Lew Hoad
 |
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| Full name | Lewis Alan Hoad |
|---|---|
| Country (sports) |
 Australia |
| Born |
23 November 1934 Glebe, Australia |
| Died | 3 July 1994 (aged 59) Fuengirola, Spain |
| Height | 1.79 m (5 ft 10 1⁄2 in) |
| Turned pro | 1957 (amateur tour from 1950) |
| Retired | 1972 |
| Plays | Right-handed (one-handed backhand) |
| Int. Tennis HoF | 1980 (member page) |
| Singles | |
| Highest ranking | No. 1 (1956, Lance Tingay) |
| Grand Slam Singles results | |
| Australian Open | W (1956) |
| French Open | W (1956) |
| Wimbledon | W (1956, 1957) |
| US Open | F (1956) |
| Other tournaments | |
| TOC | W (1959) |
| Professional majors | |
| US Pro | F (1958, 1959) |
| Wembley Pro | F (1961, 1962, 1963) |
| French Pro | F (1958, 1960) |
| Doubles | |
| Grand Slam Doubles results | |
| Australian Open | W (1953, 1956, 1957) |
| French Open | W (1953) |
| Wimbledon | W (1953, 1955, 1956) |
| US Open | W (1956) |
| Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results | |
| Australian Open | F (1955) |
| French Open | W (1954) |
| Wimbledon | SF (1953, 1954, 1955) |
| US Open | F (1952, 1956) |
| Team competitions | |
| Davis Cup | W (1952, 1953, 1955, 1956) |
Lewis Alan ("Lew") Hoad (23 November 1934 – 3 July 1994) was an Australian World No. 1 tennis player.
In his 1979 autobiography, Jack Kramer, the long-time tennis promoter and great player himself, ranked 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 10 for amateurs, reaching the World No. 1 spot in 1956. Hoad was a member of the Australian team that between 1952 and 1956 won the Davis Cup four times. He turned professional in July 1957.
Hoad won four Grand Slam tournaments as an amateur, and won the 1959 Tournament of Champions as a professional. Rod Laver, writing for the Herald Sun newspaper in 2012, ranked Lew as the greatest player of the 'Past Champions' era of tennis. Laver described his strengths of "power, volleying and explosiveness" as justification of his accolade. Serious back problems plagued Hoad throughout his career, particularly after he turned professional, and led to his effective retirement from tennis in 1967 although he made sporadic comebacks, enticed by the advent of the open era in 1968.
Following his retirement in 1972 Hoad and his wife Jenny operated a tennis resort, Lew Hoad's Campo de Tenis in Fuengirola, Spain, near Málaga. Hoad died of leukemia on 3 July 1994.
Lewis Hoad was born on 23 November 1934, in the working-class Sydney inner suburb of Glebe, the oldest of three sons of tramway electrician Alan Hoad and his wife Ailsa Lyle. Hoad started playing tennis at age five with a racket gifted by a local social club. As a young child he would wake up at 5 a.m. and hit tennis balls against a wall and garage door until the neighbours complained and he was allowed to practice on the courts of the Hereford Tennis Club behind the house. At age 10 he competed in the seaside tournament at Manly in the under 16 category.
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