89 Facts About Ken Rosewall

Kenneth Robert Rosewall was born on 2 November 1934 and is an Australian former world top-ranking amateur and professional tennis player.

Ken Rosewall won a record 23 tennis Majors in singles, including 8 Grand Slam singles titles and, before the Open Era, a record 15 Pro Slam titles; overall, he reached a record 35 Major finals.

Ken Rosewall won 9 grand slam titles in men's doubles with a career men's doubles grand slam and won 15 Pro Slam men's doubles titles.

Ken Rosewall was ranked the world No 1 tennis player by multiple sources from 1961 to 1964, multiple sources in 1970 and Rino Tommasi in 1971 and 1972.

Ken Rosewall was first ranked in the top 20 in 1952 and last ranked in the top 20 in 1977.

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Ken Rosewall is the only player to have simultaneously held Pro Grand Slam titles on three different surfaces.

Ken Rosewall won world professional championship tours in 1963,1964, and the WCT titles in 1971 and 1972.

Ken Rosewall developed a powerful and effective backhand but never had anything more than an accurate but relatively soft serve.

Ken Rosewall was born on 2 November 1934 in Hurstville, Sydney.

Ken Rosewall's father, Robert Rosewall, was a grocer at Penshurst, New South Wales and when Ken was one year old they moved to the Rockdale where his father bought three clay tennis courts.

Ken Rosewall started playing tennis at age three with a shortened racket and using both hands for forehand and backhand shots.

Ken Rosewall was a natural left-hander but was taught to play right-handed by his father.

Ken Rosewall played his first tournament when he was nine and lost to the eventual winner.

At age eleven Ken Rosewall won the Metropolitan Hardcourt Championships for under fourteen.

Ken Rosewall beat Hoad twice later in 1947 in state age-group championships.

In 1949 at age 14 Ken Rosewall became the junior champion at the Australian Hardcourt Championships in Sydney, the youngest player to win an Australian title.

In September 1950 at the age of 15 and still a junior player, Ken Rosewall reached the final of the 1950 New South Wales Metropolitan hard court championships, where he lost to Jim Gilchrist.

Ken Rosewall seemed to hurry this shot and in the second set he missed eight consecutive smashes.

In 1952, still only 17, Ken Rosewall reached the quarterfinals of the US Championships, upsetting the top-seeded Vic Seixas in the fourth round in five sets before losing to Gardnar Mulloy in five sets.

Ken Rosewall was only 18 years old when, in 1953, he won his first singles title at a Grand Slam event after defeating American Vic Seixas in the semi finals and Australian compatriot Mervyn Rose in the final of the Australian Championships.

Ken Rosewall won the French Championships beating Seixas in the final in four sets, when "the young Australian's mastery in all phases of the game disheartened Seixas as Rosewall beat him repeatedly with perfectly placed shots".

Ken Rosewall was the top seed at Wimbledon but lost the quarterfinal match to Kurt Nielsen.

Ken Rosewall reached the semifinals at the US Championships, where he was defeated by Tony Trabert in straight sets.

Ken Rosewall won the fifth and deciding rubber of that tie, defeating Seixas in four sets.

In 1954, Ken Rosewall lost in the semi finals of the Australian championships to Rose.

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Ken Rosewall defeated Trabert in a five-set semifinal at Wimbledon but lost the final to crowd-favorite Jaroslav Drobny in four sets.

Ken Rosewall won the singles title at the Australian Championships for the second time in 1955, defeating Hoad in the final in three sets.

Ken Rosewall prevented Hoad from winning the Grand Slam when Ken Rosewall won their final at the US Championships in four sets.

Ken Rosewall won 15 of the 17 Davis Cup singles rubbers he played those years, including the last 14 in a row.

Ken Rosewall played his first professional match on 14 January 1957, at Kooyong Stadium in Melbourne against the reigning king of professional tennis, Pancho Gonzales who won after a close five-set match.

