Lewis Alan Hoad (23 November 1934 – 3 July 1994) was an Australian tennis player whose career ran from 1950 to 1973. Hoad won four Major singles tournaments as an amateur (the Australian Championships, French Championships and two Wimbledons). He was a member of the Australian team that won the Davis Cup four times between 1952 and 1956. Hoad turned professional in July 1957. He won the Kooyong Tournament of Champions in 1958 and the Forest Hills Tournament of Champions in 1959. He won the Ampol Open Trophy world series of tournaments in 1959, which included the Kooyong tournament that concluded in early January 1960. Hoad's singles tournament victories spanned from 1951 to 1971.
He had a career-long friendly rivalry with compatriot and fellow Sydneysider Ken Rosewall.
Hoad was ranked the world No. 1 amateur in 1953 by Harry Hopman, by Noel Brown and by the editors of Tennis de France, and also in 1956 by Lance Tingay, by Ned Potter, and by Tennis de France. He was ranked the world No. 1 professional for 1959 in Kramer's Ampol ranking system.
Serious back problems plagued Hoad throughout his career, possibly caused by a weight-lifting exercise that he devised in 1954. The back injury became particularly intense following the 1956 Wimbledon championships, continued periodically, and led to his semi-retirement from tennis in 1967. Afterwards, he made sporadic appearances at tournaments, enticed by the advent of the Open Era in 1968.
Following his retirement in 1973, Hoad and his wife Jenny constructed, owned and operated a tennis resort, Lew Hoad's Campo de Tenis in Fuengirola, Spain, where he died of leukaemia on 3 July 1994, aged 59.
Lewis Hoad was born on 23 November 1934, in the working-class Sydney inner suburb of Glebe, the eldest of three sons of tramway electrician Alan Hoad and his wife, Ailsa Lyle Burbury. Hoad started playing tennis at age five with a racket gifted by a local social club. As a young child, he would wake up at 5 a.m. and hit tennis balls against a wall and garage door until the neighbours complained, and he was allowed to practice on the courts of the Hereford Tennis Club behind the house. At age 10 he competed in the seaside tournament at Manly in the under 16 category.
In his youth, Hoad often played Ken Rosewall, and they became known as the Sydney "twins", although they had very different physiques, personalities and playing styles. Their first match in Sydney in January 1947 (when both were aged 12) was played as an opener of an exhibition match between Australia and America. Rosewall won 6–0, 6–0. Hoad built up great physical strength, especially in his hands and arms, by training at a police boys' club, where he made a name as a boxer. Hoad was about 12 when he was introduced to Adrian Quist, a former Australian tennis champion and then general manager of the Dunlop sports goods company. Quist played a couple of sets with Hoad and was impressed by his natural ability. When Hoad was 14 he left school and joined the Dunlop payroll, following the pattern of that 'shamateur' era when most of Australia's brightest tennis prospects were employed by sporting goods companies.
Hoad had just turned 15 when he and Rosewall were selected to play for New South Wales in an interstate contest against Victoria. In November 1949, Hoad won the junior title at the New South Wales Championships, and the same weekend, he also competed in the final of the junior table tennis championship in Sydney.
Hoad lost to Dick Savitt in four sets in the first round of the New South Wales State championships in November. In his match report, Adrian Quist said, "Hoad played well, and held a lead of 4-2 in the third set after winning the second. At present he makes too many errors. He will have to learn good control from the ground before his game will reach great heights." Hoad reached the semi-finals of the County of Cumberland championships in Sydney in December, losing to Bill Sidwell.
Hoad's first Grand Slam tournament appearance was at the 1951 Australian Championships held in January at the White City Tennis Club in Sydney. He won his first match against Ronald McKenzie but lost in the following round to defending champion and countryman Frank Sedgman. It was the only Grand Slam tournament he played that year.
Hoad won his first singles title, the Brisbane Exhibition tournament at Milton, on grass, on 11 August 1951, defeating Rosewall in the final in four sets. In September, Hoad won the New South Wales hardcourt championships beating George Worthington in the final.
In 1952, Hoad reached the third round of the Australian Championships in Adelaide. In April, he was selected by the Australasian Lawn Tennis Association as member of the team to play in overseas tournaments under the guidance of coach Harry Hopman. In May, before departing to Europe, he won the singles title at the Australian Hardcourt Championships on clay after a five-sets final win against Rosewall. Hoad, who had never played a tournament on European clay courts, lost in the second round of the French Championships in straight sets to 1947 and 1951 finalist Eric Sturgess. In only their second appearance as a doubles team at a Grand Slam event, Hoad and Rosewall reached the French semifinal. Hoad lost to Budge Patty in the quarterfinal of the Belgian Championships, in Brussels in early June.
Hoad's first entry at the grass court Queen's Club Championship in June ended in the quarterfinal against eventual champion Frank Sedgman. A week later, he played his first match at the Wimbledon Championships defeating Beppe Merlo in a nervous and unimpressive five-set encounter. Further wins against Rolando Del Bello and Freddie Huber were followed by a fourth round loss against second-seeded and eventual finalist Jaroslav Drobný. Hoad and Rosewall caused an upset when they defeated the second-seeded team of Gardnar Mulloy and Dick Savitt in the third round of the doubles event, but lost in the semifinal against Vic Seixas and Eric Sturgess.
After a semifinal result at the Swedish championships in July, and an exhibition between Australia and West Germany, Hoad and the Australian team traveled to the United States. As preparation for his first U.S. Championships he competed in the Eastern grass court events at Southampton, South Orange and Newport, before teaming up with Rosewall to reach the semifinal of the U.S. National Doubles Championships in Brookline. Hoad was the eighth seeded foreign player at the U.S. Championships. He won four matches to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal, but due in part to making 64 errors could not overcome Sedgman who would win the tournament. With Thelma Coyne Long he reached the final of the mixed doubles event, the first Grand Slam final of his career, but lost in straight sets to Doris Hart and Frank Sedgman. An early loss at the Pacific Southwest Championships in September concluded his first overseas tour. In September, he was jointly ranked No. 10 in the world for 1952 with Rosewall by Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph.
Hoad started 1953 with a second-round exit against Clive Wilderspin at the Australian Championships in Melbourne after playing an uncharacteristic baseline game. Hoad and Rosewall became the youngest team to win the Australian doubles title after a victory in the final against Mervyn Rose and Don Candy. In March, Hoad defended his title at the Australian Hardcourt Championships, defeating Rosewall in a five-set semifinal, surviving six matchpoints, and 34-year-old John Bromwich in the final. Two weeks later, Hoad lost the final of the N.S.W. Hardcourt Championships to Mervyn Rose.
Hoad's second overseas tour started in late April. After an exhibition in Cairo at the Gezira Sporting Club, he reached the Italian Championships final in Rome, losing to Drobný in straight sets. He won the doubles title with Rosewall. At the French Championships in May, Hoad, seeded fourth, made it to the quarterfinals where he lost to Vic Seixas due to overhitting and an unreliable serve. Hoad and Rosewall won the doubles title with a three-set win in the final against countrymen Rose and Wilderspin. In June, his attacking serve-and-volley game proved too strong for Rosewall in the final of the Queen's Club Championships, winning the event without losing a set.