Pancho Gonzalez:
World Champion

Doreen Gonzales

The way was open for a new world professional champion: Richard Gonzalez.

In 1954, Jack Kramer, who had dominated Gonzalez in his first professional tour, retired from actually competing and took over the promotion of the tour. His retirement opened the way for a new professional tennis champion.

As promoter, Kramer promptly offered contracts to four of the men he thought most capable of filling his shoes: Francisco "Pancho" Segura, Frank Sedgman, Don Budge, and Richard Gonzalez. Now, three years after his devastating debut on the pro-fessional tour, Gonzalez was back.

Kramer's 1954 tour would be different from the previous head to head tours between the reigning professional king and the newly-turned-pro amateur champion. Instead, this tour would be a round robin contest in which four players continually played each other. The two winners of one night's two matches would play each other the following night. Likewise, the losers would face off.

The man who had won the most matches at the end of the tour would be declared the new professional tennis champion. Although each player received the same pay whether he won or lost, Gonzalez knew that for him the stakes for winning this tour were enormous. Losing again might bring a permanent end to his tennis career.

Gonzalez defeated Frank Sedgman 30 matches to 21.

Each of the other three men on the tour was able and fierce. But Gonzalez beat them all. He defeated Segura and Sedgman by identical scores of 30-21 and lost only once to Budge before Budge was replaced by Carl Earn for the last weeks of the tour. As if to emphasize his worthiness, he also won the 1954 World Professional Tennis Championship tournament.

After the tour, Gonzalez moved back home in March 1955. He and Henrietta decided to give their marriage another chance. He was thrilled with the reconciliation and glad to be living with his sons again. Richard Jr., helped his father tinker with his racecars. He also played tennis with him, and Gonzalez claimed his son already showed talent.

In 1955, Gonzalez won the World Professional Tennis Championship once more. That same year Spalding Sports Company began selling a tennis racket named after and signed by Gonzalez.

This marked the beginning of a long business relationship. Gonzalez would help design and sign Spalding rackets for the next twenty-five years.

1955 was the beginning of the Gonzalez Spalding autograph.

Trabert

At the time, Tony Trabert ruled the amateur tennis world. Trabert had won three of the four major national championships in 1955, those of France, Great Britain, and the U.S. Soon after winning the U.S. title, Trabert turned professional. He signed a contract with Kramer to play in a 1955-1956 tour.

Kramer considered coming out of retirement to oppose Trabert. However, Gonzalez's wife Henrietta went to Kramer. She convinced him that Gonzalez should play the tour since he was clearly the best player in the world.

Kramer agreed that there was only one person capable of giving Trabert any real competition, and that was Richard Gonzalez. So Kramer offered Gonzalez a chance to tour against Trabert.

In 1955, Tony Trabert ruled amateur tennis, but the tour against Gonzalez turned out to be different.

Gonzalez was happy to be on another tour. But its financial arrangements angered him. Trabert was guaranteed earnings of $75,000. Gonzalez, however, was promised only $15,000. This seemed terribly unfair, and Gonzalez looked for an explanation.

According to Kramer, the salary difference was because Gonzalez was a risk. Kramer claimed arena owners were not sure Gonzalez would draw an audience.

They worried that fans would remember how badly Kramer had beaten Gonzalez on the earlier tour and would not come to see him play Trabert. If no one came to the matches, the tour would not make money.

Some people did not think this was the reason for the pay discrepancy. They believed that Kramer had to pay Trabert the large sum to lure him from amateur status. On the other hand, Kramer knew that Gonzalez would play for the lower sum just to get back on the tour.

Frustrated, Gonzalez trained harder than ever. He lost weight and sharpened his volley. He improved his already powerful serve. When he saw Trabert he told him, "You'd better get used to losing." The way the tour turned out, Trabert had little choice but to do so.

Gonzalez warned Trabert to prepare to lose - the beginning of a lifetime of animosity between the two champions.

By March, Gonzalez was leading Trabert thirty-four matches to eleven. When the tour ended, Gonzalez had conquered Trabert seventy-four matches to twenty-four. The lopsided record was proof of Gonzalez's amazing play.

It was also evidence of how Gonzalez handled his resentment for the unequal pay-on the court. He was a relentless opponent who never let up, no matter what the score.

During the tour, Gonzalez and Trabert had often traded insults on and off the court. This resulted in a lifelong dislike between the two men. Even so, after the tour Trabert praised Gonzalez's tennis. "Gonzalez is the greatest natural athlete tennis has ever known," he said.

Tony Trabert believed Richard was the greatest athlete in tennis history.

"The way he can move that 6-foot 3-inch frame of his around the court is almost unbelievable ... He instinctively does the right thing at the right time. Doesn't even have to stop to think."

In 1956, Gonzalez won the World Professional Tennis Championship for the fourth straight year. He also won the prestigious London Professional Championship at Wembley, England for the fourth time.

The final match there against Frank Sedgman lasted so long that all forms of public transportation had stopped running long before it ended. Yet the spectators stayed, entranced with Gonzalez's dynamic and explosive tennis.

His serve continued to be his greatest strength, and it was once clocked at 120 miles per hour. This was the fastest serve among the professionals.

Gonzalez's opponent for the 1957 tour was an Australian named Ken Rosewall. Rosewall was an Australian, French, and U.S. singles champion. Gonzalez won the opening match of the tour, then kept on winning. By the time the two had played sixty matches, Gonzalez had won forty of them.

Gonzalez was so dominant against Rosewall, that Kramer asked him to ease up.

In fact, Gonzalez was so good that some fans seemed bored with the tour. Fearing that a loss of interest would mean a loss in profit, Kramer asked Gonzalez to take it easy on Rosewall.

Although Kramer did not want Gonzalez to actually lose matches on purpose, he asked Gonzalez to let Rosewall stay close enough to maintain a little excitement. Reluctantly, Gonzalez agreed.

Shortly after their talk, though, Gonzalez told Kramer that giving up points was ruining his concentration. Kramer understood and realized that his request had been unreasonable. He told Gonzalez to forget their deal.

When the Gonzalez-Rosewall tour ended, Gonzalez had beaten Rosewall fifty matches to twenty-six. Gonzalez was clearly the new king of professional tennis. As one writer put it, Gonzalez had "emerged from the bloody free for all with Jack Kramer's abandoned crown clenched in his predatory jaws."