Richard Gonzalez

Richard Gonzalez or Ricardo Alonso Gonzalez (aka “Pancho”) was an American tennis player who held the top spot for a long period of time. Born on May 9, 1928, Gonzalez started playing tennis when he was just 12 years old and his mother gave him a 51 cent racket. Nobody taught him how to play the game other than himself. He did so by watching all the other players who were playing on the public courts situated close to Exposition Park in Los Angeles.

Life was not all nice for Gonzalez as soon as he discovered his love for tennis, his interest in school waned. It started a tirade of times when he was being pursued by the law, and in most occasions, he slept over at the tennis shop of an owner who he had befriended. Due to his bad school record and some brushes with the law, the upper-class and white tennis establishments of Los Angeles banned Gonzalez despite his promising talent.

Since Gonzalez seemed to be always placed outside of mainstream tennis, this anger and rage towards opponents, officials, photographers, and even spectators goaded him and drove him to play harder. When he was angry his temper fits did not even thwart his concentration. This led to the fact that most of his competitors would simply hope that he would not get mad since it only made him tougher.

Despite his obstacles, Gonzalez went on to win numerous tournaments not to mention four Grand Slam wins. Gonzalez died in July 3, 1995, and though known to be quite tempestuous, he is still considered as one of the greatest tennis players of all time. He lived to see himself inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1968.