Tony Roche

Tony Roche

Full name	Anthony Dalton Roche
Country (sports)	Australia
Residence	Turramurra, NSW, Australia
Born	(1945-05-17) 17 May 1945 Wagga Wagga, Australia
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Turned pro	1968 (amateur tour from 1963)
Retired	1979
Plays	Left-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money	US$ 529,199
Int. Tennis HoF	1986 (member page)
Singles
Career record	235–114 (Open era)
Career titles	26 (7 ATP)
Highest ranking	No. 2 (1969, Lance Tingay)[1]
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	SF (1965, 1967, 1969, 1975)
French Open	W (1966)
Wimbledon	F (1968)
US Open	F (1969, 1970)
Doubles
Career record	208–94 (Open era)
Career titles	18 (Open era)
Highest ranking	No. 1 (1965)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	W (1965, 1967, 1971, 1976, 1977)
French Open	W (1967, 1969)
Wimbledon	W (1965, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1974)
US Open	W (1967)
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open	W (1966)
Wimbledon	W (1976)
Team competitions
Davis Cup	W (1965, 1966, 1967, 1977)

Anthony Dalton Roche, AO MBE (born 17 May 1945) is a former professional Australian tennis player, native of Tarcutta. He played junior tennis in the New South Wales regional city of Wagga Wagga.^[2] He won one Grand Slam singles title and thirteen Grand Slam doubles titles, and was ranked as high as World No. 2 by Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph in 1969.^[1] He also coached multi-Grand Slam winning World No. 1s, Ivan Lendl, Patrick Rafter, Roger Federer, Lleyton Hewitt and former World No. 4, Jelena Dokic.

Playing career

Tony Roche at the Amsterdam tournament in 1969

Roche started to play tennis at school when he was nine. His father, a butcher, and mother were recreational tennis players and encouraged his interest.^[3] Roche grew up playing in Australia under the tutelage of Harry Hopman, who also coached other Australian tennis players such as Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall.

Tony Roche at Wimbledon circa 1983 in Mixed Doubles

A left-hander, Roche had a successful singles and double career. He won one singles Grand Slam tournament, the 1966 French Open at Roland Garros, defeating István Gulyás in the final. He was five times the runner-up at Grand Slam tournaments: the French Championships in 1965 and 1967, losing to Fred Stolle and Roy Emerson respectively, Wimbledon in 1968, losing to Rod Laver, and the US Open in 1969 and 1970, losing to Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall. With compatriot John Newcombe, he won 12 Grand Slam men's doubles tournaments.

In January 1968, Roche turned professional, signing with World Championship Tennis, joining other pros like Cliff Drysdale, Nikola Pilić, and Roger Taylor to form the "Handsome Eight".^[4][5][6]

Perhaps one of his greatest achievements came in 1977, being called up to play singles in the finals of the Davis Cup tournament versus Italy, nearly 10 years since he had last played for Australia. In the tie, Roche upset top Italian Adriano Panatta, 6–3, 6–4, 6–4, to lead Australia to a 3–1 victory, winning the Davis Cup. Shoulder and elbow injuries cut short his career after having finished in the top 10 for six consecutive years.

Coaching career

After completing his playing career Roche has developed a highly successful career as a tennis coach. He was the player-coach of the Denver Racquets who won the first World Team Tennis in competition 1974, and he was named WTT Coach of the Year.^[7] Ivan Lendl hired Roche as a full-time coach for Roche's advice on volleying. (Lendl dreamed of winning Wimbledon, and because Roche had been a fine grass court player, he sought his tutelage.) Roche also coached former world no. 1 Patrick Rafter from 1997 to the end of his career in 2002. Roche coached world no. 1 Roger Federer from 2005 to 12 May 2007. It is reputed this was on a "handshake agreement" with no contract; Roche was paid by the week. Federer hired Roche for the opposite reason that Lendl hired him: to work on his clay-court game (as Roche had won the French Open). He also coached two-time Grand Slam singles titlist Lleyton Hewitt, who was aiming to get his career back on track after a number of unsuccessful years on the ATP Tour.^[8] On the day of her first round match against Alisa Kleybanova at the 2010 Australian Open, which she eventually lost in straight sets, former world no. 4, Jelena Dokić, requested an hour-long session from Roche as last minute training. Controversially, Roche sat in Pat Rafter's courtside box during the 1998 US Open final versus fellow Australian Davis Cup teammate Philippoussis, affecting Davis Cup team dynamics.

