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KEN Rosewall. The name is big in tennis. He is an icon. You expect a giant. But the first thing that strikes you when you meet the man is how small he is.

 'I'm only five-foot-seven . . . measured in the old way,' says Rosewall with a laugh.

 He may be small in physique. But the feats of the man widely known in his playing days as 'Muscles' are gigantic - 18 Grand Slam titles, both singles and doubles, will vouch for that.

 The trophy count could have been much more, if not for the fact that Rosewall was barred from playing in Grand Slam tournaments for a huge slice of his career.

 'For 11 years I was not allowed to play in any Grand Slam tournaments,' recounted Rosewall, who is in town for an adult tennis clinic at the Hong Kong Football Club today.

 The Australian ace was unfortunate to straddle the beginning of the Open era, when tennis first turned professional back in 1968.

 Before then the game was very much an amateur sport where anything resembling commerce was viewed with disdain.

 'When the game went open and professional in 1968, I was 33. I was lucky to be fit and able to still play at the time. But by then I had been barred from playing in Grand Slams for 11 years. Who knows what might have happened in those 11 years . . . I might have won more titles,' smiles Rosewall.

 But modest as ever, he is quick to point out that others like Rod Laver - who was barred for five years - could also have won more titles. So why were Rosewall, Laver and other big names of the time banned from playing in Grand Slam? The answer, simply, is money.

 'A small group of us played for money even in those amateur days. It was a very minimal amount but we had to do it as we had to secure our future. For doing this we were barred by Grand Slam officials who were against us totally.

 'We have to be thankful that open tennis became a reality in 1968. And this was mainly due to the efforts of Wimbledon and the French Open. The Americans and the Australians were against it,' Rosewall recalled.

 A very fit 65 now, Rosewall holds no grudges against those short-sighted officials who stood in the way of tennis going professional. The eight-time Grand Slam singles champion can only wonder what might have been.

 'All I can say is that I was fortunate to be fit to still play on when everything became official and open,' says Rosewall, who won four Grand Slam singles titles at home in Australia, and two each at the US and French.

 'I never won Wimbledon although I played in four finals, two of which were after the game had gone open,' says Rosewall.

 Those two latter finals were in 1970 and 1974 when he lost to compatriot John Newcombe and a brash young American called Jimmy Connors, respectively.

 Rosewall was 35 when he played Newcombe and 39 when he met Connors. A measure of his fitness and courage.

 The Guinness book of sports records does not list Rosewall in its list of all-time greats. His peers and fellow-Australians, Newcombe and Roy Emerson, figure prominently with a total of 28 and 25 Grand Slam titles (singles and doubles), respectively.

 Once again, one can only wonder what the statistics might have revealed if Rosewall had been given free rein to play during the peak of his career.

 He gave up the chance to add more glory for the sake of cementing his future financially. The irony of it all is that he never made all that much - when compared with the millions of dollars players rake in today.

 'In my whole career I must have won about a million US dollars. It is nothing compared to what players earn now,' said Rosewall.

 'But I'm not envious of the present lot. What I won those days was significant for those times. I'm just thankful that I was fortunate to play at a high level for a long period of time.'  Not only was he barred from Grand Slams during the peak, but Rosewall also missed out representing his country at Davis Cup competition for 14 years. Once again this was because he chose to be well ahead of his time.

 'I wasn't allowed to play Davis Cup for the same reasons they did not allow me to play in the Grand Slams,' he said. 'And even after the game went open, I was not welcome to play until 1973 when I was 37 years old.'  Today there are many cases of players refusing to play Davis Cup because of money. And they get away scot free. Rosewall wanted to play Davis Cup, but was not allowed.

 'I think the Davis Cup is the epitome and most important competition a tennis player can choose to play in. You are representing your country,' says 'Muscles'.

 He was given the nickname during his days as a junior.

 'One of the senior players at the time was Lew Hoad who was very strong and muscular. When seen next to him, I did not seem to have any muscles and the nickname was born,' smiles Rosewall.

 Physically he might lack muscles and inches. But for tennis fans he will always be a giant of a man.

Alvin Sallay 



The giant they couldn't cut down to size