along with laver, ruled tennis for about 20 years. despite an absolutely horrible serve, he was a top player for a long, long time.

he was known to have the best return of serve, and the best backhand in the game. his smash was extremely good, as well as his volleying. extremely quick and agile on the court.

it is very difficult to compare players of various eras, because the equipment changes. in rosewall's time, they were still using wooden rackets. the only time one gets a solid hit is if they hit it right in the middle. not like today's rackets, where the whole string surface is a sweet spot. so accuracy was much more important back then.

when compared with his peers, laver is his only competition. rosewall beat laver in the first 2 wct championships. i can recall being on the edge of my seat, rooting for rosewall. it was truly amazing to see these 2 greats play. laver would hit great serves, rosewall would counter with remarkably accurate returns, putting laver to volley from his shoelaces.

rosewall, like connors, lasted for a long time. i think he was 39-40 when he got destroyed in the finals by jimmy connors in 1974 at wimbledon and the u.s. open.

so, so, so...