Norman Brookes
 |
|
| Full name | Norman Everard Brookes |
|---|---|
| Country (sports) |
 Australia
|
| Born |
14 November 1877 St Kilda, Victoria, Australia |
| Died | 28 September 1968 (aged 90) South Yarra, Victoria, Australia |
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) |
| Retired | 1928 |
| Plays | Left-handed (1-handed backhand) |
| Int. Tennis HoF | 1977 (member page) |
| Singles | |
| Highest ranking | No. 1 (1907, Karoly Mazak) |
| Grand Slam Singles results | |
| Australian Open | W (1911) |
| French Open | 2R (1928) |
| Wimbledon | W (1907, 1914) |
| US Open | QF (1919) |
| Doubles | |
| Grand Slam Doubles results | |
| Australian Open | W (1924) |
| Wimbledon | W (1907, 1914) |
| US Open | W (1919) |
| Team competitions | |
| Davis Cup | W (1907, 1908, 1909, 1914, 1919) |
Sir Norman Everard Brookes (14 November 1877 – 28 September 1968) was an Australian tennis player. Brookes was a world No. 1 ranked player and later president of the Lawn Tennis Association of Australia. During his career he won three Grand Slam singles titles, Wimbledon in 1907 and 1914 and the Australasian Championships in 1911. Brookes was part of the Australasian Davis Cup team that won the title on six occasions. The Australian Open men's singles trophy, the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup, is named in his honour.
Brookes was born in Melbourne, to a father, William Brookes, who had become rich from gold mining in the Bendigo area. He received a private education at Melbourne Grammar School. On leaving school, he went to work as a clerk at the Australian Paper Mills Co. Ltd where his father was managing director, and was on the board himself within eight years.
Brookes married 20-year-old Mabel Balcombe Emmerton, the daughter of Harry Emmerton, a solicitor, on 19 April 1911 at St Paul's Cathedral in Melbourne. They had three daughters.
During World War I he served as commissioner of the Australian branch of the British Red Cross in Egypt.
He died in South Yarra, Victoria in 1968.
As a youth Brookes played regularly on the court of the family mansion in Queens Road, Melbourne and nearby, at the Lorne St courts, he studied the strokes and tactics of leading players and was coached by Wilberforce Eaves.
Brookes was the first non-British player and the first left-hander to win the men's singles title at Wimbledon. He won the men's singles twice, first in 1907 and again in 1914. He also won the doubles in each of those years with New Zealander Anthony Wilding, whom he beat in the 1914 singles final. He was a major figure in establishing the Australian Open (known as the Australasian Championship until 1927), which he won in 1911. Brookes is considered to have been a World No. 1 player in the 1900s.
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