Among the most likeable of all athletes as a group were the Australian tennis players. John Newcombe and Tony Roche were engaging gentlemen. September 8: Roche Tees Off on His Old Friend John Tony Roche had just beaten his friend John Newcombe in a five-set semi-final struggle at Forest Hills. While he was being ministered to by a masseur, his left elbow was wrapped in a towel of ice cubes. A friend who grasped the impact of the two pals dueling each other was oohing and ahhing about it afterward. "God,the two of you were something out there," the friend said. He was Dick Crealy, a young Australian player trying to come up through the tennis ranks the way Roche and Newcombe did. "I reckon you guys should start off at the fifth set and decide it there. You just know it will go to the bloody end."
Roche smiled. "It's always that way isn't it?" Crealy said, "I was sitting with Angie [Newcombe's wife, Angelique]. She was going crazy with those double faults. John had to tee off on that second serve after he faulted the first time, didn't he?" "Yes," Roche said. "you have to tee off because it's the only way to show you are not nervous. Actually, you are sweating in your pants. I was going to tee off right back at him." A pair of double faults did Newcome in. He was serving 6-6 in the fifth set at deuce, and he double-faulted to give Roche advantage. And then he double-faulted again to give Roche the game. Roche then held service and won the match, 3-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 8-6. Roche said, "I think I served better after the break." Crealy said, "He's so bloody cagey, isn't he? He's a fox and he's 10 other foxes." Roche said, "He picks off my shots because he knows me. So I have to try and find new shots and then I screw up." Roche and Newcombe have been playing together as a doubles team since 1964. Newcombe, 25, is a year older, and is married with a small boy. The pair look somewhat alike from a distance, but Roche, who is stockier, is a lion-faced man who looks at least 10 years older than his age. It is thought by some that many Australians, particularly the women, look much older than their years. They say it's "the weather or something." Roche and Newcombe hit it off immediately as doubles players. Roche says, "It helps if you like each other. I think we're both pretty sound, though John is the power player between us. I chip a lot and he crosses at the net to put shots away." Newcombe said, "We are quite different. Tony is inclined to be moody at times, quite happy and gay other times. I'm as close to him as anybody, but he doesn't let anybody really get close to him. I'm different, more on an even keel, more outgoing." Roche has been playing well and has shown great resolve in this tournament. He's one of the top flight pros of the world, but he needs a victory at Wimbledon or Forest Hills to put him over. One company recently signed him for a handsome figure to switch from a Dunlop to a Chemold racket next year. The merchandisers have been going slightly out of their heads rooting for Roche, and, as the underdog, was the choice of the crowd yesterday. With all this and $16,000 as the first prize, Roche said he still could forget that it was his friend Newcombe on the other side of the court. "It was no different than if it had been Pancho Gonzales. Of course, I wouldn't try to screw him, but I would never let up," he said. Newcombe agreed. "I would try to beat him in three sets if I could." Roche had noticed Newcombe at breakfast when he arrived at the West Side Tennis Club yesterday. "So I joined him. We didn't talk about the match, though." There was little conversation between them on the court or during the change of sides. Only a good shot or a lucky shot would bring a smile or a gesture. "We sort of laugh at a lucky shot," Roche said."It's a mutual joke if he hits a backhand winner or if I hit a forehand winner, because those are not our strengths." Afterward, Newcombe said Roche had as good a chance as anybody against the near-unbeatable Rod Laver today. "Because Tony is lefty, his serve comes in against Laver's body, and Laver can't return service as well as he does against righties-which helps make him so tough." Roche holds a 5-2 edge on Laver this year. He said, "That's true if you are serving well. But if you serve it short, he'll come in and cane it out on you." Newcombe may be playing a mixed-doubles match, so he isn't likely to be at stadium side to watch his friend. "but I'll have half an eye on the television set," he said. "You can be sure I'll be barracking [Australianese for "rooting"] for him."
Roche was beaten by Laver, 7-9, 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 in the final. This completed Laver's second Grand Slam, victories in the Australian, French Opens, Wimbledon and Forest Hills, only the fourth time in history that was achieved by a man. It is worth noting that the first-prize pot of $16,000 earned by Laver in 1969 had ballooned to more than $600,000 by 1998.
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Saint Lombardi Isn't Perfect 
