Australian Tennis Star Lew Hoad Dies At 59 -- Style Predated That Of Modern Players

LONDON - Australian tennis great Lew Hoad was remembered for his flamboyant tennis style seen in many of today's star players.

Hoad, who won 13 Grand Slam singles and doubles titles, died yesterday of leukemia at his tennis camp near Marbella, Spain. He was 59.

Hoad, who was diagnosed with leukemia earlier this year, was the first postwar player to win consecutive Wimbledon singles titles, in 1956 and 1957. He won doubles titles in 1953, 1955 and 1956.

"He was the first of the charismatic players we saw in the 50s," Neale Fraser, a former Davis Cup teammate, said. "He produced a brand of tennis that was exciting, different to everyone else and a joy to watch."

John Newcombe, Australia's current Davis Cup captain, said Hoad's death was perhaps a blessing in disguise, given the debilitating nature of his bone marrow cancer.

"Obviously I'm feeling great sadness at the loss of a friend," he said.

Hoad formed a powerful doubles partnership with Ken Rosewall.

As 18-year-olds, Hoad and Rosewall, who was 21 days older and also from Sydney, won the 1953 Davis Cup final in a classic match against the U.S. Overall, Hoad won 17 of 21 Davis Cup matches.

In 1956, he won the Australian and French titles and Wimbledon, but missed the Grand Slam when Rosewall beat him in the U.S. Open.

He won six Grand Slam doubles titles with Rosewall, including Wimbledon in 1953 and '56, the 1955 Wimbledon title with Rex Hartwig, the 1957 Australian title with Fraser, and the 1954 French mixed doubles with Maureen Connolly.

After his 1957 Wimbledon victory, Hoad turned professional.

But he was plagued by constant back trouble, which halted his attempt to return to the circuit when the sport was opened to professionals in 1968, and he retired at 26.

For the past 30 years, Hoad and his wife, Jenny, lived at the tennis camp in southern Spain.