Biography
Newcombe played several sports as a boy before devoting himself to tennis. 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 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 was the top ranked amateur in the world in 1967 according to Lance Tingay, World Tennis [3] and an Ulrich Kaiser panel of 13 experts [4] and was the first recipient of the Martini and Rossi award after finishing top of their points system in 1967. [5] As a professional, Newcombe was ranked world number one in 1970 by Tingay, [6] World Tennis, [7] Bud Collins, [8] Mike Gibson [9] and Tennis magazine (Germany). [10] He was also ranked world number one in 1971 by Tingay, [6] Rex Bellamy, [11] Collins, [8] Frank Rostron [12] and World Tennis [13] and he and Stan Smith were joint recipients of The 'Martini and Rossi' Award, voted for by 11 journalists. [14] In 1973 Newcombe was ranked world No. 1 by Tingay [6] and Judith Elian. [15] 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.
In January 1968, Newcombe signed a three-year professional contract with Lamar Hunt's World Championship Tennis (WCT) and became part of the "Handsome Eight", the original eight WCT players. [16] Newcombe was guaranteed $135,000 annually, which was higher than what the best paid baseball player received that year. [17] As a member of the WCT professional tour group and the Players' Union, Newcombe 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 WCT champion for 1974, defeating Okker, Smith, and Borg in the final.
Newcombe's final major win was the 1975 Australian Open, where he won a series of five set matches against Masters, Roche in the semifinal (saving match points), and Connors in a classic final. The final against Connors may have been his finest performance in tennis.
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. [18]
Newcombe was captain of the Australian Davis Cup team from 1995 until 2000.
He 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. [19]
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