GOAT...best article that I have read so far.

[gzhpcu]

Here is a great article on Richard Gonzales, showing another side of his character...

http://www.10sballs.com/2013/07/31/a-lone-wolf-not-in-sheeps-clothing-by-sigrid-draper/

[gzhpcu]

A great DVD I bought is: "Pancho Gonzalez: Warrior of the Court" narrated by Benjamin Bratt. The trailer you mentioned is for this DVD...

HIs mother hated it when they called Richard "Pancho" since that was a derogatory term for Mexicans.

[don_budge]

Richard Gonzales...website

Some more food for thought...

http://panchogonzalez.com/

[don_budge]

More on the Greatest Tennis Player Of All Time...

Just a trailer...but it packs a wallop. Listen to Jimmy Connors...listen to this guy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd0gJzm_EQY

"They wanted him to play their game...but in the end he made them play his game."

The hallmark of a true champion.

[bottle]

Reaction

Anybody that has been in the position of Richard Gonzales...as well as those that were not as well known as him knows the difference. Those victims on the edge of the night that unwittingly find themselves juxtaposed to the weight of the establishment because of the color of their skin understand the wild difference between aggressive and defensive behavior.

When you are in the position of the minority...as was Richard Gonzales...you are in a lose/lose situation. Unless you have the emotional makeup of an Arthur Ashe. But if you are cut from the emotional cloth of a Richard Gonzales you develop the heart of an assassin. You get tired of being the bad guy but there is no way out for you. Tall, dark and handsome with the rugged swarthy good looks you are the ladies pet...and the men's fret. In this case...the fret of the WASP. He drew their ire...and then their fire as a consequence.

Everything is geared to provoke...linesman, umpires, jeering crowds, snide remarks barely perceptible but otherwise implied. Dirty looks...conversations concluded just as you are within earshot. The game within the game is maddening...until you just say "fuck it", take off the gloves and say to the crowd...bring it. After a while it begins to feel "ok"...it's only part of the game. You resign yourself...knowing full well it's hopeless. There is nothing to do...might as go along with the charade. Play your part and take it to another level. Who knows...maybe they will learn something from it.

Richard Gonzales' behavior was entirely defensive in nature. To the uninitiated he appears angry and sullen but those in the know see that he is exhausted from the strain of constant surveillance. Being looked at from under the microscope. Every controversial remark or expression of disgust with the inequality of the situation is only another chance to say the wrong thing to the face of the establishment. At some point it only came down to assuming the position of giving the status quo the finger and giving all a stern warning to back off. It's defensive...but it appears to be aggressive. A real irony when you have a heart of gold but you are forced to be the villain. It's called "labeling" in sociological terms.

I accept the psychological perceptions in this post and think they are as good or better than those in any article on Richard Gonzalez that I have ever read.

[gzhpcu]

I think I mentioned seeing him train with Pancho Segura as a kid with my father at the Beverly Hills Tennis Club. Liked them both. Segura never had any problems, because he was considered "harmless" by the WASP establishment. He knew his place, he was no threat. He was a small little polite man. Gonzalez was a panther...

[don_budge]

Aggressive vs. Defensive Behavior

I always disliked Jack Kramer for the way he treated Pancho Gonzalez. It was the typically WASP behaviour against Mexicans. The "establishment" against the outside minority. This certainly contributed to Pancho's loner and aggressive behaviour.

Anybody that has been in the position of Richard Gonzales...as well as those that were not as well known as him knows the difference. Those victims on the edge of the night that unwittingly find themselves juxtaposed to the weight of the establishment because of the color of their skin understand the wild difference between aggressive and defensive behavior.

When you are in the position of the minority...as was Richard Gonzales...you are in a lose/lose situation. Unless you have the emotional makeup of an Arthur Ashe. But if you are cut from the emotional cloth of a Richard Gonzales you develop the heart of an assassin. You get tired of being the bad guy but there is no way out for you. Tall, dark and handsome with the rugged swarthy good looks you are the ladies pet...and the men's fret. In this case...the fret of the WASP. He drew their ire...and then their fire as a consequence.

Everything is geared to provoke...linesman, umpires, jeering crowds, snide remarks barely perceptible but otherwise implied. Dirty looks...conversations concluded just as you are within earshot. The game within the game is maddening...until you just say "fuck it", take off the gloves and say to the crowd...bring it. After a while it begins to feel "ok"...it's only part of the game. You resign yourself...knowing full well it's hopeless. There is nothing to do...might as go along with the charade. Play your part and take it to another level. Who knows...maybe they will learn something from it.

Richard Gonzales' behavior was entirely defensive in nature. To the uninitiated he appears angry and sullen but those in the know see that he is exhausted from the strain of constant surveillance. Being looked at from under the microscope. Every controversial remark or expression of disgust with the inequality of the situation is only another chance to say the wrong thing to the face of the establishment. At some point it only came down to assuming the position of giving the status quo the finger and giving all a stern warning to back off. It's defensive...but it appears to be aggressive. A real irony when you have a heart of gold but you are forced to be the villain. It's called "labeling" in sociological terms.

[don_budge]

Geronimo...and the WASP

http://www.google.se/search?q=fort+bowie&client=safari&rls=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=IoF0U7nNDOeKyQPL1oCgBw&ved=0CDIQsAQ&biw=949&bih=986

Geronimo...Geronimo...Geronimo. I called out to the ghosts at Fort Bowie in the Chiricahua National Park at twilight...way back when. My call was answered two days later on the outskirts of Tucson. I found an old Apache who called himself Geronimo III claiming to be the great grandson of the last of the Native Americans to surrender to the American Government.

He told me the story of the legend...like Carlos Castaneda I sat at his feet taping his broken speech. I returned to his wikiup several times over the years...as he completed the story.

When I see the eyes of Richard Gonzales I think to myself...I have seen those eyes before.

[gzhpcu]

I always disliked Jack Kramer for the way he treated Pancho Gonzalez. It was the typically WASP behaviour against Mexicans. The "establishment" against the outside minority. This certainly contributed to Pancho's loner and aggressive behaviour.

[don_budge]

The model is Gonzales...the spirit of a tennis player

It isn't pretty...

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1026099/1/index.htm

Read it and weep.

There is an inner quality that defines a tennis player. Modern days has produced millionaire tennis players. Consummate professionals. Bought and paid for...right down to the underwear that they wear. Spoiled and consumed by the retched riches that only a king would dare to flaunt.

Here is the portrait of a fighting spirit. Something that is so base and primal that many might find it distasteful due to the lack of luxury surrounding his life outside of tennis although some might allow for him because of his tennis playing ability.

But he fought to the bitter end as his match against Charlito Pasarell so elegantly expressed in this article. There is more than money to this game. There is more than image to this sport. There is something very base underneath the veneer of the white clothes and the etiquette that used to be called tennis etiquette.

Gonzales rose above all of it and consumed it like the primal big cat that he was in his soul. He was cornered his whole life by the establishment but never gave thought to giving in to it. He fought to the bitter end...opting to keep his pride which was the thing that fueled him. Kept him fired up at all times and ready to do battle. Unfortunately or not...like an actor who is always relegated to roles of being the bad guy he could not run from his destiny...which was to be the antagonist on the stage of tennis. And life.

So be it. He accepted his fate...the Aztec that he was. He rode the snake down Camino Royal. Like an Apache in the desert refusing to drink as a sign of weakness to his avowed enemy...the United States of America...Gonzales chose the road less traveled. He died as he lived...he did it his way. He went out the way he lived...without backing down. Without showing any sign of weakness that the enemy...or rather the opponent might take as a sign that he might capitulate. Not unlike the bravest of Apache warriors.

His service game was his trusty bow and his quiver of arrows. It never let him down...it said in the article. What would he do against the elite modern tennis players? How would he fare or conduct himself? He would sneer at the whole lot with Aztec eyes and pick them off one by one...with his trusty serve aiming true and deadly.

[lobndropshot]

Found this in the archives...I was viewing Online readers and "caught" someone viewing this. It is worth a repost...I had never seen it. The article that makes the most sense to me on this subject...so far. Extremely well written and well thought out.

The book is Tilden. Gonzales is the model...with Budge's backhand. Hopman is the coach. Federer is living proof.

http://www.inficad.com/~1stbooks/PG_.htm

This link doesn't work.

[don_budge]

Another article about Richard Gonzales...

It isn't pretty...

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1026099/1/index.htm

Read it and weep.

[don_budge]

The King of the Court...Richard Gonzales

The model is Richard Gonzales...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkPuC6NzAL4

19-17 in the first set. I just love the arm around the loser's shoulder...consoling his worthy opponent in defeat. Gonzales had great respect for the Aussie mystique.

[don_budge]

Richard Gonzales...GOAT discussion

Stotty's comments in the Don Budge video thread prompted me to look up some Richard Gonzales articles.

I thought that this one was promising information and comparative analysis wise...

http://www.forodeltenis.com/index.php?topic=81975.0

[gzhpcu]

Great article on Pancho - thanks. Too bad he is not around anymore to relish it.

Consider that he was self-taught, did not have coaches, nutrionists (he guzzled Coca Cola during matches), had a wooden racket, fitness gurus, etc.... With his fire and fighting spirit, just imagine how he would have done today.

Anyways, he dominated the serve and volley era... he would have had to change to a baseline game to dominate today...

We will wonder and debate but never know for sure. Too bad there is so little good video footage around of his game. I have the video "Pancho Gonzalez: Warrior of the Court" but there really isn't any high quality scenes of his game...