Tribute: Remembering Neale Fraser

by Admin
December 3, 2024

Australian tennis has lost one of its giants with the passing of Neale Fraser, 19-time Grand Slam champion and decorated Davis Cup player and captain, at age 91.

Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 3 December 2024 | Tennis Australia

Australian tennis has lost one of its giants with the passing of Neale Fraser AO, MBE.

Fraser won 19 Grand Slam titles including Wimbledon and US singles titles, but his name will forever be associated with the Davis Cup both as a player and record-setting run as Australian captain.

“I could never think of anything better than representing your country,” Fraser often said.

He learned to play on the clay courts next door to his childhood home in Melbourne and developed a game built around a thunderous left-handed serve.

As a cricket fan he watched how leg-spin bowlers turned the ball in different directions by cocking their wrists and he adapted this ‘googly’ approach to his serve.

Emerging during the golden era of Australian men’s tennis, Fraser was initially unable to break into the Davis Cup team and lost three times in major singles finals, including twice to close friend Ashley Cooper – first at the 1957 Australian Championships and at Wimbledon in 1958.

His persistence paid off in 1959 when he won all three US titles – singles, doubles and mixed – at Forest Hills and led Australia to victory in the Davis Cup.

Captain Harry Hopman called it ‘Neale Fraser’s Cup’.

In 1960 Fraser defeated Rod Laver to claim the Wimbledon singles crown and then again swept the three titles in New York.

One of his doubles partners, Roy Emerson, described Fraser as ‘a General’ on the court.

Despite lucrative offers to turn professional, Fraser remained an amateur in the hope he would succeed Hopman as Australian Davis Cup Captain.

That ambition was fulfilled in 1970 and he remained in the position until 1993, helming 24 Davis Cup campaigns during which Australia won the title four times.

Generations of players were inspired by his leadership including John Newcombe, John Fitzgerald and Pat Cash.

“He was like a father to me,” Cash reflected. “He just knew how to make you feel important and play your best.”

Fraser was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1984, and the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame in 1994. In 2008 Fraser was awarded the ITF’s Philippe Chatrier Award for outstanding achievement in tennis.

Fraser, who was 91, will be missed by his wife Thea, family and many friends around the world.