Henry Christian Hopman CBE was an Australian tennis player and coach.
16 Facts About Harry Hopman
2.
Harry Hopman was born on 12 August 1906 in Glebe, Sydney as the third child of John Henry Hopman, a schoolteacher, and Jennie Siberteen, nee Glad.
3.
Harry Hopman started playing tennis at the age of 13 and, playing barefoot, won an open singles tournament on a court in the playground of Rosehill Public School where his father was headmaster.
4.
Harry Hopman was later a student at Parramatta High School where he played tennis and cricket.
5.
Harry Hopman was the successful captain-coach of 22 Australian Davis Cup teams from 1939 to 1967.
6.
In late 1951, when it appeared that Davis Cup player Frank Sedgman was about to turn professional, Harry Hopman used his column in the Melbourne Herald to lead a fundraising campaign designed to keep Sedgman in the amateur ranks.
7.
Harry Hopman was a journalist, joining the Melbourne Herald in 1933 as a sportswriter.
8.
Harry Hopman accepted the offer, and then he took Sedg aside and told him that what Hoad and Rosewall needed was confidence.
9.
Until her death in mid-2018, his widow Lucy Harry Hopman travelled to Perth, Western Australia each year for the tournament.
10.
Harry Hopman was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1978.
11.
Harry Hopman had no children, no hobbies, and tennis was everything to him.
12.
Harry Hopman always said he hated the pros, and he battled open tennis to the bitter end, but as early as the time when Sedgman and McGregor signed, Harry Hopman was trying to get himself included in the deal so he could get a job with pro tennis in America.
13.
Harry Hopman was first married to Nell Hall, with whom he won four mixed doubles finals.
14.
Harry Hopman died of an intracranial tumour on 10 January 1968.
15.
Harry Hopman emigrated to the United States in 1969 and became a successful professional coach, at Port Washington Tennis Academy, of future champions such as Vitas Gerulaitis and later John McEnroe.
16.
Harry Hopman was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1951 New Year Honours for services to sport, and promoted to Commander of the Order in the 1956 New Year Honours, again for services to sport.