Rosewall back and still great

Press, 26 November 1979, Page 19

Rosewall back and still great

"This is my idea of paradise,” said a tennis buff at Wilding Park on Saturday, as Ken Rosewall and Tony Roche traded shots on the centre court. “1 mean, watching play of this calibre and getting a sun tan at the same time.” He was one of about 1600 spectators who took advantage of a brilliantly fine summer’s day to watch two of the game’s living legends prove that age is immaterial in tennis, but excellence lasts forever. Playing in the penultimate round of the Skellerup All Star tour of New Zealand, Rosewall proudly showed off his highly acclaimed backhand while Roche bent his first serves like a boomergang most of them accompanied by a gut-rending grunt. Rosewall, who last played on Wilding Park 22 years ago, enjoyed the most sue-

jcessful afternoon because he ; I took the winner’s purse of J $lOOO by beating his rival 'Australian in tne feature i singles. , i He also beat the 17-year-! ■[old Hutt Valley boy, James j 1[ Dunphy, in a one-set singles ‘ ! match and later combined[ with Bruce Derlin, also 17,1 .[of Auckland, to beat Roche . [ and Dunphy in a doubles. ,! The only unfortunate as-, jpect of the afternoon’s pro-! i I gramme was that the Roche- > | Rosewall encounter had to i ibe decided on a sudden. .death basis because of aj strict time schedule; the! Jplayers had to be on an air-: ■ 1 craft for Auckland in the \ . early evening. ; So after Roche had won ■ the first set. convincingly, and Rosewall had claimed ; the second, a little luckily, the rivals were pitted I against each othr in a tie- > breaker to decide which man ■ took the thick end of the

prize money. Rosewall prevailed. by i seven points to five, tc coni-11 plete a remarkable comeback. The previous evening;! he had been com-!; prehensively beaten by Roche in Dunedin. The two young New Zea-!; , landers, who are being spo-i

By

JOHN BROOKS

; ken of as Davis Cup players, !of the not-too-distant future, : l shaped promisingly and !clearly showed the benefits' lof touring with the skilled ! Australians. For a lad not! [yet 18, Derlin, a left-hander,! possesses an impressive first! serve and a determined atti-j tude. Dunphy revealed a deceptive second serve and hit' some fine winning drives I from the back of the court. ! But the chief attention,! not unnaturally, was on the| Australians, and more par-

ticularly on Rosewall, who is now at an age when he could be expected to be pottering about with the jobbers in the second mixed grade. But with a hair-cut which identifies him immediately as a product of the early 19505, some charmingly boy-

iiish gestures, and an agility [; [which belies his 45 years,: . | this extraordinary man of[ .! tennis produced some superb ! [shots. The backhands, of, [course, were to be treasured,' [ but there were also some : | devastating volleys, made to [look effortless, and a veriety ■[of baffling top-spun serves. ! :! The most remarkable of [ these was like a leg-break to; la right-handed batsman at, I cricket; Dunphy was un-' [fortunate enough to receive : ■it. The ball pitched and cut 1

away from the racket, keeping low. Returning it was impossible. But Rosewall did not have a monopoly on the mindboggling shots. Roche hit plenty of them in the course of reinforcing his image of being among the most competitive of tennis players. The steely look in his eyes and the craggy jaw give him the appearance of a cowboy who has just thrust through the batwing doors of a saloon, looking ! for action. His tennis is uni mistakeably similar, for he goes in search of the impossible shot — and often gets it. Once, against Rosewall, he was on the right hand side of the court when ‘‘Muscles’ 1 played a gentle drop shot to ; his left. Roche not only got to the ball without rupturing himself, but also hit a sizzling forehand winner dowm the line.

Soon after, Rosewall hit a ■ splendid lob — as he did all afternoon — and Roche had : to spring to the base line to catch up with the ball. But just as it was descending for the second time, Roche hit a glorious drive for a winner. Rosewall. who had been ! left flat-footed, promptly changed places with a ball - •'boy. who went through a ■ mock rally with Roche. It was a nice touch, and an appropriate one. Rosewall was fortunate to beat Roche. The diminutive t veteran made far more • errors than his rival, did not ■ get as many first serves in, and experienced considerable ' trouble with his drop shots, i poking most of them into ’[the net. i! But his placements were excellent, his backhand re- ; turns of service often sensaI tional, and the fact that he i hit 36 winners to Roche’s 19 told the story.

Roche won the fist set, 6-2; Rosewall took the second. 7-6, after being ahead, 4-1: and then came the deciding tie-breaker. In the one-set singles. Rosewall beat Dunphy. 6-3. after the curly-haired New Zealander — who is younger than Rosewall’s youngest son — had held his first three serves. Roche beat Derlin by a similar score, although the blond Aucklander had a moment of glory when he directed three blistering serves at his opponent One of them aced Roche, and the other two defied a cleanlystruck return. Then, in the doubles. Rosewall and Derlin beat Roche and Dunphy, 6-4. in an entertaining encounter. And in three hours and a half of top class tennis, there were no histrionics. Apart from the Rosewall backhands, that was the best part of all.