Everything came together for Alex Olmedo in 1959
Alex Olmedo, who was born in Peru, moved to California when he was young. USC tennis coach George Toley recruited him, and Olmedo promptly rewarded his coach with NCAA singles and doubles championships in both 1956 and 1958. Olmedo conquered the world of American collegiate tennis. Could he then transfer that excellence to Wimbledon at a point in time when The Championships were still played by amateurs?
The Open Era of professional tennis was still nearly a decade away in 1959. Professionals were not allowed to play Wimbledon and the other major tournaments. (There were pro versions of some of the majors, but they weren’t the main attraction.) Though amateurs couldn’t cash in directly on Wimbledon, the tournament remained the crown jewel of tennis back then, just as it is today. Crucially, winning Wimbledon as an amateur allowed for the possibility that a young tennis player could make a few bucks as a professional barnstormer who traveled the globe and played in high-school gymnasiums, college arenas, and other makeshift venues. Winning Wimbledon carried meaning and value in 1959… just in a different way compared to what we have seen in more recent decades.
Alex Olmedo, carrying the banner for USC tennis, played the tournament of a lifetime. He made history for himself, his school, and Peru, his native country. No man born in Peru or — for that matter — South America has won Wimbledon in the past 61 years.
Olmedo torched the 1959 Wimbledon field. He was never taken to five sets in any match. He never trailed in sets in any match; he was twice tied at one set apiece, but won those two matches in four sets.
Olmedo — in the process of winning six matches to face the great Rod Laver in the 1959 Wimbledon final — won four of those six matches while losing no more than nine games. Roy Emerson, who won 12 major championships before his career was over, managed just eight games against Olmedo in the semifinals. Olmedo cruised, 6-4, 6-0, 6-4, an 18-8 thrashing.
Olmedo’s closest match the whole tournament was a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 win over India’s Ramanathan Krishnan in the third round. Olmedo won 22 games to Krishnan’s 19. Overall, Olmedo won 116 games and lost only 66 in his six-match romp to the final. That’s an average of 19.3 games won per match, and only 11 games lost per match. If you’re winning eight more games per match than your opponents, your per-set margin is close to three games. This means a typical set is 6-3, a routine and comfortable margin of victory.
Now, about that 1959 Wimbledon final against Laver, arguably the greatest tennis player ever: While it is true that Laver had not yet reached his height – -the Australian lefty won the first of two Grand Slams in 1962 — Olmedo still dispatched him with noticeable ruthlessness. The Peruvian needed just 71 minutes to dismiss Laver comfortably: 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
Alex Olmedo also won the 1959 Australian Open championship. He was a dominant force in 1959 amateur tennis, and the strength of that one towering season carried Olmedo into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1987.
