Here, in this link, in “The Australian” Newspaper is a really interesting story about the fall from grace of former tennis star “Roscoe Tanner” who is now 51 years of age.
I’m old enough to remember big Roscoe’s explosion onto the tennis scene in the late 70’s. He was a very likeable, tall, rather handsome American with a monster killer serve which proved quite formidable on grass - which the Australian Open used to play on back in those days at Kooyong. Roscoe won the Australian Open in 1977 and played a 5 setter in the final of Wimbledon in 1979 which he lost to the famous Bjorn Borg.
Roscoe was a top 5 player, but he was up against Jimmy Connors, Borg, and an emerging McEnroe - so there was only so much room at the top if you know what I mean.
Anyway, it seems he’s been extradited from Germany where he’s been kinda hiding out, for swindling US$36,000 out of a Yacht Broker in Miami, passing a forged $10,000 cheque, and also skipping on back payments of $86,000 in child support for his two daughters aged 19 and 16.
It seems he won $1.7 million bucks in prizemoney in his time.
I always wondered what became of Roscoe Tanner. It looks as though he was a bit of dodgy character with hindsight. OK, I can handle a dispute over the purchase of a yacht, but to also be found guilty of owing $86,000 in child support, for which he’s already served two brief stints in prison, and now looks to serve a very long stint for - well, for mine, it’s the child support issue which cuts deepest for me. My outlook after having read the article is this - hey man - what are you doing hanging out in the yachting scene (which can cost a pretty penny) if you’re not even attempting to look after your own children? Get your priorities straight son.
Just goes to show that being a sporting star doesn’t immunise you from also being a fool.