There is great anticipation in the summer of 1968, the summer of students who invoke imagination to power and of Wimbledon that reopens to professionals. Crossing the Doherty Gates are Pancho Gonzalez, who had not played at Wimbledon since 1949, Ken Rosewall, finalist in 1954 and 1956, Lew Hoad, Andres Gimeno and Rod Laver who returns after five years. He returns and wins immediately in an all-Australian final, not exactly a rarity, in three sets against Tony Roche, who however wins the doubles title with John Newcombe. In the women’s tournament Billie Jean King wins.
Laver confirmed his title in 1969, the year of his second Grand Slam, a feat no one had ever even come close to achieving. But what remains of this second Open edition is the marathon, spread over two days, between 41-year-old Pancho Gonzalez and Charlie Pasarell: at the time, it was the longest match in the history of the tournament. It lasted five hours and 20 minutes. 112 games were played, 19 more than the longest match at the Championships until then, between Jaroslav Drobny and Budge Patty sixteen years earlier. Gonzalez, down two sets to love when the match was interrupted due to darkness, came back and won 22-24, 1-6, 16-14, 6-3, 11-9. “Gonzlaez has always been considered a champion at Wimbledon. He has played his great matches elsewhere. This time he showed the crowd at Centre Court what they had been missing all these years,” wrote David Gray in the Guardian.
The show continues a year later: on July 3, 1970, Margaret Court beats Billie Jean King in what BBC commentator John Barrett called “one of the most exciting finals ever seen at Wimbledon.” A final broadcast live in color. Thanks to that victory, Court is on her way to the Grand Slam, the second in women’s singles after Maureen Connolly’s first exploit in 1953. The men’s tournament, however, is won by John Newcombe in five sets over Ken Rosewall, despite the hostility of the fans. “Why does everyone hate me?” she asks. “I make a mistake and they applaud.” But it’s not enough to push Rosewall to his first title at Wimbledon.
