BACKGROUND from The Sports Time Traveler
This is part 2 of the remarkable story of Mark Edmonson at the 1976 Australian Open tennis tournament.
You can read part 1 at this link:
The Unknown Janitor Invited to Play the 1976 Australian Open
Part 1 concluded with Mark Edmonson reaching the quarterfinals.
In 1976, Edmondson was a 21-year-old aspiring Australian professional tennis player, who had been living a vagabond life traveling to tennis tournaments on a shoestring budget, funded by any odd job he can find, including work recently as a janitor.
His name was so unrecognizable to tennis fans that even an Australian newspaper referred to him simply as “unknown” when he won a match in December, 1975.
But that win, combined with many top international players declining to make the trip to Australia, landed Edmondson an unexpected invitation to play in the 1976 Australian Open.
Then remarkably he won his first 3 matches to reach the quarterfinals.
As I ponder Mark Edmondson’s story my brain keeps playing these lines from Bob Dylan’s, “Like A Rolling Stone”:
That stanza couldn’t be more fitting, as Mark Edmondson entered this tournament as a complete unknown in the tennis world.
Now I take you back in time to the 1976 Australian Open quarterfinals.
Melbourne’s Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club - Early January, 1976
Mark Edmondson was getting ready for his New Year’s Day match against #13 seed Dick Crealy in the quarterfinals when he had the following conversation with #2 seed John Newcombe:
Newcombe: “Have you ever played on the centre court?”
Edmondson: “No”
Newcombe: “Let me give you a few hints.”
We may never know what the specific advice was, but it welcomed by Edmondson.
Dick Crealy, on the other hand, may have read the newspaper reports that his defeat of #4 Stan Smith, to reach the quarterfinals, wasn’t the great triumph it seemed. Rod Humphries reported in the Sydney Morning Herald this morning that Smith was, “badly troubled by an elbow injury and he had treatment late on Tuesday night to prepare him for the match against Crealy.”
But Humphries still felt that Crealy would have no trouble with the unknown janitor in their centre court match as he wrote, “The way he is serving here in Melbourne he will beat Mark Edmondson in the quarter-finals to reach to reach the semi-final for the second successive year.”
Crealy, after all, had an ATP world ranking of 50th, and had reached the semi-finals last year where it took world #1, Jimmy Connors to oust him.
In the quarterfinal match against Edmondson, the London Daily Telegraph reported, “Crealy hammered down his big first serve, but Edmondson, who had everything to gain and nothing to lose, hit it back even harder.”
Edmondson took a hotly contested 1st set 7 - 5.
Then Edmondson took the 2nd set in a tiebreaker 7 - 6.
Up 2 sets to love, Edmondson went for the sweep and won the set easily 6 - 2.
Mark Edmondson had pulled off another shocking upset over a seeded player.
Mark Edmondson, the “unknown,” who had worked as a janitor just several weeks prior, was now heading to the semi-finals of a Grand Slam tennis tournament!
What Would be the Next Job for the Janitor?
Edmondson had his spot in the semi-finals, and he would play the winner of the Ken Rosewall - Brad Drewett match.
In the press, it was dreamy-eyed Drewett, not Edmondson who was being showcased as the possible Cinderella story in this Australian Open.
Just 17 years old, Drewett defeated #8 seed Allan Stone in the 2nd round. Stone was ranked #36 in the world.
Then Drewett beat 40-year-old Mal Anderson in the 3rd round. In 1957, the year before Drewett was born, Anderson was ranked #2 in the world. And Anderson had reached the Final of this tournament as recently as 1972, where he lost to Ken Rosewall.
In winning the match against Anderson, Drewett became the youngest player ever to reach the quarterfinal in the history of the Australian Open.
Suddenly, Drewett was being compared to a young John Newcombe. The article below adorned the front of the sports section in the Melbourne Age on December 31st.
Now Drewett had to face an opponent even older than Anderson. Ken Rosewall is 41. But Ken Rosewall is also one of the great legends of tennis, and is still at the top of his game as he is presently ranked #2 in the world and is the #1 seed in this tournament.
Rosewall took the 1st set 6 - 4.
Rod Humphries of the Sydney Morning Herald described the action in the 2nd set in the January 2nd paper, “Rosewall dropped two service games with what appeared to be a lack of concentration.”
Taking advantage of the service breaks, Drewett won the 2nd set 6 - 3 to tie the match at 1 set all.
Then Humphries wrote, “Once Rosewall decided to finish it quickly, he was able to control the last two sets with ease.”
Rosewall won the 3rd and 4th sets 6 - 2, 6 - 2, to win the match and move on to the semi-finals.
Drewett’s dream run was over.
The Sydney Morning Herald characterized the upcoming semi-final match for Rosewall against Mark Edmondson this way:
Humphries indicated Rosewall’s biggest obstacle to reaching the final was not Edmondson, but rather fatigue, as he posted this banner headline:
It was the 2nd time in just 3 weeks that Edmondson made the title of a sports headline without using his name. In December, he was referred to as “unknown” when he dusted Geoff Masters.
