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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

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The tennis player (Ken Rosewall)

2010
Sinead Davies

oil on canvas (support: 185 cm x 185 cm)

Ken Rosewall AM MBE (b. 1934), champion tennis player, won the Australian Open in 1953 and again nineteen years later in 1972 (he remains both the youngest, and oldest, person to win the title). Between 1953 and 1972 Rosewall won four Australian, two French and two US singles championship titles. Coached in Sydney by Harry Hopman, and sardonically nicknamed 'Muscles' on account of his slight stature, he won his first major titles, the Australian and French singles, in 1953 at the age of eighteen. At the close of the 1977 season, aged forty-three, he was still ranked number twelve in the game. Rosewall turned professional in 1957 and became the second player (after Rod Laver) to earn more than a million dollars from tennis, but the ban on professionals from 1957 to 1967 precluded his participation in many Grand Slam events. Asked about tennis in 1977 he said 'it's something I enjoy and find I still do well'. Rosewall was inducted into the international Tennis Hall of Fame in 1980, and its Australian counterpart in 1995.

Ireland-born Sinead Davies studied at the Byam Shaw School in London and moved to Sydney in 1983. Davies is a three-time finalist in the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize and has been in the Portia Geach Memorial Award six times. Hers is the first painted portrait of Ken Rosewall.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2010
© Sinead Davies/Copyright Agency, 2024

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. Works of art from the collection are reproduced as per the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). The use of images of works from the collection may be restricted under the Act. Requests for a reproduction of a work of art can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

Artist and subject

Sinead Davies

Ken Rosewall AM MBE (age 76 in 2010)

Subject professions

Sports and recreation

Donated by

Sinead Davies (1 portrait)

© National Portrait Gallery 2024
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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

This website comprises and contains copyrighted materials and works. Copyright in all materials and/or works comprising or contained within this website remains with the National Portrait Gallery and other copyright owners as specified.

The National Portrait Gallery respects the artistic and intellectual property rights of others. The use of images of works of art reproduced on this website and all other content may be restricted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (Cth). Requests for a reproduction of a work of art or other content can be made through a Reproduction request. For further information please contact NPG Copyright.

The National Portrait Gallery is an Australian Government Agency