5 greatest Australian tennis players of all time
The year-opening Grand Slam – the Australian Open – is now upon us, and the country has given birth to some of the sport’s greatest players of all time. We look to the past to chronicle 5 legendary tennis players who have each been pathbreakers in their own way and set several records.
#5 John Newcombe
Newcombe, along with another Australian great, Roy Emerson, was considered one of the best amateur tennis players in the period preceding the Open Era. He has 17 doubles Grand Slams and seven in the singles, with 11 of the former and 6 of the latter coming in the Open Era.
In his first year out of the juniors, Newcombe was part of Australia’s Davis Cup winning side in 1964.
Routinely rated as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Newcombe has not just been on the Davis Cup side, but captained Australia at the tournament from 1995 to 2004.
Newcombe had major majors success with compatriot Tony Roche, and together the pair won a mammoth 12 Grand Slam titles, which until 2013 was the record for the highest ever number of titles a doubles pair had won together. It was eventually broken by the former World No. 1 American doubles pair of Bob and Mike Bryan.
The American twins currently stand at 16 Doubles Grand Slams, each of which they have won together.
Today, it may be Federer and former coach Stefan Edberg who are regarded as the definitive serve-and-volley specialists in modern-day tennis, but Newcombe routinely used it to his advantage to dismantle the mightiest of opponents.