AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 25, 2005

Ken Rosewall

Q. So, centenary Australian Open, and you're presenting the trophy to the winner.

KEN ROSEWALL: So I believe, yeah. Well, I'm sorry that Rod's not here because, you know, his name is certainly synonymous with Australian tennis and this Rod Laver Arena. But I'm happy to be a fill-in, and I feel very honored and privileged that I should have this chance to present the trophy to the men's singles winner on Sunday. Australian tennis has a lot of great history and a lot of players that are here, so I feel, as I say, quite honored that whether it was Geoff Pollard and a committee of one that decided that I would fill in for Rod. So I'm very happy about that, very honored.

KEN ROSEWALL: Well, I hope not, no. It is a pretty big trophy. I'm a heck of a lot weaker now than I was more than 30 years ago when I won it. Hopefully I'll do the right thing.

KEN ROSEWALL: I believe so. The Norman Brooks trophy, right. I have a couple of replicas. One is at the Wimbledon Tennis Museum I think on loan, and one is with the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. They asked me if I could loan my replica to them for their "Legends and Sports Heroes" showing that they're taking around Australia. It was in Sydney for some time. It's going to the other capital cities and will finish up here in Melbourne at the MCG at the beginning or sometime about the time when the Commonwealth Games are due to start. That consists of a lot of the other sporting memorabilia from other sporting people. It was a really nice showing. The Powerhouse Museum has created a huge interest in Sydney. So that's where two of my replicas are. And I think, from memory, the Norman Brooks trophy replica has been changed because we actually got a loan of Frank Sedgeman's when he won the Australian championship in 1949 - he also won in 1950 - Frank loaned us his 1949 replica for our first showing at our new Australian Tennis Museum at the Sydney Tennis Center at Homebush which we opened on Sunday, the first day of the Sydney International tournament. That's a very much similar design to the championship trophy. So it's been a question, because my replica was a different shape, different style. We were happy to see that. I was surprised. I didn't remember that. But we have that on loan from Frank Sedgeman for a while.

KEN ROSEWALL: Well, I don't think anybody from our era ever played like that (smiling). He's just added a new element to being a competitor, a scrambler, you know, coming back from almost a death in some of these matches that he's proved often, quite so many times in his short career. You know, yesterday was no different. After the third set, I think there was a lot that thought that he might be gone, but he certainly just raised the level of his play because the young Spanish boy is certainly a difficult character, unusual style of play, and I imagine for everybody pretty difficult to play against. I mean, as far as Lleyton is concerned, yeah, I suppose over the years it's all relative, but we've all been competitive in our own way. I think Lleyton's attention to detail and activity on the court, it's just something that maybe some of us in the years gone by really never got to that stage.

KEN ROSEWALL: Well, I suppose I like to pick my matches. I think maybe some of us oldies might think we might like to watch a little bit more of the tennis the way it was in the days gone by. But you can't deny the expertise of all these great players of today, both men and women, their power and everything else that goes with their game, their technique and everything. I certainly like to watch the Australians. It would be great, once again, as we've been talking about, for the benefit of Australian tennis, to have Australian winners with the women's and the men's at this Centenary Open. It would be a great benefit for Australian tennis. That's what we need. We're probably not in a great position at the moment in reference to rankings. If it can give more encouragement to people with the administrators of tennis in Australia, the coaching fraternity, the different programs that are being presented for young players, give the young players more desire by having these great champions to look up to, that's going to be an important part of the development of Australian tennis.

KEN ROSEWALL: Well, I suppose I'm as patriotic as the next Australian. And having them both play on Australia Day, I mean, it would just be fantastic for them to both have a win. You never know because there are just so many great players in the event, both the men's and the women's. So I'm very pleased to be able to still be around and have the opportunity to meet and be able to maybe rub shoulder to shoulder with some of the players, as I just did with Roger inside. Andre has been very kind to me over the years. I think it would be really proud for these guys to have a win.

KEN ROSEWALL: I'd probably rather not favor it, no. I mean, over the years I think tennis has been a game, the challenge of abilities, your strength and your fitness. Maybe to a lot of degree that has gone out of the game because there are many more events, in the men's, and always in the women's, too, it's only the Grand Slam events that have that I think where the fitness takes a much stronger part. I think it's important. Grand Slam events are very big events. I think the fitness part of it does play a big part. So I'd like to see the fifth set played to advantage. You know, over the years I suppose most people would think when you get into a tiebreaker, it does give a certain advantage to the big servers. I don't know, maybe playing the set right now keeps everybody a little bit more equal.

KEN ROSEWALL: Oh, I'm sure it has happened before. I mean, maybe over the years a lot of players played with a little bit of hurt in their body and nobody really knew much about it. No, I think Lleyton will overcome those difficulties. There's certainly no easy match for him. He's had a tough draw. He's the type of player, really takes a lot out of the body. This is a surface I think that is tough on the body. But I think he'll get through it and certainly be in there with a shot. He's playing well enough. You know, he's got a fantastic amount of desire to win this championship, like any time he steps on the court. So I think he's going to be right in there till the end.

KEN ROSEWALL: No, not really. He's been very kind to me when I've seen him. But from an official point of view, no. Just, you know, like everybody, the younger players, up-and-coming players, you're interested in how they're going to develop. Certainly with Lleyton, having the opportunity as a younger player from Adelaide to get involved with Newk and Tony when they were heading the Davis Cup captain and coach, that certainly gave him a lot of opportunity. He certainly learnt a lot. You know, we can see the result of all that from those earlier days of being the orange juice boy with the Davis Cup team, that we all went through.

KEN ROSEWALL: No, I don't think so, no. Because, first of all, I think - I may be wrong, depending on what the tennis critics say - but Andre has had a fairly good run through this tournament, and it is only -- we're up to the quarterfinals? Is it the quarterfinals? So, yeah, my circumstances I think are different. I mean, first of all, I was five years older, and it was a final. And I think a championship like Wimbledon or any of the events that you don't have a roof, the elements or the weather has a bearing. That's always been a bearing, you know, quite often on the results of matches at Wimbledon. From memory, there was a bank-up of matches there. And I just felt at that stage, I surprised myself and a lot of other people that I won as many matches as I did. I think by the time I got to the final, I was just about shocked to pieces, you know. That had been a learning experience for my family, who was with me. But Jimmy was much too good. I probably could have done with a bit of advice from the side of the court. I mean, I suppose at 39 years of age, you think you're experienced enough to know a lot about the way you're playing and who you're playing. But maybe that didn't quite work out. You know, I did play Jimmy quite a bit over those next couple of years, and again later that year in the US Open final where I surprised myself, as well as a lot of others, to get to the final again. But every time I played Jimmy, it was in a final of an event. I was usually pretty well puffed out by that time. There's no denying, he was one of the great players, so I probably wouldn't have beaten him anyway.