Pancho Gonzales is the mentally toughest and greatest tennis player of all time

[PanchoGonzalesTheGreatest]

It is said by those who saw him that he was such a fierce competitor that he makes Jimmy Connors look like a *****cat in comparison. Think about that for a second.

It has also been said that he never lost serve whilst serving for the set or match. He was the World No. 1 professional tennis player for an unequalled eight years in the 1950s and early 1960s.

A 1999 Sports Illustrated article about the magazine's 20 "favorite athletes" of the 20th century said about Gonzales (their number 15 pick): "If earth was on the line in a tennis match, the man you want serving to save humankind would be Ricardo Alonso Gonzalez." American tennis commentator Bud Collins echoed this in an August 2006 article for MSNBC.com: "If I had to choose someone to play for my life, it would be Pancho Gonzales."

He also had great longetivity and as a 41-year-old at Wimbledon in 1969, Gonzales met Charlie Pasarell, a Puerto Rican younger than Gonzales by 16 years.

Gonzales fought back from 2 sets down to win an epic encounter 22-24, 1–6, 16-14, 6–3, 11-9. Gonzales saved all seven match points that Pasarell had against him in the fifth set, twice coming back from 0-40 deficits, to walk off the court the eventual winner in a 5-hour, 12-minute epic.

Here is a YouTube video about the incredible Pancho Gonzales: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd0gJzm_EQY

[RF20Lennon]

Can we not have one single day of peace on this forum????? Two trolls got banned yesterday and now this

[PanchoGonzalesTheGreatest]

Originally Posted by RF20Lennon

Can we not have one single day of peace on this forum????? Two trolls got banned yesterday and now this

What on earth are you talking about? I am simply paying my respects to the mentally strongest tennis player of all time and one of the greatest fighters in all of sports. Gonzales is up there with Michael Jordan, Rocky marciano in terms of sheer will to win.

[RF20Lennon]

Originally Posted by PanchoGonzalesTheGreatest

What on earth are you talking about? I am simply paying my respects to the mentally strongest tennis player of all time and one of the greatest fighters in all of sports. Gonzales is up there with Michael Jordan, Rocky marciano in terms of sheer will to win.

I'm not talking about your appraisal of Gonzales just with the way you phrase things. Someone's been taking lessons from ***

[PanchoGonzalesTheGreatest]

Originally Posted by RF20Lennon

I'm not talking about your appraisal of Gonzales just with the way you phrase things. Someone's been taking lessons from ***

That is how I express myself. I believe strongly that Pancho Gonzales is the greatest tennis player of all time. Maybe you wouldn't protest so much if I said Federer was the greatest.

[Numenor]

Originally Posted by PanchoGonzalesTheGreatest

It is said by those who saw him that he was such a fierce competitor that he makes Jimmy Connors look like a *****cat in comparison. Think about that for a second.

It has also been said that he never lost serve whilst serving for the set or match. He was the World No. 1 professional tennis player for an unequalled eight years in the 1950s and early 1960s.

A 1999 Sports Illustrated article about the magazine's 20 "favorite athletes" of the 20th century said about Gonzales (their number 15 pick): "If earth was on the line in a tennis match, the man you want serving to save humankind would be Ricardo Alonso Gonzalez." American tennis commentator Bud Collins echoed this in an August 2006 article for MSNBC.com: "If I had to choose someone to play for my life, it would be Pancho Gonzales."

He also had great longetivity and as a 41-year-old at Wimbledon in 1969, Gonzales met Charlie Pasarell, a Puerto Rican younger than Gonzales by 16 years.

Gonzales fought back from 2 sets down to win an epic encounter 22-24, 1–6, 16-14, 6–3, 11-9. Gonzales saved all seven match points that Pasarell had against him in the fifth set, twice coming back from 0-40 deficits, to walk off the court the eventual winner in a 5-hour, 12-minute epic.

Here is a YouTube video about the incredible Pancho Gonzales: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd0gJzm_EQY

[RF20Lennon]

As I said before I have no issues with who you consider the greatest but the way you did it

[PanchoGonzalesTheGreatest]

Originally Posted by RF20Lennon

As I said before I have no issues with who you consider the greatest but the way you did it

So just because you have issues with how I express myself, then I should change just to make you happy? Everyone is different and expresses themselves in different ways. If you don't like how I express myself, then no one is forcing you to read my threads. As long as I don't break any rules, then I should be allowed to express myself how I like.

Trolling is something I have no interest in. I like tennis too much to waste my time trolling. Everything I say, I believe deep down, and I am not trying to provoke anyone. I've been a big admirer for Federer's natural ability since I first saw in play in 1998 but I have always been a big critic of his fragile mind. He sort of won me over with his brilliant performances in 2004 but then that mental fragility surfaced again and he started making too many unforced errors in matches.

[RF20Lennon]

Originally Posted by PanchoGonzalesTheGreatest

So just because you have issues with how I express myself, then I should change just to make you happy? Everyone is different and expresses themselves in different ways. If you don't like how I express myself, then no one is forcing you to read my threads. As long as I don't break any rules, then I should be allowed to express myself how I like.

Trolling is something I have no interest in. I like tennis too much to waste my time trolling. Everything I say, I believe deep down, and I am not trying to provoke anyone. I've been a big admirer for Federer's natural ability since I first saw in play in 1998 but I have always been a big critic of his fragile mind. He sort of won me over with his brilliant performances in 2004 but then that mental fragility surfaced again and he started making too many unforced errors in matches.

