Anthony Dalton Roche AO MBE (born 17 May 1945) is an Australian former professional tennis player. A native of

Tarcutta Tarcutta is a town in south-western New South Wales, Australia. The town is south-west of Sydney, east of the Hume Highway, It was proclaimed as a village on 28 October 1890. As of 2016, the town had a population of 446. It serves a local far ...

, Roche played junior tennis in the

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

regional city of

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's ...

. He won one Grand Slam singles title, the 1966 French Open at Roland Garros, and 15 Grand Slam doubles titles. In 1968, Roche won the WCT/NTL combined professional championships in men's singles by winning the final event of the season at Madison Square Garden. He was ranked World No. 2 by Lance Tingay of ''The Daily Telegraph'' in 1969. He won the U.S. Pro Championships in 1970 at Longwood in Boston. Roche won the New South Wales Open twice, in 1969 and 1976. He won a key Davis Cup singles match in 1977. He also coached multi-Grand Slam winning world No. 1s Ivan Lendl, Patrick Rafter, Roger Federer and Lleyton Hewitt as well as former World No. 4 Jelena Dokic.

Playing career

Roche started to play tennis at school when he was nine. His father, who worked as a butcher, and his mother were both recreational tennis players and encouraged his interest. 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 Kenneth Robert Rosewall (born 2 November 1934) is an Australian former world top-ranking amateur and professional tennis player. He won a record 23 Majors in singles, including eight Grand Slam singles titles and, before the Open Era, a reco ...

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 István Gulyás ( hu, Gulyás István; 14 October 1931 – 31 July 2000) was the second Hungarian male tennis player to become a Grand Slam finalist. He was defeated in the 1966 French Open Men's final by Tony Roche Anthony Dalton Roch ...

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 Roy Stanley Emerson (born 3 November 1936) is an Australian former tennis player who won 12 Grand Slam singles titles and 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, for a total of 28 Grand Slam titles. He is the only male player to have completed a car ...

respectively, Wimbledon in 1968, losing to Rod Laver, and the US Open in 1969 and 1970, losing to Rod Laver and

. With compatriot

John Newcombe John David Newcombe AO OBE (born 23 May 1944) is an Australian former professional tennis player. He is one of the few men to have attained a world No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles. At the majors, he won seven singles titles, a fo ...

, 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 Eric Clifford Drysdale (born 26 May 1941) is a South African former tennis player. After a career as a highly ranked professional player in the 1960s and early 1970s, he became a well-known tennis announcer. Drysdale won the singles title at ...

, Nikola Pilić and Roger Taylor to form the "Handsome Eight". Roche was guaranteed $125,000 annually, an amount equivalent to the annual salary of Willie Mays, the top paid baseball player. Roche was the leading money winner on the WCT tour in 1968. In the 1968 final for the WCT/NTL professional tours at Madison Square Garden, Roche defeated Rod Laver in the semifinal and Pancho Gonzales in the final to become the combined professional champion for 1968. Roche held a personal head-to-head edge over Laver during the latter's Grand Slam season of 1969, 5 to 4. Roche and Laver played a classic match against each other in the 1969 Australian Open at Brisbane. Roche also contested the final match of Laver's Grand Slam run that year, the 1969 U.S. Open final. Roche won the U.S. Pro Championships at Longwood, Boston in 1970, defeating Laver in a hard fought five set final. Roche won two New South Wales Open titles, in 1969 over Rod Laver in a close four-set final, and in 1976 against Dick Stockton in the final. Perhaps one of his greatest achievements came in 1977, playing singles in the finals of the

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organi ...

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. Ivan Lendl hired Roche in 1985 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 1966 French Championships). 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.

Honours

Roche was made a Member of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(MBE) in 1981 and an Officer of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Go ...

(AO) in 2001. He entered the International Tennis Hall of Fame alongside doubles partner and close friend

in 1986. In 1990 he was inducted into the

Sport Australia Hall of Fame The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and Dawn Fraser t ...

. He received an Australian Sports Medal in 2000 and a

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or g ...

in 2001.

Grand Slam finals

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

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

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

Grand Slam Singles performance timeline

Open-Era finals

Singles

Doubles

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Roche, Tony Australian Championships (tennis) champions Australian Championships (tennis) junior champions Australian male tennis players Australian Open (tennis) champions Australian tennis coaches French Championships (tennis) champions French Open champions Sportspeople from Wagga Wagga Australian Members of the Order of the British Empire Officers of the Order of Australia International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Recipients of the Centenary Medal Tennis people from New South Wales United States National champions (tennis) Wimbledon champions Wimbledon champions (pre-Open Era) 1945 births Living people Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's singles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles Professional tennis players before the Open Era Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' singles