Pancho Gonzales at 41: The 112 Games That Helped Bring In the Tiebreak

In 1969 there was no tiebreak at Wimbledon. A set went on until somebody was two games ahead, however long that took. Pancho Gonzales was 41 and a grandfather. Charlie Pasarell was sixteen years younger. They were drawn against each other in the first round on Centre Court.

The match lasted 112 games. Gonzales won 22–24, 1–6, 16–14, 6–3, 11–9. It was the longest match Wimbledon had seen, and it stayed the record until 2010.

The first evening

Bad weather pushed the match off its scheduled day. When it began, shortly after seven in the evening, the light was already going.

The first set took 46 games. In its first stretch the two men held serve 45 times in a row. Gonzales, by Tennis.com's count, served to stay in the set 18 times and saved 11 set points before Pasarell won it 24–22 with a lob.

By the end of the second set Gonzales could not see the ball. He asked the umpire to stop. The referee, Captain Mike Gibson, did not respond. Gonzales lost the set 6–1. During the evening he smashed his Slazenger in front of the umpire's chair and hit the BBC's courtside microphone with it. "How the hell can I play when I can't see?" he said. He left Centre Court to boos and whistles, and, by Tennis.com's account, stayed up until two in the morning playing backgammon.

Rod Laver, who won the tournament that year, had a dry line on it: "No light is ever good enough for him."

The second day

Down two sets to love at 41, Gonzales won the third set 16–14 and the fourth 6–3. The fifth is where the match became legend.

Pasarell had his chances. Tennis.com counts seven match points, all saved by Gonzales on his own serve:

• three at 4–5, 0–40, after which he held for 5–5;
• three more at 5–6, 0–40, after which he held for 6–6;
• a seventh at 7–8.

BNP Paribas's account puts the number at five. We give both because the two sources do not agree and we could not settle it.

From 7–8, Gonzales won the last eleven points of the match and took the set 11–9. The crowd that had booed him off the night before gave him an ovation that, by Laver's description, lasted almost a minute.

The two sources also differ on the length of the match: 5 hours 20 minutes in Tennis.com, 5 hours 12 in BNP Paribas.

What was in the hand

Only one piece of Gonzales's equipment is named in the sources: the Slazenger he smashed on the first evening. No model, string or tension is recorded for the match, and we have not estimated them.

What it changed

Tennis.com credits the match with hastening the tiebreak, which first appeared at a major at the 1970 US Open. BNP Paribas places an earlier professional trial in Philadelphia about six months after the match. Wimbledon followed, with a tiebreak at 6–6 in the first four sets.

Gonzales won his next two matches in straight sets and lost to Arthur Ashe in four sets in the fourth round.

Pasarell had the last word years later, and it was against himself: "My mistake was waking up that morning thinking I was facing an old man in a wheelchair."

For anyone who has played a long set at club level, the lesson is the same as it was in 1969. Fitness and nerve matter as much as shot-making when you serve at 0–40, and a 41-year-old had both. What changed afterwards was the rule, not the player. The tiebreak exists so that no match has to be decided in the dark.