Lew Hoad

Tennis Player

• Born: November 23, 1934
• Birthplace: Glebe, New South Wales, Australia
• Died: July 3, 1994
• Place of death: Fuengirola, Spain

Sport: Tennis

Early Life

Lewis Alan Hoad was born in Glebe, New South Wales, Australia, on November 23, 1934. He was born within three weeks of Ken Rosewall, another Australian tennis player, who was to be Lew’s greatest rival during his amateur career. Lew’s father, Alan Hoad, had been an athlete in his youth, but it was Bonnie Hoad, Lew’s mother, who steered him toward tennis. She joined the local tennis club when Lew was nine, and he began to play immediately. He soon won a number of local titles, including several doubles championships partnered with Ken Rosewall. By the age of eighteen, he and Rosewall were already recognized as tennis’s “Whiz Kids.”

The Road to Excellence

The key to Lew’s quick success was primarily his extraordinary strength. Although not exceptionally large—he was 5 feet 11 inches and usually played at a weight of about 170 pounds—he was, in the opinion of many experts, the strongest man ever to play the game. Lew’s game, even as a young man, reflected his power. He had probably the hardest serve among his contemporaries. He disdained long rallies and slashed at the ball, hoping for an immediate winner. His was a dangerous style, but with Lew’s power, it was often successful.

Lew confronted two obstacles on his road to the top, neither of which he was ever able to overcome completely. He was unable to concentrate totally on winning. Instead, he would often lose interest in matches, especially against inferior players. To combat these lapses, Lew trained with Harry Hopman, one of tennis’s greatest teachers and the coach of the Australian national team. Hopman was renowned for the large number of Davis Cups won by his teams. He was a disciplinarian, however, and Lew did not like his rigid methods. The other obstacle Lew confronted was his frequent doubles partner, Ken Rosewall. In contrast to Lew’s power game, Rosewall’s game stressed speed, accuracy, and strategy. In their many meetings, Lew followed his usual tactics: He tried to blast the ball. Rosewall met Lew’s charges with his customary accurate returns, and neither player was able to establish a convincing superiority.

The Emerging Champion

In spite of his problems, Lew’s astonishing power propelled him into the game’s top ranks. He established himself in 1953, when he was only nineteen. In that year, Australia was down 2-0 to the United States in the Davis Cup. Lew faced Tony Trabert, the U.S. National champion and a much more experienced player. Lew electrified the partisan Melbourne crowd by defeating Trabert in five sets. Australia went on to win the Cup. The year 1954 was a relatively poor one for Lew, but in 1955 he again displayed his mastery in the Davis Cup. This time he defeated Trabert in straight sets, and Australia won the Davis Cup by a score of 5-0 over the United States.

In 1956, Lew had his greatest triumph as an amateur. He overcame his spotty concentration and won three of the four tournaments that make up tennis’s Grand Slam. He won the Australian Open, the French Open, and Wimbledon. In the Wimbledon finals, he demolished his rival Rosewall in four sets. Although behind in the third set, Lew surged ahead winning five straight games in which his play was nearly flawless. However, Rosewall proved Lew’s nemesis once more at the U.S. National Championship. His victory deprived Lew of the Grand Slam, tennis’s greatest achievement.

Continuing the Story

In his last tournament as an amateur, Lew won the 1957 Wimbledon Championship, losing only one set in the entire tournament. Afterward, the opportunity to make money as a professional proved too great to resist, and Lew gave up his amateur standing. Lew signed with Jack Kramer, the leading promoter of professional tennis, who arranged for Lew to play a series of matches against Pancho Gonzales. The matches were the greatest challenge Lew faced as a player. Gonzales was for many years the best player in the game, and his serve matched Lew’s in speed. Gonzales lacked Lew’s powerful groundstroke, but he made up for it with his will to win.

At first, Lew met the challenge successfully. He led 18 to 9 in the series of matches with Gonzales and seemed well on the way to dethroning the professional champion. Unfortunately for Lew, his back became stiff, and his lead over Gonzales evaporated. His back problem never went away, and Lew always had to play second fiddle to Gonzales. His physical difficulties became so severe that he was forced to retire from tennis in the mid-1960’s. At his best, Lew was unbeatable, a fact that even Gonzales acknowledged.

Summary

Lew Hoad rose to tennis stardom as a teenager, primarily because of his immense power. His fierce attacks made him a favorite with audiences, and he was among the best players of his era. His two greatest rivals, Ken Rosewall and Pancho Gonzales, prevented him from achieving uncontested supremacy. At the top of his game, however, Lew was able to defeat them, as well as anyone else who came his way.

Bibliography

Drucker, Joel. “The Comet.” Tennis, July, 2007, 56.

Hoad, Jenny, and Jack Pollard. My Life with Lew. London: HarperSports, 2002.

Phillips, Caryl. The Right Set: A Tennis Anthology. New York: Vintage Books, 1999.