great champions. Gonzales, the head of series number 4, reversed Tilden, number 1, in the semi-finals, and then, with its service-flight fulgurating, destroyed Rod Laver in the finales.

The opinion of Gonzales on other great champions in 1995

Pete Sampras: " I potentially evaluate it with no matter whom, of which Lew Hoad. "
Andre Agassi: " It was a natural talent, but when it became professional at 15 years it did not manage to cover the court."
Björn Borg : " It was solid. I played against him when it was 18 years old and me 42… and I beat it 6-1, 6-1. My best play against its best play, it would have been one of strongest. One of largest of all temps."
Jimmy Connors : " My isolated service would have been effective against its return of reverses with two mains."
John McEnroe: " I place it all in top, just behind Hoad, because it typed the ball a little less fort."
Rod Laver: " Even on his best level, I believe that I covered too much ground for him. It was a large athlete, but he played without réfléchir."
Ken Rosewall : " Frank Sedgman and me excluded, it could beat all the others… but it had a weakness in right blow and a weakness in service."
Lew Hoad : " He was the only guy which, if I played my best tennis, could beat me nevertheless. I believe that its play was the best set of all times. Better than mine. "
Gift Budge: " Even today, I believe that it had the best reverse ever developed… Its ball coming from its reverse was the heaviest ball of which I rappelle."

All quotations are NewYork Times March 12th 1995. Gonzales died four months later.

Gonzales was built-in the International Tennis Hall off Famed with Newport, Rhode Island, in 1968.

More important results

Victories of the Large Slam:

the US Open :

Champion as simple Sirs - 1948,1949

Wimbledon :

Champion as double Sirs - 1949

International of France (Roland Garros) :

Champion as double Sirs - 1949 Simple
, Semi-finalist in, 1949 & 1968.

Principal results and all victories (known) of Pancho Gonzales

Wembley Pro

Champion - 1950,1951,1952,1956
Finalist - 1953

US Pro Championship

Champion - 1953,1954,1955,1956,1957,1958,1959,1961
Finalist - 1951,1952,1964

Roland-Garros Pro

Finalist - 1953,1956,1961

Results of the professional rounds:

1949-1950 - Kramer Jack beat Gonzales 96 matches with 27
1953-1954 - Gonzales beat Frank Sedgman 16-9, Ken McGregor 15-0, and Dinny Pails 47-7
1954 - Gonzales beat Sedgman 30-21 and Pancho Segura 30-21 in a series of matches " round-robin"
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 matches " round-robin"
1959-1960 - Gonzales beat Alex Olmedo, Segura, and Rosewall in matches " round-robin"
1961 - Gonzales was gaining it most important in a circuit which included/understood Butch Buchholz, Barry MacKay, Andres Gimeno, Hoad, Olmedo, Sedgman, Trabert, and Cooper.

Coupe Davis:

Member of the American team gaining in 1949 (gained its two matches of simple in the final against Australia).

85 titles into simple (at least) :

Career amateure 1947 : beginning of its career but any gained tournament

1948 : Tampa January 9th , Orlando January 25th , California State - Berkeley May? , U.S. Clay - To rivet Forest July 18th , Orange, Southampton (U.S.) August, U.S. Nationals - Forest Hills September 19th (7 titles)

1949 : La Jolla February 9th , Los Angeles Metropolitan February 20th , U.S. Indoor - New York March 26th , Ojai valley April 30th , U.S. Clay - To rivet Forest July 17th , Philadelphia 7? August, Newport (U.S.) August 14th , U.S. Nationals - Forest Hills September 5th , Pacific Southwest - Los Angeles September 18th (9 titles)

Career pro 1950 : Philadelphia March 26th , London Indoor Pro Championships-Wembley September 30th (2 titles)

1951 : London Indoor Pro Championships-Wembley September 28th (1 title)

1952 : Philadelphia March 29th , Scarborough August 2nd , Berlin Belch Weiss Club August 31st , London Indoor Pro Championships-Wembley September 28th (4 titles)

1953 : U.S. Pro - Lakewood June 20th , California State Pro - Beverly Hills August 16th , Canadian Pro - Quebec City September 20th (3 titles)

1954 : Boston Pro Indoors (tournament with 4 players) February, U.S. Pro - Cleveland 2 (or 3?) May , U.S. Pro hardcourt - Los Angeles June 13rd (3 titles)

1955 : U.S. Pro - Cleveland April 2nd , Scarborough July 30th , Ostend August 23rd , U.S. Pro hardcourt - Los Angeles November 14th (4 titles)

1956 : U.S. Pro - Cleveland April 6th , Argentina Pro - Buenos Aires (tournament with 4 players) July 3 , Chicago Pro (tournament with 4 players) July 16 , Tournament off Champions - Los Angeles (hen tournament with 6 players) August 5th , Trophy off Champions - Milan September 20th , London Indoor Pro Championships-Wembley September 29th (6 titles)

1957 : U.S. Pro - Cleveland April 12th , Bermuda shorts Pro - Hamilton (tournament with 4 players) April 21st , San Francisco Pro Indoors - Cow De luxe hotel May 24th , Tournament off Champions - Forest Hills (hen tournament with 6 players) July 27th , Masters Robin Round - Los Angeles (hen tournament with 7 players) August 3rd (5 titles)

1958 : U.S. Pro - Cleveland May 5th , Bakersfield (Cal.) (tournament with 4 players) June 2nd , Palo Alto (tournament with 4 players) June 3rd , Tournament off Champions - Forest Hills (hen tournament with 7 players) June 24th (4 titles)

