Lew Hoad
Encyclopedia
Lewis Alan Hoad (born 23 November 1934 in Glebe, New South Wales
, Australia; died 3 July 1994 in Fuengirola
, Spain) was a champion tennis player.
In his 1979 autobiography, Jack Kramer, the long-time tennis promoter and great player himself, ranks Hoad as one of the 21 best players of all time. For five straight years, beginning in 1952, he was ranked in the World Top Ten for amateurs, reaching the No. 1 spot in 1956.
With his movie-star good looks, powerful physique, and outgoing personality, Hoad became a tennis icon in the 1950s. As Kramer says,
Strength played an important part of Hoad's game, as he often drove for winners rather than rallying and waiting for the right opportunity. Although he assaulted his opponents, he also had the skill to win the French Championships on the slower clay court. According to Kramer, "Hoad had the loosest game of any good kid I ever saw. There was absolutely no pattern to his game.... He was the only player I ever saw who could stand six or seven feet behind the baseline and snap the ball back hard, crosscourt. He'd try for winners off everything, off great serves, off tricky short balls, off low volleys. He hit hard overspin drives, and there was no way you could ever get him to temporise on important points."
Hoad was a member of the Australian team that between 1952 and 1956 won the Davis Cup
four times. He is often remembered for his match as a 19-year-old amateur in the 1953 Davis Cup against the great United States champion Tony Trabert
. In a titanic struggle, Hoad defeated Trabert by a score of 13–11, 6–3, 3–6, 2–6, 7–5 to help his country retain the Cup.
In 1956 he won the first three stages of the Grand Slam
tennis tournaments and was favoured to win the fourth and then turn professional for a lucrative contract offered by Jack Kramer. In a significant upset, however, he lost to fellow Australian Ken Rosewall
in the United States Championship at Forest Hills. Fresh from his victory over Hoad, it was Ken Rosewall who signed the professional contract and went on to spend the new year as the regular victim of Pancho Gonzales on the pro tour. At a time when only amateur players were allowed to compete in the four national championships, Hoad finally turned professional after winning his second successive Wimbledon singles title in 1957.
His first year as a pro was a series of head-to-head matches with the reigning king of professional tennis, Pancho Gonzales. Hoad won 18 of the first 27 matches, but Gonzales surged back to finally defeat Hoad by 51 matches to 36. Gonzales, whom some consider to be the greatest tennis player of all time, always maintained that Hoad was the toughest, most skilful adversary that he had ever faced. "He was the only guy who, if I was playing my best tennis, could still beat me," said Gonzales in a 1995 New York Times interview. "I think his game was the best game ever. Better than mine. He was capable of making more shots than anybody. His two volleys were great. His overhead was enormous. He had the most natural tennis mind with the most natural tennis physique."
Kramer, however, clearly has mixed feelings about Hoad's ability. In spite of calling him one of the 21 best players of all time, he also writes that "when you sum Hoad up, you have to say that he was overrated. He might have been the best, but day-to-day, week-to-week, he was the most inconsistent of all the top players." When Kramer was thirty-seven, and a part-time player, he played a number of matches against Hoad just after the Australian had turned professional. "I actually beat him thirteen matches to twelve. That was because he just didn't give a damn when he played me.... It was the same thing with Segura
, and Lew lost a majority of his matches to Segoo.... He wanted to beat Kenny, and he did. Remember now, Hoad lost 13–12 to me while Rosewall beat me 22–4, but Hoad turned it around and won two-thirds of his matches against Rosewall."
Back problems plagued Hoad throughout his career and forced his retirement from the tennis tour in the mid 1960s. Kramer compares Hoad to another great player, Ellsworth Vines
. "Both were very strong guys. Both succeeded at a very young age.... Also, both were very lazy guys. Vines lost interest in tennis (for golf) before he was thirty, and Hoad never appeared to be very interested. Despite their great natural ability, neither put up the outstanding records that they were capable of. Unfortunately, the latter was largely true because both had physical problems."
In retirement, Hoad moved to Fuengirola, Spain, near Málaga
, where he and his tennis-playing wife, Jenny Staley, operated a tennis resort for more than thirty years entertaining personal friends such as actors Sean Connery
, Kirk Douglas
, and Charlton Heston
.
Lew Hoad was battling leukaemia and waiting for a bone marrow donor when, in his weakened condition, he died of a heart attack in 1994 at the age of 59. A book co-written with Jack Pollard and titled The Lew Hoad Story was published in 1958. In 2003, Pollard teamed up with his widow, Jenny, to write My Life With Lew.