Honours

Roche was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1981 and an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2001.^[9][10] He entered the International Tennis Hall of Fame alongside doubles partner and close friend John Newcombe in 1986.^[11] In 1990 he was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.^[12] He received an Australian Sports Medal in 2000 and a Centenary Medal in 2001.^[13][14]

Major finals

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 6 (1 title, 5 runners-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1965	French Championships	Clay	Fred Stolle	6–3, 0–6, 2–6, 3–6
Winner	1966	French Championships	Clay	István Gulyás	6–1, 6–4, 7–5
Runner-up	1967	French Championships	Clay	Roy Emerson	1–6, 4–6, 6–2, 2–6
↓ Open Era ↓
Runner-up	1968	Wimbledon	Grass	Rod Laver	3–6, 4–6, 2–6
Runner-up	1969	US Open	Grass	Rod Laver	9–7, 1–6, 2–6, 2–6
Runner-up	1970	US Open	Grass	Ken Rosewall	6–2, 4–6, 6–7, 3–6

Doubles: 15 (13 titles, 2 runners-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1964	French Championships	Clay	John Newcombe	Roy Emerson Ken Fletcher	5–7, 3–6, 6–3, 5–7
Winner	1965	Australian Championships	Grass	John Newcombe	Roy Emerson Fred Stolle	3–6, 4–6, 13–11, 6–3, 6–4
Winner	1965	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	John Newcombe	Ken Fletcher Bob Hewitt	7–5, 6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	1966	Australian Championships (2)	Grass	John Newcombe	Roy Emerson Fred Stolle	9–7, 3–6, 8–6, 12–14, 10–12
Winner	1967	Australian Championships (2)	Grass	John Newcombe	Bill Bowrey Owen Davidson	3–6, 6–3, 7–5, 6–8, 8–6
Winner	1967	French Championships	Clay	John Newcombe	Roy Emerson Ken Fletcher	6–3, 9–7, 12–10
Winner	1967	US Championships	Grass	John Newcombe	Bill Bowrey Owen Davidson	6–8, 9–7, 6–3, 6–3
↓ Open Era ↓
Winner	1968	Wimbledon (2)	Grass	John Newcombe	Ken Fletcher Ken Rosewall	3–6, 8–6, 5–7, 14–12, 6–3
Winner	1969	French Open (2)	Clay	John Newcombe	Roy Emerson Rod Laver	4–6, 6–1, 3–6, 6–4, 6–4
Winner	1969	Wimbledon (3)	Grass	John Newcombe	Tom Okker Marty Riessen	7–5, 11–9, 6–3
Winner	1970	Wimbledon (4)	Grass	John Newcombe	Ken Rosewall Fred Stolle	10–8, 6–3, 6–1
Winner	1971	Australian Open (3)	Grass	John Newcombe	Tom Okker Marty Riessen	6–2, 7–6
Winner	1974	Wimbledon (5)	Grass	John Newcombe	Robert Lutz Stan Smith	8–6, 6–4, 6–4
Winner	1976	Australian Open (4)	Grass	John Newcombe	Ross Case Geoff Masters	7–6, 6–4
Winner	1977	Australian Open (January) (5)	Grass	Arthur Ashe	Charlie Pasarell Erik Van Dillen	6–4, 6–4

