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Pancho’s substantial head housed a huge and calculating tennis brain.
Pancho Segura, born in Guayaquil , Ecuador , was deceptive in every way, short and unimpressive physically, but smart, tricky, and a tennis genius.
Just looking at him you would never imagine he could be a great tennis player. Pancho was about 5’6″ or 5’7″ tall, had severely bowed legs (the result, so it was said, of childhood rickets), was extremely pigeon-toed, and had a massive, oversized, handsome head with a luxuriant growth of dark hair.
You soon learned why he had such a substantial head – to house a huge brain that was one of the brightest, most calculating, cunning, and diabolical that I have ever encountered in tennis. Because of this, other pros gave him the appropriate nickname, “Sneaky”.
He sort of shuffled from side to side as he walked, giving you the impression he was apt to stumble at any moment. Yet when the match started Pancho’s legs seemed to magically straighten out and he moved with incredible grace and speed.
His court coverage was astounding and his balance exceptional as his scrawny legs churned away under an erect and unhurried upper body. He always seemed to…