Point taken. Just that the way you listed things was sort of similar to a troll who was banned a while back but I was wrong and I apologize

[kiki]

Originally Posted by PanchoGonzalesTheGreatest

So just because you have issues with how I express myself, then I should change just to make you happy? Everyone is different and expresses themselves in different ways. If you don't like how I express myself, then no one is forcing you to read my threads. As long as I don't break any rules, then I should be allowed to express myself how I like.

Trolling is something I have no interest in. I like tennis too much to waste my time trolling. Everything I say, I believe deep down, and I am not trying to provoke anyone. I've been a big admirer for Federer's natural ability since I first saw in play in 1998 but I have always been a big critic of his fragile mind. He sort of won me over with his brilliant performances in 2004 but then that mental fragility surfaced again and he started making too many unforced errors in matches.

Certainly, Great Pancho didn´t have the menthal issue fed has with Nadal, he just didn´t have too many menthal issues to worry about.I con´t know if he was superior to others from that point of view, but he certainly deserves to be respected as a man of great nerve and courage.

[PanchoGonzalesTheGreatest]

Originally Posted by kiki

Certainly, Great Pancho didn´t have the menthal issue fed has with Nadal, he just didn´t have too many menthal issues to worry about.I con´t know if he was superior to others from that point of view, but he certainly deserves to be respected as a man of great nerve and courage.

From everything I have read, Pancho was the mentally toughest competitor in tennis history. Jimmy Connors said that if he had to choose one player to play for his life, it would be Pancho. Jimmy also said that watching Pancho play was like looking into a burning flame. Pancho's desire to win was greater than the others. He was much tougher than Federer. Pancho was also much tougher than nadal. Even Nadal admitted to having mental issues against Djokovic last year. Pancho had no mental issues against anyone.

[RF20Lennon]

Originally Posted by PanchoGonzalesTheGreatest

From everything I have read, Pancho was the mentally toughest competitor in tennis history. Jimmy Connors said that if he had to choose one player to play for his life, it would be Pancho. Jimmy also said that watching Pancho play was like looking into a burning flame. Pancho's desire to win was greater than the others. He was much tougher than Federer. Pancho was also much tougher than nadal. Even Nadal admitted to having mental issues against Djokovic last year. Pancho had no mental issues against anyone.

ok thats true but lets be honest here!! the game has changed a lot. There is waaaay more competition now than ever before

[Mustard]

Pancho Gonzales is the most underrated player of all time, by a country mile. He is a possible GOAT, yet many people in the tennis world don't even know who he is.

[pc1]

Originally Posted by Mustard

Pancho Gonzales is the most underrated player of all time, by a country mile. He is a possible GOAT, yet many people in the tennis world don't even know who he is.

That's a shame. Gonzalez is arguably the greatest player of all time and his record stands with anyone. Incidentally guys, while Gonzales is often spelled with an "s" the spelling in the Hall of Champions at the National Tennis Center is with a "z."

[TMF]

Originally Posted by Mustard

Pancho Gonzales is the most underrated player of all time, by a country mile. He is a possible GOAT, yet many people in the tennis world don't even know who he is.

Why do you have to keep on defending Pancho? There are players that were before this time, and experts from TTC have Budge and Tilden in the top 10 greatest male player. So you can't say that Pancho was overlooked.

[pc1]

Originally Posted by TMF

Why do you have to keep on defending Pancho? There are players that were before this time, and experts from TTC have Budge and Tilden in the top 10 greatest male player. So you can't say that Pancho was overlooked.

I actually believe Pancho Gonzalez is greatly overlooked but people like superficially at the totals of classic majors not realizing he couldn't play the classic majors.

[Mustard]

Originally Posted by TMF

Why do you have to keep on defending Pancho? There are players that were before this time, and experts from TTC have Budge and Tilden in the top 10 greatest male player. So you can't say that Pancho was overlooked.

Tilden is fortunate in that during his amateur prime, the best players in the world were also amateurs, and Tilden was also the first really big tennis superstar to do very well as a professional, after players like Vinny Richards and Karel Kozeluh had shown the way for the professional game early on. Even though Tilden did very well as a professional and was aging, I believe all the credit he gets from certain circles is due to his amateur career with 7 US Championships and winning his last Wimbledon 9 years after his previous Wimbledon triumph.

Budge has the 1938 Grand Slam to make him famous.

Gonzales, I am sure, is only given credit by some people for his 2 US Championships titles as an amateur and the fact that he was still playing in his 40s, but his period as the best player in the world for 8 years as a professional, is clearly not acknowledged in many circles. If it were, there's no way he would be outside of the top 5 on all time lists at the very least.

[pc1]

Originally Posted by Mustard

Tilden is fortunate in that during his amateur prime, the best players in the world were also amateurs, and Tilden was also the first really big tennis superstar to do very well as a professional, after players like Vinny Richards and Karel Kozeluh had shown the way for the professional game early on. Even though Tilden did very well as a professional and was aging, I believe all the credit he gets from certain circles is due to his amateur career with 7 US Championships and winning his last Wimbledon 9 years after his previous Wimbledon triumph.

Budge has the 1938 Grand Slam to make him famous.

Gonzales, I am sure, is only given credit by some people for his 2 US Championships titles as an amateur and the fact that he was still playing in his 40s, but his period as the best player in the world for 8 years as a professional, is clearly not acknowledged in many circles. If it were, there's no way he would be outside of the top 5 on all time lists at the very least.

It frankly bugs me that people don't look at Pancho Gonzalez as one of the top five ever. People just are not examining his full record.

[RF20Lennon]

The thing is unfortunately we lack video footage of those matches like we do with federer Sampras and even laver and so Gonzales hasn't made it big into the Internet world

[SStrikerR]

Belong in former pro player section. Gtfo