Pancho Gonzales
Ricardo Alonso González, also known as Pancho Gonzales and Richard Gonzales ( born May 9, 1928 in Los Angeles, California, † July 3, 1995 in Las Vegas, Nevada) was an American tennis player.
Life and career
Over a period of 25 years ( 1948 to end of 1972 ), he was a world class player and was considered since the beginning of 1954 to mid- 1960 as the best player in the world, longer than anyone else before or since. As such, it must next Bill Tilden, Rod Laver, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are among the best tennis players of all time. Especially his charge, which was in many ways comparable to that of Sampras with was feared by his opponents. In addition, Gonzales had on the tennis court, similar to later Boris Becker or Rafael Nadal, a great fighting spirit.
His parents emigrated in the early 20th century from Mexico to the United States. He had a difficult childhood and taught himself to play tennis with, without the support of the white upper class that dominated the tennis games in the forties of the last century in Los Angeles. As an unknown 20 -year-old junior player, he won the 1948 U.S. Championships (now the U.S. Open ) in Forest Hills. The next year he won the championship again. This was the reason to go to the professionals for him. In his first year as a pro, he was defeated by Jack Kramer and disappeared for the time being of the public view. He then won several professional tournaments, finally struck also Kramer and was from 1953 the dominant player in professional tennis.
Gonzales played professionally, before the era of open tournaments in 1968 began and therefore could not compete at Wimbledon or the U.S. Open until the age of 40 years. In his professional career, he hit all the major players such as Frank Sedgman, Ken Rosewall, Lew Hoad, Tony Trabert, Malcolm Anderson and Ashley Cooper. He won the U.S. Professional Championships eight times and the British Championships four times. In direct comparison, he beat the best amateur player who switched to the professionals. At forty, he defeated such well-known players such as Rod Laver, Stan Smith, John Newcombe and Jimmy Connors, although they were up to 20 years younger. He won a professional tennis tournament with 43 years as the oldest player ever. Roy Emerson was the dominant player with a dozen victories at Grand Slam tournaments in the 1960s, but he could never defeat the much older Gonzales.
Pancho Gonzales married six times and had seven children. His last wife Rita is a sister of Andre Agassi. They also paid the funeral of Gonzales, who died penniless and almost friendless in Las Vegas. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1968.
Grand Slam victories
- Forest Hills Single - 1948, 1949
- Wimbledon Double - 1949
- French Championships Double - 1949
Professional World Singles Tournament
- Wembley Single in 1950, 1951, 1952, 1956
- United States Professional Championship Single 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961