John Newcombe

John Newcombe

John Newcombe at the 1965 Dutch Open
Country  Australia
Residence Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Born 23 May 1944
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Turned pro 1960
Retired 1981
Plays Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money $1,062,408
Int. Tennis HOF 1986 (member page)
Singles
Career record 429–136 (75.9%)
Career titles 68 (including 34 listed by the ATP)
Highest ranking No. 1 (1967, Lance Tingay)[1]
No. 1 (3 June 1974) by the ATP
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open W (1973, 1975)
French Open QF (1965, 1969)
Wimbledon W (1967, 1970, 1971)
US Open W (1967, 1973)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals SF (1973, 1974)
WCT Finals W (1974)
Professional majors
Doubles
Career record 332–113
Career titles 33
Highest ranking No. 1 (1965)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open W (1965, 1967, 1971, 1973, 1976)
French Open W (1967, 1969, 1973)
Wimbledon W (1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1974)
US Open W (1967, 1971, 1973)
Mixed Doubles
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open W (1965)
French Open F (1965)
US Open W (1964)
Team competitions
Davis Cup W (1964, 1965, 1966, 1967 )

John David Newcombe, AO, OBE (born 23 May 1944 in Sydney) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player who won seven Grand Slam singles titles, and an all-time record 17 doubles titles. He was one of many Australian players to dominate the field during the 1960s and 1970s, and is one of the few men to have been ranked world No. 1 in both singles and doubles.

Biography

A natural athlete, Newcombe played several sports as a boy until devoting himself to tennis. He was the Australian junior champion from 1961 to 1963 and was a member of Australia's Davis Cup winning team in 1964. He won his first Grand Slam title in 1965 by taking the Australian Championships doubles title with fellow Australian Tony Roche. That same year, the duo won the Wimbledon doubles title. They teamed to win the Australian doubles championship three more times, Wimbledon another four times and the US Championships in 1967, the French Championships in 1967, and the French Open in 1969. They won 12 Grand Slam titles, which remained the all-time record for a men's doubles team until 2013, when it was surpassed by Bob and Mike Bryan.

Newcombe's powerful serve and volley was the backbone of his attacking game. He frequently came up with a second-serve ace. He was the top ranked amateur in the world in 1967 according to Lance Tingay, although Rex Bellamy ranked him second behind Roy Emerson. As a professional, Newcombe was the joint world No. 1 player in 1970 and 1971. In singles play, he was a two-time winner of the Australian Open, a three-time winner of Wimbledon, and a two-time winner of the US Open.

As a member of Lamar Hunt's World Championship Tennis professional tour group and the players' union, he was banned by the International Tennis Federation from competing in the 1972 Wimbledon Championships and he joined the ATP boycott of the event in 1973.

Newcombe was the last of the Australians who dominated tennis in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

In his 1979 autobiography, Jack Kramer, the long-time tennis promoter and great player himself, included Newcombe in his list of the 21 greatest players of all time.[2]

Newcombe was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985 and in 1986, his achievements were recognised with his induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.[3]

Performance Timeline

Singles

Tournament 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978
Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open 1R A QF QF QF SF SF SF A QF QF 3R QF W QF W F QF A
French Open A 3R 3R A 2R QF 3R 4R A QF A A A 1R A A 1R A A
Wimbledon A 1R 2R 1R 1R 4R 3R W 4R F W W A A QF A 3R A 4R
U.S. Open A A A 4R A A F W QF SF SF 1R 3R W SF A A A A

Source: ITF[4]

Distinctions

Notes

  1. ↑ United States Lawn Tennis Association (1972). Official Encyclopedia of Tennis (First Edition), p. 428.
  2. ↑ In his 1979 autobiography Kramer considered the best player ever to have been either Don Budge (for consistent play) or Ellsworth Vines (at the height of his game). The next four best were, chronologically, Bill Tilden, Fred Perry, Bobby Riggs, and Pancho Gonzales. After these six came the "second echelon" of Rod Laver, Lew Hoad, Ken Rosewall, Gottfried von Cramm, Ted Schroeder, Jack Crawford, Pancho Segura, Frank Sedgman, Tony Trabert, John Newcombe, Arthur Ashe, Stan Smith, Björn Borg, and Jimmy Connors. He felt unable to rank Henri Cochet and René Lacoste accurately but felt they were among the very best.
  3. ↑ "John Newcombe AO OBE". Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
  4. ↑ "Player Details – John Newcombe". ITF.
  5. ↑ "Net Group to Discuss South African Ban". The Milwaukee Journal. Jun 24, 1969. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
  6. ↑ Newcombe recalls Bush's brush with law
  7. ↑ John Newcombe Estate & Country Club

See also

External links

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Achievements
Preceded by
Ilie Năstase		 World No. 1
3 June 1974 – 28 July 1974 		Succeeded by
Jimmy Connors