The amateur years
Australia · born Sydney, 1934 · four times Wimbledon finalist · twice Wimbledon doubles champion
All playersBack to the rankings
4
Wimbledon singles finals, 1954 to 1974
20
Years between his first and last Wimbledon final
2
Wimbledon doubles titles with Lew Hoad
37
Age at his 1972 Australian title
17-2
Davis Cup singles record
Born in Sydney in 1934, Rosewall was a natural left-hander whom his father taught to play right-handed. He won the Australian Championships at 18 in 1953, then signed with Jack Kramer's professional troupe in December 1956 and was barred from the amateur majors until 1968. Across both circuits he won 23 majors: eight Grand Slam singles titles, among them the Australian four times, the French twice and the US twice, and a record 15 professional majors. His 1972 Australian title, at 37, makes him the oldest men's major champion of the Open Era, and at 39 he reached both the Wimbledon and US Open finals of 1974. He won the Davis Cup with Australia in 1953, 1955, 1956 and 1973, and entered the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1980.
| Major singles titles | 6: Australian (1953, 1955, 1971, 1972); US (1956, 1970) |
|---|---|
| Major singles finals lost | 7: Wimbledon 1954, Wimbledon 1956, Wimbledon 1970, Wimbledon 1974, Australian 1956, US 1955, US 1974 |
| Other grass singles titles | 29: NSW Pro 2 (1961, 1966); Queensland Championships 2 (1955, 1972); SA Pro 2 (1962, 1966); US Pro 2 (1963, 1965); Victorian Championships 2 (1954, 1956); Victorian Pro 2 (1962, 1964); Welsh Championships 2 (1970, 1971); Auckland Pro (1962); Eastbourne (1970); Eastbourne Pro (1958); NSW Championships (1956); Newport (1956); Newport Pro (1966); Northern Championships (1954); Queen's (1955); Queensland Pro (1965); Queensland Pro (Dec) (1959); Queensland Pro (Jan) (1959); SA Championships (1956); WA Championships (1953); Wellington Pro (1962); West of England (Bristol) (1969) |
| Major doubles titles | 7 doubles (Wimbledon 2, Australian 3, US 2), 1 mixed (US 1) |
| Other grass doubles titles | 3: US Pro 2 (1963, 1967); Welsh Championships (1971) |
| Wimbledon doubles | 1953 with Lew Hoad, beating Rex Hartwig and Mervyn Rose 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 7-5; 1956 with Hoad, beating Nicola Pietrangeli and Orlando Sirola 7-5, 6-2, 6-1 |
| Wimbledon finals | 1954: lost to Jaroslav Drobný 13-11, 4-6, 6-2, 9-7. 1956: lost to Lew Hoad 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. 1970: lost to John Newcombe 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1. 1974: lost to Jimmy Connors 6-1, 6-1, 6-4 |
| Wimbledon 1974 | At 39, beat Stan Smith from two sets down in the semi-final, 6-8, 4-6, 9-8, 6-1, 6-3, after wins over Roscoe Tanner and John Newcombe |
| Davis Cup on grass | Challenge Round at Kooyong, December 1953: Australia trailed the United States and needed both final-day singles; Hoad won in five sets and Rosewall in four to keep the Cup. Davis Cup winner in 1953, 1955, 1956 and 1973 |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1953 | Men's doubles | with Lew Hoad |
| 1956 | Men's doubles | with Lew Hoad |
| Australian Championships | ||
| 1953 | Men's doubles | with Lew Hoad |
| 1953 | Men's singles | |
| 1955 | Men's singles | |
| 1956 | Men's doubles | with Lew Hoad |
| 1971 | Men's singles Australian Open | |
| 1972 | Men's doubles Australian Open | with Owen Davidson |
| 1972 | Men's singles Australian Open | |
| US Championships | ||
| 1956 | Men's doubles | with Lew Hoad |
| 1956 | Mixed doubles | with Margaret Osborne duPont |
| 1956 | Men's singles | |
| 1969 | Men's doubles US Open | with Fred Stolle |
| 1970 | Men's singles US Open | |
| US Pro Championships | ||
| 1963 | Men's doubles†| with Rod Laver |
| 1963 | Men's singles†| |
| 1965 | Men's singles‡ | |
| 1967 | Men's doubles†| with Dennis Ralston |
| Welsh Championships | ||
| 1970 | Men's singles | |
| 1971 | Men's doubles | with Roger Taylor |
| 1971 | Men's singles | |
| Victorian Championships | ||
| 1954 | Men's singles | |
| 1956 | Men's singles | |
| Queensland Championships | ||
| 1955 | Men's singles | |
| 1972 | Men's singles | |
| Western Australian Championships | ||
| 1953 | Men's singles | |
| Northern Championships | ||
| 1954 | Men's singles | |
| Queen's Club | ||
| 1955 | Men's singles | |
| New South Wales Championships | ||
| 1956 | Men's singles | |
| Newport, Rhode Island | ||
| 1956 | Men's singles Newport Casino Invitational | |
| Bristol (West of England) | ||
| 1969 | Men's singles Bristol Open | |
| Eastbourne | ||
| 1970 | Men's singles South of England Championships | |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"I was lucky, because the game didn't change a great deal from the start of my career to the end."
The person behind the player.
Sydney, 1940s
Rosewall was born left-handed. His father taught him to play with his right hand, and he started at three, practising early each morning and working on a single shot for weeks at a time. The one-handed backhand that came out of those mornings became the shot he was known for.
Source: WikipediaLocker room
Fellow players called him "Muscles", a joke at the expense of a slight frame of 1.70 metres. The name stuck for seven decades. As boys in Sydney he and Lew Hoad played each other so often that they were known as the Sydney twins, and they went on to win Wimbledon doubles titles together in 1953 and 1956.
Source: WikipediaKooyong 1953
In the Davis Cup Challenge Round, Australia went into the last day needing both singles against the experienced Americans Vic Seixas and Tony Trabert. The teenagers Hoad and Rosewall delivered, Hoad in five sets and Rosewall in four. The Sport Australia Hall of Fame records that the two matches stopped the nation and set new attendance records.
Source: Sport Australia Hall of FameWimbledon 1970
At 35, Rosewall won 12 points in a row from 0-3 down in the fourth set of the final against John Newcombe, forcing a fifth, but lost it 6-1. The crowd was firmly behind the older man. Newcombe said afterwards that he was not unsympathetic, but wanted to win too, and consoled Rosewall with the remark that he could win at Bristol the following week.
Source: Sports IllustratedWimbledon 1974
Seeded ninth, Rosewall beat Roscoe Tanner and John Newcombe, then came from two sets down against Stan Smith to reach his fourth final, aged 39 years and 234 days. Jimmy Connors beat him in straight sets. He remains the only man older than Novak Djokovic to have reached a Wimbledon semi-final.
Source: TennisheadDallas 1972
Rosewall beat Rod Laver in the WCT final, a match Laver's ten double faults helped decide. "There were 10 easy points he gave me," Rosewall said, and when asked about tactics: "I'd like to say I planned it that way, but I didn't." It was typical of a player known for crediting luck and opponents more than himself.
Source: International Tennis Hall of FameFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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