Anthony Dalton Roche AO MBE was born on 17 May 1945 and is an Australian former professional tennis player.
22 Facts About Tony Roche
2.
Tony Roche won one Grand Slam singles title, the 1966 French Open at Roland Garros, and 15 Grand Slam doubles titles.
3.
Tony Roche was ranked World No 2 by Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph in 1969.
4.
Tony Roche won the US Pro Championships in 1970 at Longwood in Boston.
5.
Tony Roche won the New South Wales Open twice, in 1969 and 1976.
6.
Tony Roche won a key Davis Cup singles match in 1977.
7.
Tony Roche coached multi-Grand Slam winning world No 1s Ivan Lendl, Patrick Rafter, Roger Federer and Lleyton Hewitt as well as former World No 4 Jelena Dokic.
8.
Tony Roche started to play tennis at school when he was nine.
9.
Tony Roche grew up playing in Australia under the tutelage of Harry Hopman, who coached other Australian tennis players such as Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall.
10.
Tony Roche won one singles Grand Slam tournament, the 1966 French Open at Roland Garros, defeating Istvan Gulyas in the final.
11.
Tony Roche was five times the runner-up at Grand Slam tournaments: the French Championships in 1965 and 1967, losing to Fred Stolle and Roy Emerson respectively, Wimbledon in 1968, losing to Rod Laver, and the US Open in 1969 and 1970, losing to Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall.
12.
In January 1968, Tony Roche turned professional, signing with World Championship Tennis, joining other pros like John Newcombe, Cliff Drysdale, Nikola Pilic and Roger Taylor to form the "Handsome Eight".
13.
Tony Roche was the leading money winner on the WCT tour in 1968.
14.
Tony Roche held a personal head-to-head edge over Laver during the latter's Grand Slam season of 1969,5 to 4.
15.
Tony Roche contested the final match of Laver's Grand Slam run that year, the 1969 US Open final.
16.
Tony Roche won the US Pro Championships at Longwood, Boston in 1970, defeating Laver in a hard fought five set final.
17.
Tony Roche was the player-coach of the Denver Racquets who won the first World Team Tennis in competition 1974, and he was named WTT Coach of the Year.
18.
Lendl dreamed of winning Wimbledon, and because Tony Roche had been a fine grass court player, he sought his tutelage.
19.
Tony Roche coached two-time Grand Slam singles titlist Lleyton Hewitt, who was aiming to get his career back on track after a number of unsuccessful years on the ATP Tour.
20.
Tony Roche was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1981 and an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2001.
21.
Tony Roche entered the International Tennis Hall of Fame alongside doubles partner and close friend John Newcombe in 1986.
22.
Tony Roche received an Australian Sports Medal in 2000 and a Centenary Medal in 2001.