Ken Rosewall explained later that there was a huge gap between the amateur level and the professional level.

At the Forest Hills Tournament of Champions, a round robin event held in New York, Ken Rosewall defeated Segura and Hoad but lost to Gonzales, Sedgman and Trabert to finish in joint third place.

Ken Rosewall was offered an undercard position against Trabert for the 1958 world championship tour, but declined.

At the Forest Hills Tournament of Champions, Ken Rosewall lost a close semi-final to Hoad in four sets, and beat Trabert to win third place.

At the Roland Garros World Professional Championships, Ken Rosewall lost in the semi-final to Trabert, and was beaten by Hoad in the third place match.

Ken Rosewall finished third in the Ampol series with 41 bonus points, behind Hoad in first place, and Gonzales in second place.

Ken Rosewall was 2 wins and 6 losses against Hoad and 3 wins and 1 loss against Gonzales during the series.

Ken Rosewall was therefore far behind Gonzales on this tour, the American having won almost all their direct confrontations.

Ken Rosewall has finally got his serve working better and he is the tough little player he was last year.

In 1960 Ken Rosewall won six tournaments including the two main tournaments of the year, the French Pro at Roland Garros, defeating Hoad in the final in four sets, and Wembley Pro, defeating Segura.

Ken Rosewall teamed with Hoad to win the inaugural Kramer Cup trophy in South Africa.

Ken Rosewall lost to Trabert in the first rubber, but defeated MacKay to set up the fifth and deciding rubber between Hoad and Trabert.

In 1962 Ken Rosewall was the leading pro, winning most pro tournaments of all the players during the year.

Ken Rosewall retained his Wembley Pro and French Pro titles and won tournaments at Adelaide, Melbourne, Christchurch, Auckland, Geneva, Milan and Stockholm.

Ken Rosewall was ranked world No 1 pro by Robert Geist and in a Time magazine article.

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US tour followed with Ken Rosewall defending his world pro title against Laver, Gimeno, Ayala and two Americans: Butch Buchholz and Barry MacKay.

In 18 matches Ken Rosewall beat Laver 14 times to conquer the US tour first place and thus successfully defended his world pro title.

In those tournaments Ken Rosewall won three times while Laver reached two finals and one quarterfinal.

Ken Rosewall was voted world number one pro by The International Professional Tennis Players Association.

In early 1964, Ken Rosewall finished third behind Hoad and Laver in a 4-man 24-match tour of New Zealand.

In 1964 Ken Rosewall won one major pro tournament: the French Pro over Laver on an indoor wood surface.

In 1964, Ken Rosewall beat Gonzales 13 times out of 17, most of the matches taking place in Italy on clay, while Laver was beaten by Gonzales 7 times out of 12.

Laver and Ken Rosewall shared all the titles and the finals of the five greatest tournaments.

Ken Rosewall won the Madison Square Garden Pro and the French Pro tournaments over Laver, the latter capturing Forest Hills Pro, the US Pro and Wembley Pro, with Ken Rosewall finalist each time.

Ken Rosewall defeated Gimeno in Los Angeles, Madison Square Garden, St Louis, Newport, Johannesburg, Durban and Wembley whereas Gimeno won in Cincinnati, US Pro, East London, Port Elizabeth, Johannesburg, Marseille, French Pro.

Ken Rosewall entered his first open tournament at 33 years old at Bournemouth on clay and defeated Gimeno and Laver, to win the first open tennis title.

At the French Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the Open Era, Ken Rosewall confirmed his status of best claycourt player in the world by defeating Laver in the final in four sets.

At age 34 Ken Rosewall was still ranked No 3 in the world behind Laver and Ashe according to Lance Tingay and Bud Collins.

At Wimbledon, Ken Rosewall lost in the third round to Bob Lutz and "confessed that for the first time in his career the fans disturbed his concentration".

