| Main Performers | Butch Buchholz,
Mark Cox,
Cliff Drysdale,
Owen Davidson,
Richard Dennis Ralston,
Rod Laver,
Ray Moore,
John Newcombe,
Tom Okker,
Nikki Pilic,
Marty Riessen,
Ismail El Shafei,
Ken Rosewall,
Graham Stilwell,
Fred Stolle,
Roger Taylor - tennis players |
| Performance Notes | The 1970 Rothmans International Tennis Tournament was a men's professional tennis tournament held on indoor carpet courts in the Royal Albert Hall in London, England. It was the first edition of the tournament and was held from 4 - 7 March 1970. It was an independent event, i.e. not part of either the 1970 Grand Prix or 1970 World Championship Tennis circuit. Marty Riessen won both the singles and doubles competition and £2525 in prize money. The first time tennis was played at the Hall.
The event was filmed by BBC Television.
Singles Final: Martin Clare Riessen beat Ken Rosewall (6-4, 6-2)
"Anti-apartheid demonstrators shouting slogans from the balcony, interrupted play for four minutes before police ejected them during the singles final of the Rothmans £10,000 tennis tournament at the Albert Hall on Saturday Night. Martin Riessen lost three successive points after the demonstration, but eventually beat Ken Rosewall. The slogans were drowned by the crowd's hostile response. Like a silent demonstration the previous evening, when nine illegible placards were displayed in the lofty gloom of the balcony, they were apparently directed at Rothmans and the tennis professionals, whose business activities do not exclude South Africa, and the Lawn Tennis Association, who are unlikely to support the campaign to band South Africa from the Davis Cup competition."
('Apartheid protests turn to badminton', The Times 9 March 1970)
"PROTEST HALTS TENNIS FINAL.
Anti-apartheid demonstrators caused a five-minute halt in the final of the men's singles in the Rothmans International Tennis Tournament at the Royal Albert Hall last night.
Shouting slogans, 20 members of the Stop the 70 Tour Committee, interrupted the match between Ken Rosewall and Marty Riessen. Police escorted the demonstrators out of the hall. There were no arrests.
The match resumed, and ended in a 6-4, 6-2 win for Riseen. Rothman Tobacco (Holdings) Ltd. is a subsidiary of the South African company known as Rupert Tobacco Corporation (Pty.) Ltd."
(The Daily Telegraph, 8 March 1970) |
| Related Archival Material | Programme (RAHE/1/1970/28) |