1. John David Newcombe AO OBE was born on 23 May 1944 and is an Australian former professional tennis player.
16 Facts About John Newcombe
1. 2.
John Newcombe was ranked as the world No 1 in both men's singles and men's doubles.
3.
John Newcombe contributed to five Davis Cup titles for Australia during an age when the Davis Cup was deemed as significant as the majors.
4.
John Newcombe played several sports as a boy before devoting himself to tennis.
5.
John Newcombe's powerful serve and volley was the backbone of his attacking game.
6.
John Newcombe was the Australian junior champion from 1961 to 1963 and was a member of Australia's Davis Cup winning team in 1964.
7.
John Newcombe won his first Grand Slam title in 1965 by taking the Australian Championships doubles title with fellow Australian Tony Roche.
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Tony Roche 8.
John Newcombe was the top ranked amateur in the world in 1967 according to Lance Tingay, World Tennis and an Ulrich Kaiser panel of 13 experts and was the first recipient of the Martini and Rossi award after finishing top of their points system in 1967.
9.
John Newcombe was ranked world number one in 1971 by Tingay, Rex Bellamy, Collins, Frank Rostron and World Tennis and he and Stan Smith were joint recipients of The 'Martini and Rossi' Award, voted for by 11 journalists.
10.
In 1973 John Newcombe was ranked world No 1 by Tingay and Judith Elian.
11.
In January 1968, John Newcombe signed a three-year professional contract with Lamar Hunt's World Championship Tennis and became part of the "Handsome Eight", the original eight WCT players.
12.
John Newcombe was guaranteed $135,000 annually, which was higher than what the best paid baseball player received that year.
13.
John Newcombe was the WCT champion for 1974, defeating Okker, Smith, and Borg in the final.
14.
John Newcombe was the last of the Australians who dominated tennis in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
15.
John Newcombe was captain of the Australian Davis Cup team from 1995 until 2000.
16.
John Newcombe was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985 and in 1986 his achievements were recognised with his induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.