Mixed doubles: 5 (2 titles, 3 runners-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1965	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	Judy Tegart	Margaret Smith Ken Fletcher	10–12, 3–6
Winner	1966	Australian Championships	Grass	Judy Tegart	Robyn Ebbern William Bowrey	6–1, 6–3
Runner-up	1967	Australian Championships	Grass	Judy Tegart	Lesley Turner Owen Davidson	7–9, 4–6
↓ Open Era ↓
Runner-up	1969	Wimbledon (2)	Grass	Judy Tegart	Ann Haydon Fred Stolle	2–6, 3–6
Winner	1976	Wimbledon	Grass	Françoise Dürr	Rosemary Casals Dick Stockton	6–3, 2–6, 7–5

Grand Slam Singles performance timeline

A=did not participate in the tournament

Open-Era finals

Singles

Outcome	No.	Year	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	1968	Wimbledon, London	Grass	Rod Laver	3–6, 4–6, 2–6
Runner-up	2.	1969	Hobart, Australia	Grass	Fred Stolle	3–6, 6–0, 4–6, 1–6
Winner	1.	1969	Sydney, Australia	Grass	Rod Laver	6–4, 4–6, 9–7, 12–10
Winner	2.	1969	Auckland, New Zealand	Grass	Rod Laver	6–1, 6–4, 4–6, 6–3
Runner-up	3.	1969	Philadelphia WCT, U.S.	Carpet	Rod Laver	5–7, 4–6, 4–6
Runner-up	4.	1969	Rome, Italy	Clay	John Newcombe	3–6, 6–4, 2–6, 7–5, 3–6
Winner	3.	1969	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	Tom Okker	6–1, 5–7, 8–6, 7–5
Runner-up	5.	1969	US Open, New York	Grass	Rod Laver	9–7, 1–6, 2–6, 2–6
Runner-up	6.	1969	Wembley, UK	Carpet	Rod Laver	4–6, 1–6, 3–6
Runner-up	7.	1970	Philadelphia WCT, US	Carpet	Rod Laver	3–6, 6–8, 2–6
Winner	4.	1970	Dublin, Ireland	Grass	Rod Laver	6–3, 6–1
Winner	5.	1970	Gstaad, Switzerland	Clay	Tom Okker	7–5, 7–5, 6–3
Winner	6.	1970	Boston, US	Hard	Rod Laver	3–6, 6–4, 1–6, 6–2, 6–2
Runner-up	8.	1970	US Open, New York	Grass	Ken Rosewall	6–2, 4–6, 6–7, 3–6
Winner	7.	1972	Washington WCT, US	Clay	Marty Riessen	3–6, 7–6, 6–4
Runner-up	9.	1974	Bombay, India	Clay	Onny Parun	3–6, 3–6, 6–7
Runner-up	10.	1975	Nottingham, England	Grass	Tom Okker	1–6, 6–3, 3–6
Winner	8.	1976	Charlotte WCT, US	Carpet	Vitas Gerulaitis	6–3, 3–6, 6–1
Winner	9.	1976	Sydney Outdoor, Australia	Grass	Dick Stockton	6–3, 3–6, 6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	11.	1977	Brisbane, Australia	Grass	Vitas Gerulaitis	7–6, 1–6, 1–6, 5–7
Winner	10.	1978	London/Queen's Club, England	Grass	John McEnroe	8–6, 9–7

