Maggie and the Little Master

One of these years, the U.S. tennis champion may actually be from the U.S. But not in 1970. Although Americans accounted for four of the eight men's quarter-finalists and two of the four women's semifinalists in the U.S. Open Tennis Championships at Forest Hills last week, it was the Australians who won. At 35, Ken Rosewall became the oldest player to win the U.S. men's singles since Bill Tilden did it in 1929 at age 36. By winning the women's singles title, Mrs. Margaret Smith Court became the first woman to complete tennis' grand slam--the Australian, French, British and American championships--since Maureen ("Little Mo") Connolly turned the trick in 1953.

Rosewall's victory, the 14th U.S. men's title won by an Australian in the past 20 years, was a triumph of precision over power. His opponent in the finals was fellow Aussie Tony Roche, 25, a hard-driving lefthander who was no older than a ball boy when Rosewall won his first U.S. championship in 1956. The diminutive veteran countered Roche's crashing slams with an array of delicate ground strokes that his younger opponent whacked helplessly into the net. Time and again, as the burly Roche charged in to follow up his whistling serve, Rosewall hit the kind of low, sharply angled passing shot that had long ago earned him the nickname of the Little Master. Final score: 2-6, 6-4, 7-6, 6-3. A perennial runner-up in recent years, Rosewall accepted the $20,000 winner's check, his biggest payoff ever, with a lengthy speech that he said he had been preparing "during those long times between wins."

Astounding Force. If anything, Margaret Court, winner of 20 tournaments this year, is running out of ways to say thank you. In sweeping the grand slam, she lost only three of 49 sets. A rangy country girl from New South Wales, she overwhelms smaller players with her booming serves and bulleting volleys. Graced with the long legs of a middle-distance runner, she covers more court than any woman in tennis.

With her potentially toughest opponent, Billie Jean King, unable to compete in the U.S. Open because of a knee operation, the only question was how fast Mighty Maggie would finish off the field. Nancy Richey lasted only 27 minutes in the semifinals, while Rosemary Casals managed to endure for 56 minutes in the finals. Afterward, Rosemary could only mutter, "Her long arms, they seemed to go all round the court." According to London's Human Biomechanics Laboratory, which recently tested Margaret, her arms are indeed a good 3 in. to 4 in. longer than those of the average woman tested. At 5 ft. 9 in. and 155 lbs., she is not only 2 in. taller and 13 lbs. heavier than Rosewall, but she exerts an astounding force of 121 1/4 lbs. in her right hand, which equaled or surpassed that of the men tested.

Sunday to Sunday. An ardent gymnast and weight lifter, Margaret nonetheless bristles at the suggestion that she is some kind of Amazon in sneakers. Shy and demure off court, she is a green-eyed blonde with a fondness for gourmet cooking and fashion design. Maggie grew up in Albury, New South Wales, playing tennis against the boys. At 15 she had collected so many trophies that her parents sent her off to train with Frank Sedgman in Melbourne. At 17 she became the youngest woman ever to win the Australian championship. Two years later she was ranked the world's No. 1 women's player.

In 1966 Maggie abruptly retired from tennis and opened a boutique in a suburb of Perth. "I've won everything," she said, "and I am bored with tennis." Then she met and married Barry Court, a well-to-do businessman. "I talked about how I would like to see the world," recalls Court, "and the next thing I knew Margaret was back on tour." That was in 1967. Though the Courts have followed the tennis circuit around the world three times, Barry finds that he sees little more than the inside of hotel rooms. "The trouble is," he says, "she gets to the finals of every tournament, and that means she's playing from Sunday to Sunday."

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