Tony Roche: the oldest in the top 10??

[Marius_Hancu]

Tony Roche:
Facing twice Rod Laver, Laver en route to 1969 CGS

1969 US Open
NY, U.S.A. Grass F Laver, Rod
7-9, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2

1969 Australian Open
Australia Grass S Laver, Rod
7-5, 22-20, 9-11, 1-6, 6-3

and in a W final:

1968 Wimbledon
England Grass F Laver, Rod
6-3, 6-4, 6-2

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Players/...=R073&oId=L058

still the oldest in the top 10:

1. Tony Roche (AUS)
30 (2 mos., 9 days)
No. 9 - July 26, 1975
http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Ten...es-Top-10.aspx

Surprising for me.

[urban]

Tony Roche would have ended in the top ten from 1966-1970, if the computer rankings had existed before end 1973. Since 1970, he was severely hampered by an ellbow injury, and after visiting a faith healer in the Phillippines, he could make a comeback in 1975, when he reached the semis at Wim, and gave Ashe his hardest battle on route to the title.

[gpt]

After being a clear number 2 to Laver in the late 60's, the injury robbed Rochey of his 4 or 5 prime years right when Laver was winding down.
After trying everything to repair his arm (including a copper bracelet) it was the trip to the faith healer that got him back on court.
One of my all time favourite players and I was lucky enough to hit with him very briefly at a tennis camp.

[gpt]

[Mustard]

The last day that Jimmy Connors was ranked inside the top 10 was on the 30th April 1989. Connors was 36 years, 7 months and 28 days old on that day. Is there anyone older who has been a top 10 player?

[gpt]

november 1974 Rosewall was number 10 at 40 years of age

[borg number one]

Pancho Gonzalez was still great at 40+.

In late 1969, Gonzales won the Howard Hughes Open in Las Vegas and the Pacific Southwest Open in Los Angeles, beating, among others, John Newcombe, Ken Rosewall, Stan Smith (twice), Cliff Richey, and Arthur Ashe. He was the top American money-winner for 1969 with $46,288. If the touring professionals had been included in the United States rankings, it is likely he would have been ranked number one in the country, just as he had been two decades earlier in 1948 and 1949.

Gonzalez continued to play in the occasional tournament in his 40s. He could also occasionally beat the clear number-one player in the world, Rod Laver. Their most famous meeting was a $10,000 winner-take-all match before a crowd of 15,000 in Madison Square Garden in February 1970. Coming just after the Australian had completed a calendar-year sweep of the Grand Slams, the 41-year-old Gonzales beat Laver in five sets. He became the oldest player to have ever won a professional tournament, winning the Des Moines Open over 24-year-old Georges Goven when he was three months shy of his 44th birthday. In spite of the fact that he was still known as a serve-and-volley player, in 1971, when he was 43 and Jimmy Connors was 19, he beat the great young baseliner by playing him from the baseline at the Pacific Southwest Open. Around this time, Gonzalez relocated to Las Vegas to be the Tennis Director at Caesars Palace, and he hired Chuck Pate, his childhood friend, to run the Pro Shop.

[gpt]

[NLBwell]

I'd pretty much forgotten Roche used the Yoneyama (Yonex) 7500 (gold). I used the green 8500.

[kiki]

Ashe ranked nº 7 in 1979, he was 36 years old.

Roche was 31 by 1975

[kiki]

Originally Posted by gpt

After being a clear number 2 to Laver in the late 60's, the injury robbed Rochey of his 4 or 5 prime years right when Laver was winding down.
After trying everything to repair his arm (including a copper bracelet) it was the trip to the faith healer that got him back on court.
One of my all time favourite players and I was lucky enough to hit with him very briefly at a tennis camp.

I still remember watching him live and his volley mastership was astonishing.So was his very deep and low first serve.like Hoad, he could have been a challenger for GOAT if their bodies - and minds- would have held up

[gavna]

Still considered to have the best backhand volley ever - I also thought Rosewall was the oldest top 10 player in 1974 when he was just over 40.

[kiki]

Originally Posted by gavna

Still considered to have the best backhand volley ever - I also thought Rosewall was the oldest top 10 player in 1974 when he was just over 40.

Rosewall reached the SF of the Australian Open ( the 4th leg of the GS) in 1977... he was around 43 by then.

Connors didn´t bad either.was a US open Semifinalist in 1991, aged 39.

Gonzales was just unbelievable to be truth