Key events of 1969

[Scott_tennis]

1969

What were considered the most important or most significant tournaments of 1969?

For several reasons this was an interesting year for men’s tennis:

- The year of Laver’s second grand slam;
- The first full year of open tennis, with approximately 30 open events (including the four majors);
- The first full year for the two professional groups WCT and NTL , as the NTL did not begin its schedule until March of 1968;
- Despite the lengthy list of open and other professional tournaments, there was no organized point circuit. The Grand Prix did not start until 1970 and the structured WCT tournament circuit began in 1971.

I suggest the following as the twelve key events of 1969:

Sydney NSW Open Roche d Laver
Australian Open Brisbane Laver d Gimeno
Philadelphia Indoors Laver d Roche
South African Open Laver d Okker
Italian Open Newcombe d Roche
French Open Laver d Rosewall
Wimbledon Laver d Newcombe
US Pro Boston Laver d Newcombe
US Open Laver d Roche
PSW Open Gonzales d Richey
Las Vegas – Hughes Pro Gonzales d Ashe
Wembley Laver d Roche

Events that I consider just below in terms of importance are:
Monte Carlo Monte Carlo Open Okker d Newcombe
London Queens Stolle d Newcombe
German Open Roche d Okker
Paris Open Okker d Buchholz
Stockholm Indoors Pilic d Nastase

Any suggestions or comments regarding the list or any other events which may have been overlooked?

 

[Limpinhitter]

Citations to sources would be nice!

 

[Q&M son]

Good thread but there's a lot of 69 talk here in this forums

 

[Scott_tennis]

Citations to sources would be nice!

I reviewed the following sources of information for 1969 tournament results:

1. Within this forum, under the thread “results tennis tournaments 1968-1972” see post #5 by AndrewTas. That post lists approximately 150 different tournaments for 1969 and shows the name, dates and finals results for each of those events. This is the most comprehensive listing of 1969 tournaments that I am aware of;

2. BP Year Book of World Tennis 1970 – contains full draws and reports on the four major world championships, reports on some other tournaments, partial results for many tournaments and three pages of professional results (pages 133 through 135) for 14 contract pro events;

3. USLTA 1970 Yearbook and Guide – pages 53 to 56 contain final results of the 1969 American Season (52 listed events); pages 56 to 58 contain final results of 30 open tournaments held around the world, and page 58 also contains the finals results for 10 contract pro events;

4. World Tennis magazine contains results information for most tournaments; and

5. The ITF web site (Men’s Circuit) results section lists 47 different tournaments for 1969.

 

[Joe Pike]

1969 ...

Key event?
Tennis-wise??

That's easy - Steffi was born.

 

[jeffreyneave]

i would count the madison square garden open won by gimeno over ashe as one of the top 12 events. all the top players (ameteurs and pros) including laver played the event. I would rank it ahead of the us pro which was just a pro event.

jeffrey

 

[hoodjem]

Australian Open Brisbane Laver d Gimeno
Philadelphia Indoors Laver d Roche
South African Open Laver d Okker

French Open Laver d Rosewall
Wimbledon Laver d Newcombe
US Pro Boston Laver d Newcombe
US Open Laver d Roche

Wembley Laver d Roche

Pretty ferocious year for Laver. Including the Grand Slam, he won 8 of the top 12 events of the year.

Has anyone ever been so dominant?
Fed in 2006 won three slams plus four masters 100 events plus the year-end finals?

 

[joe sch]

1969

What were considered the most important or most significant tournaments of 1969?

For several reasons this was an interesting year for men’s tennis:

- The year of Laver’s second grand slam;
- The first full year of open tennis, with approximately 30 open events (including the four majors);
- The first full year for the two professional groups WCT and NTL , as the NTL did not begin its schedule until March of 1968;
- Despite the lengthy list of open and other professional tournaments, there was no organized point circuit. The Grand Prix did not start until 1970 and the structured WCT tournament circuit began in 1971.

I suggest the following as the twelve key events of 1969:

Sydney NSW Open Roche d Laver
Australian Open Brisbane Laver d Gimeno
Philadelphia Indoors Laver d Roche
South African Open Laver d Okker
Italian Open Newcombe d Roche
French Open Laver d Rosewall
Wimbledon Laver d Newcombe
US Pro Boston Laver d Newcombe
US Open Laver d Roche
PSW Open Gonzales d Richey
Las Vegas – Hughes Pro Gonzales d Ashe
Wembley Laver d Roche

Events that I consider just below in terms of importance are:
Monte Carlo Monte Carlo Open Okker d Newcombe
London Queens Stolle d Newcombe
German Open Roche d Okker
Paris Open Okker d Buchholz
Stockholm Indoors Pilic d Nastase

Any suggestions or comments regarding the list or any other events which may have been overlooked?

