Lew Hoad

Lewis Alan Hoad ( born November 23, 1934 in Glebe, New South Wales, Australia, † July 3, 1994 in Fuengirola, Spain) was an Australian tennis player.

Life and career

Because of his appearance, his powerful athleticism and his personality was Lew Hoad in the fifties of the last century to a tennis icon.

The force played an important role in his play; he played more often to seek to win than in long rallies his chance. Despite this game, he also had the ability to slow the surface of the clay court to win the French Open. From 1952 to 1956 he was placed in the world ranking in the top 10, 1956, he was then the No. 1 world tennis.

Lew Hoad was a member of the Australian Davis Cup team, with which he 1953, 1955 and 1956, won the Davis Cup three times. In 1956 he won the first three Grand Slam tournaments, and was shortly thereafter and the U.S. Open, and thus to win the Grand Slam and an attractive contract in professional tennis, but he lost to his compatriot Ken Rosewall in Forest Hills. This year he won with Ken Rosewall the Grand Slam in doubles. Ironically, Ken Rosewall was due to the victory over the contract Hoad, Lew Hoad originally was offered, and played with Pancho Gonzales on the professional tour.

In a time where there was only allowed Amateuerspielern attend the Grand Slam tournaments Hoad moved after his victory in Wimbledon 1957 final to the professionals.

In his first year as a professional Hoad played a series of 87 games against the reigning "king" of professional tennis, Pancho Gonzales. Hoad won 18 of the first 27 games, but Gonzales fought back and eventually won 51 to 36 Gonzales, probably one of the best tennis players of all time, said that Hoad was the biggest challenge he has ever had.

Back problems forced Hoad to end his career in the sixties. He moved to the vicinity of Málaga ( Spain), where he held a tennis resort for his personal friends such as Sean Connery, Kirk Douglas and Charlton Heston with his tennis -playing wife, Jenny Staley.

Lew Hoad was diagnosed with leukemia and was waiting for a bone marrow transplant when he died of a heart attack at the age of 59 years in 1994.

He was inducted into the Hall of Fame of tennis in 1980.

Grand Slam victories

  • French Open Single - 1956
  • Double - 1953
  • Mixed - 1954
  • Wimbledon Single - 1956, 1957
  • Double - 1953, 1956, 1957
  • U.S. Open Double - 1956
1953 Davis Cup Forest Hills, Queens International Tennis Hall of Fame Integrated Authority File
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