<Tr> <Td> 1961 </Td> <Td> Ken Rosewall P. (Aus .) </Td> <Td> Pancho Gonzales P. (USA) </Td> <Td> Joe McCauley; L'Équipe, Robert Geist; there were 47 World Series Round Robin matches for the world championship among 6 players, followed by 28 head - to - head matches between the top 1 & 2 and 3 & 4 to determine the final champion; Rosewall, however, took several long vacations and played very little in the first half of the year; substitutions were permitted for injured players in the round robin: Gonzales - (Segura) 33 - 14, Andrés Gimeno 27 - 20, Hoad - (Trabert, Cooper, Sedgman) 24 - 23, Barry MacKay 22 - 25, Olmedo 18 - 29, Butch Buchholz 16 - 31; #1 Gonzales then def. #2 Gimeno 21 - 7, #3 Sedgman (who definitely replaced Hoad) def. #4 MacKay 15 - 13; in tournaments Gonzales beat Sedgman in a depleted U.S. Pro; Rosewall beat Hoad in Wembley Pro; Rosewall beat Gonzales in French Pro; at the end of the year (October 25) Gonzales retired once again for 20 months (back in the circuit on June 27, 1963); L'Équipe once again ranked Rosewall No. 1 (2) Gonzales, 3) Hoad, 4) Trabert, 5) Segura, 6) Gimeno, 7) Cooper, 8) MacKay, 9) Olmedo, 10) Buchholz, 11) Laver, 12) Anderson, 13) Emerson, 14) Pietrangeli, 15) Santana, 16) Ayala, 17) Krishnan, 18) Sangster, 19) Lundquist, 20) McKinley, 21) Darmon,...23) Neale Fraser) primarily because of European results in second half of year; McCauley's 1961 chapter is entitled: Gonzales Still World Champion but says in the text that Rosewall had a good claim to being No. 1; Geist ranked Rosewall #1 alone . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1962 </Td> <Td> Ken Rosewall P. (Aus .) </Td> <Td> Lew Hoad P. (Aus .) </Td> <Td> Joe McCauley; Ken Rosewall; no American tour, very little tennis for first 6 months; Rosewall had a sensational pro year winning 10 tournaments including the big European tournaments; Butch Buchholz beat Segura in a depleted U.S. Pro; Rosewall beat Hoad in Wembley Pro; Rosewall beat Gimeno in French Pro; Rod Laver had a sensational amateur year, winning with Emerson the Davis Cup, and alone all 4 of the Grand Slams, but was severely beaten for his pro debut in 1963, suggesting that the pros were still the best players; Rosewall announced his Pro rankings at the end of 1962, omitting Segura then semi-retired: #1 Rosewall, #2 Hoad, #3 Gimeno, #4 Laver, #5 Buchholz . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1963 </Td> <Td> Ken Rosewall P. (Aus .) </Td> <Td> Rod Laver P. (Aus .) </Td> <Td> Joe McCauley; Frank Sedgman; Rosewall on Australasian grass dominated the new pro recruit Rod Laver, 11 victories to 2 and Hoad was omnipotent, winning 8 - 0 against Laver; then the World Championship Series was held in the USA with 6 players, two local players Buchholz and MacKay, one Spaniard Gimeno, one Chilean Ayala and only two Australians Rosewall and Laver (if Hoad had been selected there would have been too many Aussies in the US): in the first phase Rosewall ended first (31 wins - 10 losses) ahead Laver (26 - 16), Buchholz (23 - 18), Gimeno, MacKay and Ayala . In the second (and final) phase Rosewall won the tour, beating Laver 14 - 4, and Gimeno won 3rd place, beating Buchholz 11 - 7 . Then Rosewall captured five tournaments including the 3 majors of that year and Laver reached the finals of two majors and also won 5 tournaments making him undoubtedly the vice-king; Rosewall def . Laver in U.S. Pro; Rosewall def . Laver in French Pro; Rosewall def . Hoad in Wembley Pro; in January 1964 Sedgman clearly stated that Laver was second to Rosewall and a real threat to his elder . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> 1964 </Td> <Td> Ken Rosewall P. (Aus .) Rod Laver P. (Aus .) </Td> <Td> both ranked equally </Td> <Td> Joe McCauley; Robert Geist; Laver won 11 tournaments and Rosewall 10; Laver beat Rosewall 15 - 4 in head - to - head matches; Gonzales unretired and won two great tournaments; Laver, rather modest in his speech, is quoted by McCauley as saying: "I...would like to be the World's No. 1...I am not that yet--Ken is . I may have beaten him more often than he has beaten me this year but he has won the biggest tournaments...I've lost to other people but Ken hasn't"; A point system for 19 pro tournaments (excluding at least 10 other tournaments) also resulted in Rosewall being No. 1 to Laver's No. 2 but that system granted each tournament the same points and then was unfair to the big events where Laver was superior to Rosewall: Laver beat Rosewall & Gonzales in U.S. Pro; Laver again beat Rosewall in Wembley Pro; Rosewall beat Laver in French Pro; McCauley's 1964 chapter is entitled: Rosewall Tops Again But Only Just but Robert Geist co-ranked Laver & Rosewall #1 (in his book "DER GRÖSSTE MEISTER Die denkwürdige Karriere des australischen Tennisspielers Kenneth Robert Rosewall"). </Td> </Tr>

Who ranks world number 1 in women's tennis