Harry Hopman
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Henry ("Harry") Christian Hopman (12 August 1906 – 27 December 1985) was a world-acclaimed tennis player and coach, born in Glebe, Sydney, New South Wales and soon moving to Parramatta, a city adjoining Sydney, Australia and now effectively a suburb of the metropolis.
He was a student at Rosehill Public primary (elementary) school where his father was headmaster, and later Parramatta High School where he played tennis and cricket.
Hopman was the very successful captain-coach of 22 Australian Davis Cup teams between 1939 and 1967. With players such as Frank Sedgman, Ken McGregor, Lew Hoad, Ken Rosewall, Rod Laver, Neale Fraser, John Newcombe, Fred Stolle, Tony Roche, Roy Emerson, Ashley Cooper, Rex Hartwig, Mervyn Rose, and Mal Anderson he won the Cup an unmatched 16 times.
Tennis great Jack Kramer, who was also a successful promoter of the professional tour, writes in his 1979 autobiography that Hopman "always knew exactly what was going on with all his amateurs. He had no children, no hobbies, and tennis was everything to him. Hopman always said he hated the pros, and he battled open tennis to the bitter end, but as early as the time when Sedgman and McGregor signed, Hopman was trying to get himself included in the deal so he could get a job with pro tennis in America."[1]
Kramer, who admits that Hopman "has never been my favorite guy," goes on to say "The minute one of his stars would turn pro, Hopman would turn on him. No matter how close he'd been to a player, as soon as he was out of Hopman's control, the guy was an outcast. 'It was as if we'd never existed,' Rosewall once said."
Hopman was also a journalist, providing sporting commentary. After World War II, this became his focus, until he was once again coaxed into tennis coaching. As an example of Hopman's journalism, Kramer writes that Sedgman, by then a successful touring professional, once "volunteered to help train the Aussie [Davis Cup] team. Hopman accepted the offer, and then he took Sedg aside and told him that what Hoad and Rosewall needed was confidence. So he told Sedg to go easy on them, which he gladly did. After a few days, Hopman wrote an exclusive in his newspaper column revealing how his kids could whip Sedgman and how this proved once again that amateurs were better than the pros."
In late 1951, when it appeared that Davis Cup star Frank Sedgman was about to turn professional, Hopman used his column in the Melbourne Herald to lead a fund-raising campaign designed to keep Sedgman in the amateur ranks. Enough money was raised to purchase a gasoline station in the name of Sedgman's bride-to-be and Sedgman remained an amateur for one more year. As Joe McCauley writes in The History of Professional Tennis, "For some reason, the pious Hopman, a strong opponent of the paid game, did not regard this as an infringement of Sedgman's amateur status." [2]
According to at least one tennis historian, Hopman was a heavy gambler who "once had to sell the land he had purchased for his dream home." [3]
Hopman was first married to Nell Hall, with whom he won four mixed doubles finals. He emigrated to the U.S.A. in 1969 and became a highly successful professional coach at Port Washington Tennis Academy, for future champions such as Vitas Gerulaitis and later John McEnroe. He later opened the Hopman Tennis Academy, at Largo, Florida, with his second wife, Lucy.
The Hopman Cup for mixed doubles play is named in his honour (see below).
Hopman was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island in 1978.
Contents |
[edit] Tournament Record
- Singles finalist 1930-1932
- Doubles (winner) 1929-1930
- Doubles finalist 1931-1932
- Mixed Doubles (winner) 1930, 1936-1937, 1939
- Mixed finalist 1940
- Doubles finalist 1930, 1948
- Mixed finalist 1945
U.S. Championships
- Doubles finalist 1939
- Mixed 1939
Tournament Record
Australia Davis Cup
- team member 1928, 1930, 1932
- Captain 1938-1939, 1950-1969
- winning captain 1939, 1950-1953, 1955-1957, 1959-1962, 1964-1967
- losing captain 1938, 1954, 1958, 1963, 1968
Italian Championships
- Mixed 1934
[edit] Notes
- ^ The Game, My 40 Years in Tennis (1979), Jack Kramer with Frank Deford
- ^ The History of Professional Tennis (2003) Joe McCauley, page 58.
- ^ Interviews by tennis historian Rich Hillway in 2005 at the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
[edit] Sources
- The Game, My 40 Years in Tennis (1979), Jack Kramer with Frank Deford (ISBN 0-399-12336-9)
- The History of Professional Tennis (2003), Joe McCauley
- Rich Hillway, tennis historian http://www.coloradotennis.com/cta/website.asp?Dept=News&Sec=Features&Page=Rich%20Hillway
