Pancho Gonzalez: Outsider Champion

Gonzalez’s rocket serve drew the most attention.

After winning the U. S. Nationals in 1949, suddenly, Richard Gonzalez was the most popular tennis player in the nation. (Click Here for how that happened.) Articles about him appeared in The New York Times newspaper and in Time and Life magazines.

Each article emphasized that no one had ever risen to the top so quickly. As Times tennis writer Allison Danzig put it, “The rankest outsider of modern times sits on the tennis throne today.”

Gonzalez was unique in other ways, too. He had a distinctive playing style that many writers compared to the movements of a jungle cat. He crouched low in preparation for his opponent’s shots. When one came, he pounced on the ball with great fury.

But it was Gonzalez’s serve that received the most attention. Enthusiasts described it as a rocket.

Gonzalez’s style created excitement among spectators. For years, tennis fans had been watching the same players compete in matches that often seemed routine. But no one could tell what would happen in a Gonzalez match. Wondering if he would make an inexplicable error or hit a brilliant shot, people leaned forward in their seats to watch him…