My interview with Dennis Ralston
 

I had the chance to sit down with Dennis Ralston over the weekend and interview him. If you're interested, please check it out:

http://austintennis.blogspot.com/

"I learned that more people are dying from prescription drugs than from overdoses in America, and no one talks about it, so I vowed that if I made it out, I would."

Bingo!!

Great interview! I could only access part 1. How do I see part 2? I saw Dennis Ralston play once. He was actually playing doubles with Rod Laver. Needless to say, they won their match easily.

Hey DB, I'm still working on part 2, I'll post in this thread when it's finished, probably Thursday night.

Good fella.One of the best amateur players in the 60´s and a good US Davis Cup captain.

Nice!
Who is he?

Hall of Fame Inductee...top five in the world, five grand slam doubles titles, Wimbledon finalist, US Davis Cup player and Captain, played against Laver, Rosewall, Gonzales, Hoad, etc. Maybe try Google.

I see they named a town after Tracy Austin in Texas.
I just love you Mexicans!!

What a putz! actually we prefer the term Texicans!

Great interview - His daughter and her family lives here in Houston and my girl went to school with his grand-daughter and were best friends (funny his son a teaching pro out in Palm Springs but his daughter and grand kids not big players). We just had another fundraiser to help with his medical bills on his surgery its great he is doing so well.
He was also a coach at SMU in the early 80's and with pros like Chris Evert and Yannick Noah.

Ralston was the great US hope in the 60´s ( just before A Ashe).Had a few big wins against the top guys but never was a threat to the big aussie boys.He seems to have done much better as a US Davis Cup captain and as a commentator and coach, in which he did pretty well.

He was a likeable guy but, to me, short of the HALL of FAME

Nice interview. Like many Californians (Dr. Allan Fox is another example) Dennis has high regards for Gonzalez. Interesting, that Pancho was a good mentor for many young players of the time (he also helped Ashe on his way up), while he was a loner among his fellow pros and a villain on the court. That he was Nr. 1 for 12 years, seems to me a bit exaggerated.

Part 2 of the Interview is now posted:

http://austintennis.blogspot.com/

Adverse reactions to correctly prescribed FDA approved drugs is the 4th leading cause of death in the U.S. It's a national disgrace!

Thanks atatu! I have several old tennis books with pictures of Dennis Ralston in them as examples of excellent tennis technique and form. His prime as an amature was before I started playing, but, I always found him to be a fascinating player and person, for as much as I didn't know about him as what I did.

PS: FYI, it's "Pancho" not Poncho.

PPS: I like this quote: "The guy I had the toughest time with, personally, was Roy Emerson. I played him a lot. He was an attacking player, and really fast, I think he still holds the long jump record in Australia for high school athletes. He was the mark, we all said we wanted to be as fit as Roy Emerson, because he never got tired." IMO, Emmo doesn't get the recognition he deserves.

Ralston has some interesting points. One thing I have to mention about Davis Cup. Outside the tennis community there is virtually no interest or respect for the Davis Cup. Several years ago when the US won the Davis Cup, the only mention in my city's newspaper was two lines of tiny type in the section called "Other Sports News."

[quote=Limpinhitter;6127781]Thanks atatu! I have several old tennis books with pictures of Dennis Ralston in them as examples of excellent tennis technique and form. His prime as an amature was before I started playing, but, I always found him to be a fascinating player and person, for as much as I didn't know about him as what I did.

PS: FYI, it's "Pancho" not Poncho.

PPS: I like this quote: "The guy I had the toughest time with, personally, was Roy Emerson. I played him a lot. He was an attacking player, and really fast, I think he still holds the long jump record in Australia for high school athletes. He was the mark, we all said we wanted to be as fit as Roy Emerson, because he never got tired." IMO, Emmo doesn't get the recognition he deserves.[/

Problem with Emerson is that he squipped the pros to make a very good living and filling his pockets with glory in the quite depleted amateur ranks ( only Osuna,Stolle and Santana could spell serious trouble to him ).

Thanks, I made the correction !

[quote=kiki;6128722]Frank Froehling beat him at the U.S. Nationals. Anyway, Ralston played all of the greats from the 60's and cites Emmo as his toughest opponent. That means something.

Welcome! Thanks for the interview. I didn't see anything about how's he doing with his leg. I can understand if it was too sensitive to ask about.

We didn't talk about it directly, he just talked about how he is getting used to it and getting better day by day. I know he is actively teaching and a friend of mine is going to play doubles with him on Friday. Here is a link with some pictures.


http://galleries.austin360.com/galle...-court/#194361