Hoad was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame
in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1980.
Runner-ups (2)
Glebe, New South Wales
Glebe is an inner-city suburb of Sydney. Glebe is located 3 km south-west of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney, in the Inner West region....
, Australia; died 3 July 1994 in Fuengirola
Fuengirola
Fuengirola, in ancient times known as Suel and then Suhayl, is a large town and municipality on the Costa del Sol in the province of Málaga, autonomous community of Andalusia in southern Spain. It is a major tourist resort, with more than 8 km of beaches, and home to a mediæval Moorish fortress...
, Spain) was a champion tennis player.
In his 1979 autobiography, Jack Kramer, the long-time tennis promoter and great player himself, ranks Hoad as one of the 21 best players of all time. For five straight years, beginning in 1952, he was ranked in the World Top Ten for amateurs, reaching the No. 1 spot in 1956.
Biography
Strength played an important part of Hoad's game, as he often drove for winners rather than rallying and waiting for the right opportunity. Although he assaulted his opponents, he also had the skill to win the French Championships on the slower clay court. According to Kramer, "Hoad had the loosest game of any good kid I ever saw. There was absolutely no pattern to his game.... He was the only player I ever saw who could stand six or seven feet behind the baseline and snap the ball back hard, crosscourt. He'd try for winners off everything, off great serves, off tricky short balls, off low volleys. He hit hard overspin drives, and there was no way you could ever get him to temporise on important points."
Hoad was a member of the Australian team that between 1952 and 1956 won the Davis Cup
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested between teams of players from competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Britain and the United States. By...
four times. He is often remembered for his match as a 19-year-old amateur in the 1953 Davis Cup against the great United States champion Tony Trabert
Tony Trabert
Marion Anthony Trabert is a retired American tennis champion and long-time tennis author, TV commentator, instructor, and motivational speaker...
. In a titanic struggle, Hoad defeated Trabert by a score of 13–11, 6–3, 3–6, 2–6, 7–5 to help his country retain the Cup.
In 1956 he won the first three stages of the Grand Slam
Grand Slam (tennis)
The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
tennis tournaments and was favoured to win the fourth and then turn professional for a lucrative contract offered by Jack Kramer. In a significant upset, however, he lost to fellow Australian Ken Rosewall
Ken Rosewall
Kenneth Robert Rosewall AM MBE is a former world top-ranking amateur and professional tennis player from Australia. He won 23 Majors including eight Grand Slam singles titles and before the Open Era a record fifteen Pro Slam titles . Rosewall won 9 slams in doubles with a career double grand slam...
in the United States Championship at Forest Hills. Fresh from his victory over Hoad, it was Ken Rosewall who signed the professional contract and went on to spend the new year as the regular victim of Pancho Gonzales on the pro tour. At a time when only amateur players were allowed to compete in the four national championships, Hoad finally turned professional after winning his second successive Wimbledon singles title in 1957.
His first year as a pro was a series of head-to-head matches with the reigning king of professional tennis, Pancho Gonzales. Hoad won 18 of the first 27 matches, but Gonzales surged back to finally defeat Hoad by 51 matches to 36. Gonzales, whom some consider to be the greatest tennis player of all time, always maintained that Hoad was the toughest, most skilful adversary that he had ever faced. "He was the only guy who, if I was playing my best tennis, could still beat me," said Gonzales in a 1995 New York Times interview. "I think his game was the best game ever. Better than mine. He was capable of making more shots than anybody. His two volleys were great. His overhead was enormous. He had the most natural tennis mind with the most natural tennis physique."
Kramer, however, clearly has mixed feelings about Hoad's ability. In spite of calling him one of the 21 best players of all time, he also writes that "when you sum Hoad up, you have to say that he was overrated. He might have been the best, but day-to-day, week-to-week, he was the most inconsistent of all the top players." When Kramer was thirty-seven, and a part-time player, he played a number of matches against Hoad just after the Australian had turned professional. "I actually beat him thirteen matches to twelve. That was because he just didn't give a damn when he played me.... It was the same thing with Segura
Pancho Segura
Pancho Segura, born Francisco Olegario Segura , was a leading tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s, both as an amateur and as a professional. In 1950 and 1952, as a professional, he was the World Co-No. 1 player...
, and Lew lost a majority of his matches to Segoo.... He wanted to beat Kenny, and he did. Remember now, Hoad lost 13–12 to me while Rosewall beat me 22–4, but Hoad turned it around and won two-thirds of his matches against Rosewall."