Ken Rosewall was ranked No 4 that year by Bud Collins and 6 by Rino Tommasi.

Two months later at the US Open, one of the two 1970 Grand Slams with all the best players, Ken Rosewall won over Newcombe in their semifinal match in three straight sets before defeating Tony Roche in the final to win his sixth Grand Slam tournament.

Ken Rosewall was ranked third in the Grand Prix standings and finished third in the Masters behind winner Stan Smith and his 1970 nemesis Laver.

Ken Rosewall was ranked world No 1 by the panel of 10 international journalists for the 'Martini and Rossi' Award, with 97 points, with Laver second.

Ken Rosewall won the tournament, his second consecutive Grand Slam win and his seventh overall Grand Slam title, without losing a set and defeated Roy Emerson and Okker before beating Ashe in the final in straight sets.

Ken Rosewall ended third on the 1971 WCT circuit behind Laver and Okker and qualified for the WCT Finals.

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Ken Rosewall won the title, beating Newcombe in the quarterfinals, defeating Okker in the semifinals and beating Laver in a four-sets final in what was considered at the time as the best match, with their 1970 Sydney final, between the two rivals since their 1968 French Open final.

Ken Rosewall refused the invitation as he was tired after a long season and took his holidays at the end of the year.

Ken Rosewall reached the final in which he defeated Mal Anderson to win his fourth Australian title and the eighth, and last, Grand Slam title of his career and became the oldest Grand Slam male singles champion in the open era.

Ken Rosewall won seven tournaments in 1972, including the depleted Australian Open.

Ken Rosewall was ranked 2 in 1972 by Bud Collins and number 1 by Rino Tommasi.

Ken Rosewall lost in the second round of the 1972 US Open to Mark Cox.

At the 1973 Australian Open, top seeded Ken Rosewall was defeated by "virtual unknown" German Karl Meiler in his first match in straight sets in a big upset.

Ken Rosewall did not play Wimbledon that year as the edition was boycotted by the ATP players.

Ken Rosewall won at Houston WCT, Cleveland WCT, Charlotte WCT, Osaka and Tokyo.

Ken Rosewall was ranked between second and seventh place by many tennis journalists.

Ken Rosewall still stayed in the Top 10 in 1975 winning 5 tournaments and his two singles in Davis Cup against New Zealand.

Ken Rosewall made his last attempt at Wimbledon, at over 40, and as in his first Wimbledon Open he lost in the same round and against the same player.

In 1976 Ken Rosewall dropped out of the Top 10 in the ATP rankings but stayed in the Top 20, as he won three tournaments: Brisbane, Jackson WCT and Hong Kong.

Ken Rosewall won his last two titles in Hong Kong and Tokyo respectively at the age of 43.

Ken Rosewall played in the Sydney Indoor Tournament in October 1977.

In October 1980 at the Melbourne indoor tournament, at nearly 46 years of age, Ken Rosewall defeated American Butch Walts, ranked World No 49, in the first round before losing to Paul McNamee.

Ken Rosewall made a very brief comeback at 47 years of age in a non-ATP tournament, the New South Wales Hardcourt Championships in Grafton in February 1982, where he reached the final, losing to Brett Edwards in two sets.

In 1972 Ken Rosewall had been the second tennis pro to pass $1 million career earnings.

Ken Rosewall is considered to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time.

Ken Rosewall was a finalist at the 1974 US Open at 39 years 310 days old, making him the oldest player to participate in two Grand Slam finals in the same year.

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Ken Rosewall joined professional tennis in 1957 and was unable to compete in 45 Grand Slam tournaments until the open era arrived in 1968.

Ken Rosewall married Wilma McIver at St John's Cathedral, Brisbane on 6 October 1956.

Ken Rosewall was a non-executive director of the failed stockbroking firm BBY and his son, Glenn Ken Rosewall, was the company's executive director.

Ken Rosewall was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1980.