1969 was such an interesting year in the history of tennis for many of the reasons that you have cited, especially since it was the last of only a few grand slam dominations of tennis, and the 2nd for maybe the greatest male player of all time, Rod Laver.

Im always amazed at what Pancho Gonzales also achieved at 40+ years of age. He could still beat anybody in the world including Rod Laver, even if it took 5 sets. The Las Vegas Hughes pro was such an achievement and I even have a very interesting documentary interview of Pancho during that tournament ...

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.

 

[urban]

Good list, Scott. As Jeffrey said, one could include the MSG event in spring, won by Gimeno over Ashe. Besides Forest Hills, the biggest paycheck (15000$)was handed out in the MSG pro event in May, won by Laver over Emerson. Also the Fort Worth event, with NTL and WCT players, (won by Laver over Rosewall), could be included in the second tier events.

 

[Scott_tennis]

Here is a quick comparison of the 1969 MSG Open vs. the 1969 US Pro

MSG Open = Garden Challenge Trophy Open
Held week starting March 24
Same week as minor events in Norfolk, Rome and Nice
F Gimeno ($5,290) d Ashe
Draw size 32
According to World Tennis: “the best 32-man draw in the history of the game”
WCT participants (7): Newcombe, Roche, Ralston, Buchholz, Riessen, Moore and Okker
NTL participants (4): Laver, Emerson, Gonzales and Gimeno
Stolle and Rosewall each withdrew prior to the event

US Pro
Held week starting July 7
Same week as Newport Wales, Bastaad, Dusseldorf and Washington DC
F Laver ($8,000) d Newcombe
Draw size 16
WCT participants (10): Newcombe, Roche, Drysdale, Ralston, Buchholz, Barthes, Riessen, Moore, Okker and Holmberg
NTL participants (4): Laver, Rosewall, Stolle and Gonzales

The MSG Open gets the edge for:
- Larger draw than the US Pro
- Its draw included contract pros along with non-contract pros and “amateurs”; the US Pro was almost entirely solely the contract pros
- There were fewer competing events held the same week

 

[hoodjem]

MSG Open = Garden Challenge Trophy Open
Held week starting March 24
Same week as minor events in Norfolk, Rome and Nice
F Gimeno ($5,290) d Ashe
Draw size 32
According to World Tennis: “the best 32-man draw in the history of the game”
WCT participants (7): Newcombe, Roche, Ralston, Buchholz, Riessen, Moore and Okker
NTL participants (4): Laver, Emerson, Gonzales and Gimeno
Stolle and Rosewall each withdrew prior to the event

The MSG Open gets the edge for:
- Larger draw than the US Pro
- Its draw included contract pros along with non-contract pros and “amateurs”; the US Pro was almost entirely solely the contract pros
- There were fewer competing events held the same week

Do you have the match scores?

To whom did Laver lose? Which round?

 

[Limpinhitter]

1969

What were considered the most important or most significant tournaments of 1969?

For several reasons this was an interesting year for men’s tennis:

- The year of Laver’s second grand slam;
- The first full year of open tennis, with approximately 30 open events (including the four majors);
- The first full year for the two professional groups WCT and NTL , as the NTL did not begin its schedule until March of 1968;
- Despite the lengthy list of open and other professional tournaments, there was no organized point circuit. The Grand Prix did not start until 1970 and the structured WCT tournament circuit began in 1971.

I suggest the following as the twelve key events of 1969:

Sydney NSW Open Roche d Laver
Australian Open Brisbane Laver d Gimeno
Philadelphia Indoors Laver d Roche
South African Open Laver d Okker
Italian Open Newcombe d Roche
French Open Laver d Rosewall
Wimbledon Laver d Newcombe
US Pro Boston Laver d Newcombe
US Open Laver d Roche
PSW Open Gonzales d Richey
Las Vegas – Hughes Pro Gonzales d Ashe
Wembley Laver d Roche

Events that I consider just below in terms of importance are:
Monte Carlo Monte Carlo Open Okker d Newcombe
London Queens Stolle d Newcombe
German Open Roche d Okker
Paris Open Okker d Buchholz
Stockholm Indoors Pilic d Nastase

Any suggestions or comments regarding the list or any other events which may have been overlooked?

There was this little festival on Max Yazgur's farm.

 

[Scott_tennis]

Do you have the match scores?

To whom did Laver lose? Which round?

Laver lost in the first round to Richey

Finals Gimeno d Ashe 61 62 36 68 97

What other match scores did you want?

 

[hoodjem]

Laver lost in the first round to Richey

Finals Gimeno d Ashe 61 62 36 68 97

What other match scores did you want?

Thanks.

Oh, maybe quarters and semis.

 

[kiki]

69 was a galactic year.Man reached the moon, and the rocket crushed the earth.( and the grass, too)