WHEN WIMBLEDON DECIDED TO GO PRO
It was all change for the All England Club 50 years ago, when professional tennis players were allowed to compete for the first time. looks at the historic turning point return of Pancho Gonzales, who had not played at the tournament since 1949, and also attracted tennis stars like Lew Hoad, Ken Rosewall, Pancho Segura, Andres Gimeno and Butch Buchholz.
Rod Laver beat fellow Australian Tony Roche in straight sets in the men’s singles final to underline his status as the world’s best player.
He won having come through a difficult match in the fourth round against Britain’s Mark Cox, who took a set off the Australian before folding.
The final, between two left handers, saw Rod win Wimbledon’s first open tournament 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.
Billie Jean King picked up her third consecutive title with a win over Judy Tegart. The American player beat British fourth seed Ann Jones in the quarter-finals and young fifth seed Virginia Wade suffered a shock first round exit to Christina Sandberg.
There were also changes on the fashion front. It seemed back in 1968 that the wizard of Wimbledon fashions, Teddy Tinling, had finally been tamed.
Colonel Tinling had been well known in the best-dressed tennis circles since he first popped Gorgeous Gussie Moran into a pair of lace bloomers in 1949, and over the years had come up with see-through plastic midriffs, red tights and shocking pink panties for female tennis players.
In 1968, he offered a more traditional tennis look. Italy’s Lea Pericoli sported one of his simple white skirts while British Number 1 Ann Jones and Brazil’s Maria Bueno wore tennis frocks decorated with strips of computer data. But it was the changes on the court that marked a major breakthrough for the sport – although its top stars still had to be patient when it came to prize money.
It was another six years until the men’s Wimbledon champion would take home a five-figure sum, while the women’s winner had to wait two further years.
Billie Jean King and Rod Laver, who are now 74 and 79, have 59 Grand Slam titles between them and are the ‘chairman’s special guests’ at Wimbledon this year.
Rod was also appointed Companion of the Order of Australia, one of the nation’s highest honours, during the Australian Open two years ago.
He recently said that winning Wimbledon had been his dream since he started playing tennis and he achieved that victory four times.
The Australian tennis legend once said: “The time your game is most vulnerable is when you’re ahead; never let up.” Billie jean King earlier this year and Rod Laver during a 2016 Australia Day ceremony to acknowledge his appointment as a Companion of the Order of Australia