The two-week Japanese swing of 1973 ended with an Australian sweep. A week after taking the title in Osaka, Ken Rosewall defended his Tokyo trophy as well. Evonne Goolagong cruised through the women’s round-robin event. Rosewall and Mal Anderson combined to win the doubles, while another Aussie, Kim Warwick, partnered Goolagong to the mixed title.
Finals day, October 14th, was a lucrative one all around: Rosewall took home $12,000 for his singles triumph and Goolagong earned $5,000 for hers. As pleasant as those paydays were–and for Evonne, there was likely an appearance fee involved as well–cash wasn’t the only reason that these particular superstars made the trip.
Rosewall, a few weeks away from his 39th birthday, had very little left to prove. He still craved a Wimbledon title, though he suspected the boycott had stripped him of his final shot. He was mulling a rich offer from the Pittsburgh Triangles of World Team Tennis, even though the players’ union still hadn’t come to terms with the league. It was possible that WTT signees would end up suspended by their own union. Viewed in that light, the Japanese junket–ultimately worth nearly $20,000 for two weeks’ work–may have just been an attempt by the one-time accounting student to pad his retirement fund.
But Muscles, the five-foot, seven-inch magician of the backhand, had another goal in mind. Australia’s Davis Cup semi-final tie against Czechoslovakia was just a month away, with the final round to follow shortly thereafter. Rosewall had a spot on the roster, but he needed to convince captain Neale Fraser that he–instead of Rod Laver or John Newcombe–deserved to suit up for the singles.
Newk showed up in Tokyo, only to struggle through three-setters in the second and third rounds. Rosewall had no such hiccups, losing just two games in his first two matches. Newcombe had disposed of the older man at the US Open in a routine three-set semi-final. But here, on clay, Muscles was imperious. He won 6-1, 6-4, his tenth straight victory, and his 19th and 20th consecutive sets won on Japanese soil.
While the remaining Davis Cup ties would be played on faster surfaces, Rosewall had succeeded in giving Fraser a bit more to think about.
Goolagong had her mind on a different target. The result of the women’s Japan Open didn’t count toward anything except bragging rights and bank balances. The nascent WTA didn’t yet have its own ranking system, and the Tokyo event didn’t count toward the standings in the Commercial Union Grand Prix.
Still, the Grand Prix race was still alive, and Goolagong had every reason to keep herself sharp. She trailed only Chris Evert on the points table, and the winner would collect a bonus of more than $23,000, half-again as large as the second-place prize. (Margaret Court was undoubtedly the season’s best player, but the Grand Prix was unaffiliated with the Virginia Slims circuit, where Court and Billie Jean King amassed most of their hardware.) Evert could have clinched the crown a month earlier in Charlotte, but illness forced her to withdraw. Goolagong waltzed past the weakened field and remained in the hunt.
Unlike the men’s Grand Prix, with ten events in October alone, the women’s schedule was spotty. After Charlotte, there was a nearly two-month gap before the South African Open, the last stop that counted toward the standings. Evert wasn’t planning to make the trip, and if Goolagong finished first there, the Australian would end the season as the Grand Prix champ.
Judging from Goolagong’s straight-set romp in Japan, Evert must have been thinking about calling her travel agent. She needed to check on flights to Johannesburg.
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This post is part of my series about the 1973 season, Battles, Boycotts, and Breakouts. Keep up with the project by checking the TennisAbstract.com front page, which shows an up-to-date Table of Contents after I post each installment.
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