1959 : New South Wales Pro - Sydney February 9th , U.S. Pro - Cleveland April 26th , Masters Robin Round - Los Angeles June 14th , O' Keefe Pro - Toronto June 21st , New South Wales Pro - Sydney (2nd edition) December 13rd (5 titles)

1960 : Tuscaloosa May 16th (1 title)

1961 : U.S. Pro - Cleveland May 3rd , Geneva August 20th , Scandinavian Pro Indoor - Copenhagen October 2nd , Milano October 7th , Austrian Pro Indoor - Vienna October 20th (5 titles)

1962 : reprocess of Gonzales

1963 : return of Gonzales to the competition but without gaining tournament

1964 : Pepsi Cola World Pro - Cleveland May 16th , U.S. Pro Indoor - White Lime pits May 31st , Golden delicious Racquet Pro - Wembley (tournament with 4 players: not to confuse with traditional London Indoor Pro Championships-Wembley in autumn ) July 21st , Knokke-le-Zoute (tournament with 4 players) July 24th , Florida Pro - Hollywood (Fla) December 13rd (5 titles)

1965 : New South Wales Pro - Sydney January 23rd , Florida Pro - Orlando April 11th , CBS TV Pro Dallas May , Seafirst - Greater Seattle Pro Fields June 6th (4 titles)

1966 : Florida Pro - Hollywood (Fla) February 6th , BBC2 Trophy - Wembley (tournament with 4 players: ' not to confuse with traditional London Indoor Pro Championships-Wembley in autumn ) March 31st , Birmingham (Went.) Pro Classic September 18th , Hollywood (Fla) Pro Challenge Cup December 4th (4 titles)

1967 : Melbourne (tournament with 4 players) February 19th , Birmingham (Went.) Pro Classic May 7th (2 titles)

Open career 1968 : NTL Los Angeles Fields (tournament with 4 players) August, NTL Midland Fields (tournament with 6 players) October 1st (2 titles)

1969 : Pacific Southwest Open - Los Angeles September 28th , Howard Hughes Open - Las Vegas October 12th (2 titles)

1970 : Howard Hughes Open - Las Vegas WCT 17 (or 13?) May (1 title)

1971 : Southern California - Los Angeles May 9th , Pacific Southwest Open - Los Angeles September 26th , Kingston December 16th (3 titles)

1972 : Monks February 6th , Southern California - Los Angeles May 14th , Kingston December 14th (3 titles)

1973 : end of a career but not of gained tournament

note: Gonzales would have gained in La Jolla on June 1st, 1959 but it is not known if it were a tournament or a match of professional round

Sources: Sources: Michel Sutter, Victorious Winners 1946-2003, Paris 2003; World Tennis Magazines; Joe McCauley, The History off Professional Tennis, London 2001;

10 gained professional rounds (at least) :

- Australian Pro Turn January-February 1951 : 1) Gonzales 36 matches gained - 6 lost (2) Dinny Pails 27-15, 3) Frank Parker 14-28, 4) Donald Budge 9-33)

- World Pro Turn January 3 - May 1954 : Gonzales dominated Segura 30 matches with 21 (or 20), Sedgman 30 matches with 21 (or 20), and Budge (unknown score but Budge beat Gonzales only once, in Los Angeles)

- Australian Pro Turn November-December 1954 : 1) Gonzales (2) Sedgman gold Segura, 4) McGregor)

- World Pro Turn December 9th, 1955 - June 3rd, 1956 : Gonzales overcame Trabert 74-27

- South African Turn November-December 1956 : 1) Gonzales 9-4 (2) Sedgman 7-6, 3) Trabert 6-7, 4) Hartwig 4-9

- World Pro Turn January 14 - May 1957 : Gonzales beat Rosewall 50-26 - World Pro Turn January-April or May 1958 : Gonzales dominated Hoad 51-36

- World Pro Turn February-May? 1959 : 1) Gonzales 47-15 (2) Hoad 42-20, 3) Ashley Cooper 21-40, 4) Badly Anderson 13-48)

- World Pro Turn January-May 1960 : 1) Gonzales 49-8 (2) Rosewall 32-25, 3) Segura 22-28, 4) Olmedo 11-44)

- World Pro Turn December 30th, 1960 - April 1961 : initially 6 players having to dispute each one 47 hen matches, follow-up of 28 opposing face-to-face discussions 1st and the 2nd of the 1st phase and as much of matches between the 3èmes and 4èmes to determine the final classification; the large absent one was Rosewall which declined the invitation to take 6 months of holidays after more than ten years without interruption on the circuit; the replacements of wounded players were allowed and the results were taken into account. 1st phase of the round: Gonzales- (Segura) 33-14, Andres Gimeno 27-20, Hoad- (Trabert, Cooper, Sedgman) 24-23, Barry MacKay 22-25, Olmedo 18-29, Butch Buchholz 16-31; 2nd phase: Gonzales (1st of the 1st phase) overcame Gimeno (2nd 1st phase) 21-7 for the final victory, and Sedgman (final substitute of wounded Hoad) dominated MacKay 15-13 for the 3rd final place

Sources: World Tennis Magazines; Joe McCauley, The History off Professional Tennis, London 2001;

See too

Tennis players world numbers 1
various Records since the beginnings of tennis

External bond

International Tennis Hall off Famed profiles

----

Random links: