Articles

Alumni 1959

A round robin was played between Ashley Cooper, Malcolm Anderson, Mervyn Rose (all Australians) and Pancho Segura (US) over two days.

• Cooper was world no1 amateur in 1958, less than a few months before visiting Beirut with the famous Kramer Touring Pros, having won Wimbledon and edging by a very small margin his partner and co-national Malcolm Anderson, no 2 for 1958 and winner of the Us title in 1957. As Pros, they were outclassed by Gonzales, Hoad and Rosewall. Segura, turning pro early on, was an unorthodox American player born in Mexico, with a two handed shot from the backhand side and weak legs, who had succeeded in having a respectable Pro career at the times of Jack Kramer, Pancho Gonzales and Frank Sedgman. The left handed Mervyn Rose was the "enfant terrible"of the golden Australaian teams of the 50's, still winning Roland Garros in 1958, a few doubles major titles, before turning pro. The 4 Pros stopped in Beirut, en route to a much publicized competition in Tehran, Iran.