But fatigue should not be Rosewall’s problem in the semi-final, it should be Edmondson’s. You see Edmondson had to play a postponed final of a much lesser tournament, what was called The President’s Singles of the New South Wales Championships, a regional level event, that was re-scheduled for the day before the Australian Open semi-final. In that match Edmondson lost badly 6 - 3, 6 - 2, to Peter Campbell.
Now Edmondson, the day after losing to another unknown, must play #1 seed Ken Rosewall.
The Millionaire vs. The Pauper
In another Humphries article in the same January 2nd Sydney Morning Herald, this one on the front page of the paper, Edmondson was again referenced in the headline, but again not by his own name.
Humphries had fun with this article. He explained that Rosewall (The Millionaire) has spent the past week with his family in the expensive Melbourne Hilton, while Edmondson (the pauper) has found lodging with a local family 30 kilometers away.
Rosewall has a car hired to take him to Kooyong.
Edmondson takes the public tram.
THE SEMI-FINAL: Ken Rosewall vs. Mark Edmondson
The semi-finals took place on Saturday, January 3, 1976. It’s mid-summer here in Australia, and it felt like it. The official temperature in Melbourne reached 95 degrees, but the Sydney Morning Herald reported that on centre court the temperature reached 51 degrees.
51 celsius is 124 degrees Farhenheit!
An AP article described the scene in the centre court stands, “Most of the men pulled off their shirts… and many young girls stripped off their cotton frocks, wearing only bikinis.
More than 60 fans were treated for heat exhaustion.
Rod Humprhies noted that Edmondson was, “extremely nervous when he went out on the court.” And how could he not be nervous. Ken Rosewall was Edmondson’s personal hero. In addition, 12,000 fans were in the centre court stands.
But as soon as the match began the nerves must have subsided. Humphries wrote, “he served so well that doors began opening for him.”
Edmondson took just 18 minutes to polish off Rosewall in the 1st set 6 - 1.
NOTE From The Sports Time Traveler
I have to cut in from the present time to ponder this for a minute.
Mark Edmondson, who was described as “almost unknown except for the hard core tennis,” had beaten Ken Rosewall in the 1st set 6 - 1.
This is Ken Rosewall, one of the all-time greatest players in tennis history.
Rosewall was a giant of his time, who in the Professional Era, from 1957 - 1967, won 15 of the 27 “Pro Slam” tournaments.
This is a pure legend, who even at age 41, was still ranked #2 in the world in 1975, and is the #1 seed in this tournament.
And Mark Edmondson just scrubbed him 6 - 1!
Unbelievable!
Now back down under to 1976.
After the stunning 1st set, Humphries wrote that, “Everybody, including Rosewall, thought it was only a matter of time when little “Muscles” (Rosewall’s nickname), the top seed, began to find his feet.”
And that he did, as Rosewall won the 2nd set with ease in 6 - 2.
The match was now tied at 1 set all.
But then something astonishing happened. Humprhies wrote:
Edmondson won the 3rd set 6 - 2 and was ahead 5 - 3 in the 3rd set when he reached match point.
It took 6 match points, but Mark Edmondson was finally able to put the finishing touch on Ken Rosewall.
And when the match concluded, Mark Edmondson was as stunned as anyone else in the stadium. Humphries wrote, “He had difficulty at first talking to the courtside announcer… The young man from Gosford could hardly get his feet back on the ground an hour later when he told pressmen that all he wanted to do before the match was not to make a fool of himself.”
Superman
Finally after defeating Ken Rosewall, Edmondson got his own name in the headlines of the Australian newspapers.
And even better, he now has a flattering nickname. It’s no longer janitor or pauper, it’s… SUPERMAN!
Here’s the headline in the Sunday, January 4, Sydney Morning Herald:
He certainly deserved the Superman nickname after playing 3 matches in 3 days and capping it off by beating the world #2, Ken Rosewall.
But in the United States, the headline in the New York Times still referred to Edmondson as “unknown.”
After the match Edmondson revealed his strategy. “I had nothing to lose. I had never played him before, but I had watched him hundreds of times. I decided to serve to his backhand – because then when he hit it back I played it to his forehand, which allegedly was mediocre compared to that incredible backhand. Somehow, it worked. My mind sort of relaxed then.”
The Finalists
Mark Edmondson (aka Superman in Australia at least) will now be a finalist in the 1976 Australian Open.
His opponent will be John Newcombe. The 31-year-old Newcombe beat #11 seed Ray Ruffels in straight sets to reach the final for the 3rd time in 4 years.
Newk is the defending champion, having beaten world #1 Jimmy Connors last year to take the title. And he’s looking the part of a defending champion. John Newcombe has not lost a set in reaching the final. That’s 15 consecutive sets that he’s won.
And Newk wants to win badly to shut up the press. He was quoted in the January 3 Sydney Morning Herald:
It’s shaping up to be an entertaining Australian Open Final tomorrow.
The Sports Time Traveler will be reporting to you after I experience the Final.
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