Sport: Showdown at Forest Hills

Like the school bully putting the new boy in his place, Pancho Gonzales has used his bazooka drives and serves to humiliate every fair-haired lad who quit amateur tennis to take a crack at his professional title, which Pancho has held since 1954. Fairest-haired of all the challengers has been Aussie Lew Hoad, a blond muscleman with the forearm of a weight lifter, who challenged Gonzales in 1958 after conquering the amateur world. As usual, Gonzales treated the newcomer like an upstart kid, routed Hoad 51-36 on their first barnstorming tour of professional matches.

This year, things have been looking up for Hoad. At 24, he is seven years younger than Gonzales, never seems to tire on the court. More important, he is beginning to match Gonzales’ ferocious concentration. When his thinking is cool and his strokes are hot, Hoad can play an overwhelming brand of tennis. Flatfooted, he can hit a backhand with a flick of his powerful wrist with so much top spin that the ball seems to zoom off the turf like a maddened hornet.

In top form, Hoad managed to beat Gonzales on this year’s tour, 15 matches to 13. But Hoad still consistently lost to Gonzales in key tournaments. And because Pancho mopped up the other touring pros—Aussies Ashley Cooper and Mai Anderson—he came out with top prize money ($29,150), thereby retained his pro championship under Promoter Jack Kramer’s frankly capitalistic scheme of rankings.

Last week, pointedly ignoring each other off the court, the scowling Gonzales and the deadpan Hoad renewed their private duel at the $15,000 Tournament of Champions at Forest Hills, N.Y. “I think I’m as good as he is,” declared Hoad, “and I know he thinks the same.” For Gonzales, who has been gobbling vitamin pills to offset the weariness that plagued him earlier this year, the tournament was a chance to prove that he was still the greatest player in the world. Said Pancho: “I feel fit, very fit. Until Hoad beats me, I’m not worried.”

But when the match was over, Gonzales had plenty of cause to be worried. At the peak of his game, Lew Hoad anticipated returns like a mind reader, served with devastating power, and blasted aging Pancho off the court. 6-1, 5-7, 6-2, 6-1. The old king of the tennis world had a young pretender to contend with.