The 1972 Australian Open Final – the 'bad day' that went down in tennis history

The 2024 Australian Open is set to officially get underway on the 14^th of January 2024, with tennis' best men and women fighting for the first Grand Slam of the year.

The first Grand Slam of the year can set a benchmark for success and springboard players to success in the future, but the 1972 Australian Open nearly didn't have a final!

On this day (January 3^rd) in 1972, Ken Rosewall won the Australian Open for the fourth time in his career, 19 years after his first title in 1953.

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Rosewell defeated Mal Anderson 7-6, 6-3, 7-5, becoming the oldest player (37) in the Open era to win a Grand Slam title, a record that still stands.

Was it a legitimate win? At the end of 1971, the war between the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the professional circuits was at its worst, with many top players excluded from playing in Grand Slams in 1972.

To get around the problem, the organizers of the Australian Open decided to host the tournament in December 1971, but many of the top players backed out.

The likes of Arthur Ash, Rod Laver, and Stan Smith had backed out of the tournament, having complained of playing so far away from home for Christmas. The quality at the tournament was the worst it had ever been.

Due to the lack of quality at the tournament, Rosewell and Anderson qualified for the final in a fairly comfortable fashion, with most of the difficulty coming for Rosewell while driving to the final.

But the 1972 Australian Open final nearly didn't take place as Rosewell was caught up in traffic on the way to the arena!

As he sat and waited anxiously for the traffic to move along, Rosewell managed to get the attention of a police officer on a motorbike and asked to escort him to the arena.

According to tennismajors.com, the policeman thought Rosewell was a fan and said: "There's no point in going to tennis, man. They'll never let you in."

Rosewell had to convince the police officer that he was the man playing in the final, and after showing him his credentials, the policeman escorted him to Kooyong.

Despite the late arrival, the eight-time Grand Slam champion comfortably won the match but expressed that it was a bad day for tennis.

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According to tennismajors.com, Rosewell said: "It's not good for tennis in general that I can still win."

According to the New York Times, his opponent Anderson said: "Young people today have it too easy. There's too much money at stake, and they don't have to fight to make a living."

From the war between the federation and the tournament, to the best players missing the event, and nearly missing out on history due to traffic, the 1972 Australian Open is the wildest tournament in modern sports history!