Back problems plagued Hoad throughout his career and forced his retirement from the tennis tour in the mid 1960s. Kramer compares Hoad to another great player, Ellsworth Vines
Ellsworth Vines
Henry Ellsworth Vines, Jr. was an American tennis champion of the 1930s, the World No. 1 player or the co-No. 1 for four years in 1932, 1935, 1936 and 1937.-Biography:...
. "Both were very strong guys. Both succeeded at a very young age.... Also, both were very lazy guys. Vines lost interest in tennis (for golf) before he was thirty, and Hoad never appeared to be very interested. Despite their great natural ability, neither put up the outstanding records that they were capable of. Unfortunately, the latter was largely true because both had physical problems."
In retirement, Hoad moved to Fuengirola, Spain, near Málaga
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...
, where he and his tennis-playing wife, Jenny Staley, operated a tennis resort for more than thirty years entertaining personal friends such as actors Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
, Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
, and Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston was an American actor of film, theatre and television. Heston is known for heroic roles in films such as The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, El Cid, and Planet of the Apes...
.
Lew Hoad was battling leukaemia and waiting for a bone marrow donor when, in his weakened condition, he died of a heart attack in 1994 at the age of 59. A book co-written with Jack Pollard and titled The Lew Hoad Story was published in 1958. In 2003, Pollard teamed up with his widow, Jenny, to write My Life With Lew.
Hoad was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame
International Tennis Hall of Fame
The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. The hall of fame and honors players and contributors to the sport of tennis and includes a museum, grass tennis courts, an indoor tennis facility, and a court tennis facility.-History:The hall of fame and...
in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1980.
Singles: 6 (4–2)
Wins (4)| Year | Championship | Opponent in Final | Score in Final |
| 1956 | Australian Championships Australian Open The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the southern hemisphere. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was last contested on grass in 1987. Since 1972 the Australian Open has been held in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1988, the tournament became a hard court... |
 Ken RosewallKen Rosewall Kenneth Robert Rosewall AM MBE is a former world top-ranking amateur and professional tennis player from Australia. He won 23 Majors including eight Grand Slam singles titles and before the Open Era a record fifteen Pro Slam titles . Rosewall won 9 slams in doubles with a career double grand slam... |
6–4, 3–6, 6–4, 7–5 |
| 1956 | French Championships |  Sven DavidsonSven Davidson Sven Davidson was a Swedish tennis player who became the first Swede to win a Grand Slam title when he won the French Championships in 1957... |
6–4, 8–6, 6–3 |
| 1956 | Wimbledon | Ken Rosewall Ken Rosewall Kenneth Robert Rosewall AM MBE is a former world top-ranking amateur and professional tennis player from Australia. He won 23 Majors including eight Grand Slam singles titles and before the Open Era a record fifteen Pro Slam titles . Rosewall won 9 slams in doubles with a career double grand slam... |
6–2, 4–6, 7–5, 6–4 |
| 1957 | Wimbledon | Ashley Cooper |
6–2, 6–1, 6–2 |
Runner-ups (2)
| Year | Championship | Opponent in Final | Score in Final |
| 1955 | Australian Championships Australian Open The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the southern hemisphere. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was last contested on grass in 1987. Since 1972 the Australian Open has been held in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1988, the tournament became a hard court... |
Ken Rosewall Ken Rosewall Kenneth Robert Rosewall AM MBE is a former world top-ranking amateur and professional tennis player from Australia. He won 23 Majors including eight Grand Slam singles titles and before the Open Era a record fifteen Pro Slam titles . Rosewall won 9 slams in doubles with a career double grand slam... |
9–7, 6–4, 6–4 |
| 1956 | U.S. Championships U.S. Open (tennis) The US Open, formally the United States Open Tennis Championships, is a hardcourt tennis tournament which is the modern iteration of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, the U.S. National Championship, which for men's singles was first contested in 1881... |
Ken Rosewall Ken Rosewall Kenneth Robert Rosewall AM MBE is a former world top-ranking amateur and professional tennis player from Australia. He won 23 Majors including eight Grand Slam singles titles and before the Open Era a record fifteen Pro Slam titles . Rosewall won 9 slams in doubles with a career double grand slam... |
4–6, 6–2, 6–3, 6–3 |
Wins (6)
- Australian Open: 1953, 1956, 1957
- Wimbledon Championships: 1953, 1955, 1956
- US Open: 1956