Muscles (Updated)

New edition: revised and updated. Now available in paperback!

“Not only was Ken Rosewall one of the top six players of all time, he was at the forefront of men’s tennis through the late 1950s until the advent of Open tennis in 1968. He was still at the top when the ATP was formed in 1972. Today’s players owe a lot to the likes of Ken Rosewall.” —John Newcombe, winner of seven Grand Slam singles titles and member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Richard Naughton’s second tennis title follows Ken Rosewall’s ascent to glory—from early competitions and his year of glory in 1953, when we was a member of the Australian LTAA touring team—to his emergence on the pro tennis scene and eight grand slam tournament victories.

Recounted in part by Rosewall himself and extensively researched by Naughton, the book provides a fascinating snapshot of the worldwide tennis scene in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, and is accompanied by photographs from Rosewall’s personal collection.

Richard Naughton

Richard Naughton is a sports historian and a senior Fellow in the Law Faculty at Monash University. His most recent academic title, The Shaping of Labour Law Legislation—Underlying Elements of Australia’s Workplace Relations System (Lexis Nexis Butterworths, 2017) was a comprehensive study of Australia’s labour law system. Richard is the author of both Muscles—The Story of Ken Rosewall, Australia’s Little Master of the Courts, (2012) and The Wizard—The Story of Norman Brookes, Australia’s First Wimbledon Champion, (2011). More recently he has written Daphne Akhurst—The Woman Behind the Trophy (2020) as part of an ongoing project to present detailed accounts of aspects of Australian tennis history. Richard is also the author of The Outcasts—The story of Art ‘Tappy’ Larsen and Dick Savitt, a self-published title completed in 2016.