Doubles

Outcome	No.	Year	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	1.	1968	Wimbledon, London	Grass	John Newcombe	Ken Rosewall Fred Stolle	3–6, 8–6, 5–7, 14–12, 6–3
Runner-up	1.	1968	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	John Newcombe	Tom Okker Marty Riessen	4–6, 4–6, 5–7
Runner-up	2.	1968	Hobart, Australia	Grass	Fred Stolle	Mal Anderson Roger Taylor	5–7, 3–6, 6–4, 6–1, 4–6
Runner-up	3.	1969	Philadelphia WCT, U.S.	Carpet	John Newcombe	Tom Okker Marty Riessen	6–8, 4–6
Winner	2.	1969	French Open, Paris	Clay	John Newcombe	Roy Emerson Rod Laver	4–6, 6–1, 3–6, 6–4, 6–4
Winner	3.	1969	Wimbledon, London	Grass	John Newcombe	Tom Okker Marty Riessen	7–5, 11–9, 6–3
Winner	4.	1970	Wimbledon, London	Grass	John Newcombe	Ken Rosewall Fred Stolle	10–8, 6–3, 6–1
Winner	5.	1970	Louisville, U.S.	Hard	John Newcombe	Roy Emerson Rod Laver	8–6, 5–7, 6–4
Winner	6.	1971	Australian Open, Melbourne	Grass	John Newcombe	Tom Okker Marty Riessen	6–2, 7–6
Winner	7.	1971	Miami WCT, U.S.	Hard	John Newcombe	Roy Emerson Rod Laver	7–6, 7–6
Runner-up	4.	1971	Chicago WCT, U.S.	Carpet	John Newcombe	Tom Okker Marty Riessen	6–7, 6–4, 6–7
Winner	8.	1971	Rome, Italy	Clay	John Newcombe	Andrés Gimeno Roger Taylor	6–4, 6–4
Winner	9.	1971	Tehran WCT, Iran	Clay	John Newcombe	Bob Carmichael Ray Ruffels	6–4, 6–7, 6–1
Runner-up	5.	1972	Richmond WCT, U.S.	Carpet	John Newcombe	Tom Okker Marty Riessen	6–7, 6–7
Runner-up	6.	1972	Philadelphia WCT, U.S.	Carpet	John Newcombe	Arthur Ashe Robert Lutz	3–6, 7–6, 3–6
Runner-up	7.	1972	Charlotte WCT, U.S.	Clay	John Newcombe	Tom Okker Marty Riessen	4–6, 6–4, 6–7
Runner-up	8.	1972	Las Vegas WCT, U.S.	Hard	John Newcombe	Roy Emerson Rod Laver	DEF
Winner	10.	1972	St. Louis WCT, U.S.	Carpet	John Newcombe	John Alexander Phil Dent	7–6, 6–2
Runner-up	9.	1972	Washington WCT, U.S.	Clay	John Newcombe	Tom Okker Marty Riessen	6–3, 3–6, 2–6
Winner	11.	1972	Boston WCT, U.S.	Hard	John Newcombe	Arthur Ashe Robert Lutz	6–3, 1–6, 7–6
Winner	12.	1974	Toronto WCT, Canada	Carpet	Raúl Ramírez	Tom Okker Marty Riessen	6–3, 2–6, 6–4
Runner-up	10.	1974	Monte Carlo WCT, Monaco	Clay	Manuel Orantes	John Alexander Phil Dent	6–7, 6–4, 6–7, 3–6
Winner	13.	1974	Wimbledon, London	Grass	John Newcombe	Robert Lutz Stan Smith	8–6, 6–4, 6–4
Runner-up	11.	1974	Sydney Indoor, Australia	Hard (i)	John Newcombe	Ross Case Geoff Masters	4–6, 4–6
Winner	14.	1976	Australian Open, Melbourne	Grass	John Newcombe	Ross Case Geoff Masters	7–6, 6–4
Winner	15.	1976	Charlotte WCT, U.S.	Carpet	John Newcombe	Vitas Gerulaitis Gene Mayer	6–3, 7–5
Winner	16.	1977	Australian Open, Melbourne	Grass	Arthur Ashe	Charlie Pasarell Erik Van Dillen	6–4, 6–4
Runner-up	12.	1977	Richmond WCT, U.S.	Carpet	Ross Case	Wojtek Fibak Tom Okker	4–6, 4–6
Runner-up	13.	1977	Toronto Indoor WCT, Canada	Carpet	Ross Case	Wojtek Fibak Tom Okker	4–6, 1–6
Winner	17.	1977	Sydney Indoor, Australia	Hard (i)	John Newcombe	Ross Case Geoff Masters	6–7, 6–3, 6–1
Winner	18.	1978	Sydney Indoor, Australia	Hard (i)	John Newcombe	Mark Edmondson John Marks	6–4, 6–3

References

External links

• Tony Roche at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Tony Roche at the International Tennis Hall of Fame
• Tony Roche at the Davis Cup
• Tony Roche at the International Tennis Federation