Ashe - Rosewall AO Final 1971

Ashe - Rosewall Australian Open 1971 highlights.

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[Bernhard Jonsson]

Thanks for great footage!Nobody played the game as beautiful as Rosewall did! Do you have more from him? I would love to see it!

[rttennis]

Unfortunately, no - the only other footage of Rosewall I have is his interview after this match which I have also uploaded.

[cain2335]

that rosewall slice is amazing

[Jorma Leppänen]

Thank you so much! I find Ashe and Rosewall the most interesting personalities in modern tennis. No nonsense approach. You always know where Rosewall will put the ball with his first volley but it doesn't help you too much. And when you see Ashe run and hit his forehand down the line, on the line, you feel he's in the middle of the universe saying to himself 'this is just beautiful'. Duell or duetto, call it anything, I call it Living by the rules. They give us something to think about.

[Heroscrest1]

i think some of those were 'great returns' haha

[Christopher King]

Awesome! I did not know Artie's racket was already out by '71, WOW.

So cool watching old matches, thanks.

[pablotjob]

rosewall had an unbelieable career....his first grand slam final was in 1953, and the last one was in 1974; he also reached the AO semifinal in 1976 (42 yrs old)....just AMAZING! impossible to happen in this century....

[Richard Noel Hedditch]

And they [Rosewall and Laver] were Davis Cup team-mates on, I'd say, without going directly to the record books, a frequent basis. Up until at least the time the two of them won that in 1973. I think Rosewall would beat Laver these days, with Laver in a hospital bed, the last I heard. [But if we somehow made it compulsory for this National Treasure [Laver] to get out of traction and play another match against Rosewall, in order to amuse us, should we do it?]

[72fordgrantorino]

@Ariamaluum: Rosewall fared well against Tom Okker. No one did well against Connors in '74, when Rosewall lost to him in the Wimbledon and U.S. finals when Ken was 39 (!). Connors won 3 of the 4 grand slam titles that year and hit the ball harder than anyone, which was one of the problems Rosewall faced at Wimbledon and Forest Hills in '74. The other problems were a grueling 5-set semifinal win over Stan Smith at Wimbledon and a tense, 4-set semifinal win over John Newcombe at the U.S.

[Davan Mani]

@72fordgrantorino. Tom Okker and Jimmy Connors when he was young. Cliff Drysdale didn't give him any trouble but he did give trouble to Rod Laver. Main point: Ken would rather deal with hard-hitters than speed demons like him. Arthur Ashe was pretty powerful but no margin of error in his shots. Likewise, he was slow.

[72fordgrantorino]

@Richardhedditch261: Absolutely! Players during Rosewall's time routinely played 30 tournaments a year + doubles(not the 10 - 15 played today), so there were more opportunities for the top players to face off. This rivalry was probably the longest in tennis history (and, quality-wise, the best), and the Wikipedia records don't include the dozens of times they played one another on the senior tour in the '80s & '90s.

[72fordgrantorino]

@Ariamaluum: Rosewall's first year as a pro was his first year as a pro. Of course Segoo roughed him up. So did Gonzalez. Later, however, Rosewall returned the favor to both. Later Rosewall owned Drysdale, and that was after Ken's peak years. Which "speed demons" gave Rosewall trouble? Aussie Adrian Quist hit with 2 hands, so did "Rosewall and other Australians" disrespect their countryman? And Cliff Drysdale was consistently ranked in the top 10 during the late '60s and early '70s.