page_title: Lew Hoad
section_title: Amateur career: 1951–1957
hierarchical_section_title: Lew Hoad / Tennis career / Amateur career: 1951–1957
caption_attribution_description: English: Australian tennis players Ken Rosewall (l) and Lew Hoad (r) at the 1954 Davis Cup challenge round match against the USA at White City, Sydney.
context_page_description: Lewis Alan Hoad was an Australian tennis player whose career ran from the early 1950s through the early 1970s. Hoad won four Grand Slam tournaments as an amateur. 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 and won the Forest Hills Tournament of Champions event in 1959. He also won the Ampol Tournament of Champions at Kooyong in 1958 and the Ampol Open Trophy world series of tournaments in 1959–1960, defending his Kooyong title in the world series. During his career his main competitors were his longtime amateur tennis teammate Ken Rosewall and, throughout his professional career, Pancho Gonzales.
  Hoad was ranked in the world top ten for amateurs from 1952 until 1957, was ranked the world No. 1 by Tennis de France for 1953, and reached the world No. 1 spot in the Lance Tingay rankings for 1956. He was ranked the world No. 1 professional in Kramer's 1959–1960 Ampol points ranking system, which was the only points ranking of the era. He was ranked the world No. 1 tennis player, professional or amateur, for 1962 in a poll of 85 U.S. sports editors.
context_section_description: 1951
  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 in straight sets but lost in the following round to defending champion Frank Sedgman. It was the only Grand Slam tournament he played that year.
  Hoad won his first singles title, the Brisbane Exhibition tournament, on 11 August 1951, defeating Rosewall in the final in four sets.
  1952
  In 1952, he reached the third round of the Australian Championships, played in Adelaide, and in April, he was selected by the Australasian Lawn Tennis Association as member of the team to play in overseas tournaments. In May, before departing to Europe, he won the singles title at the Australian Hardcourt Championships on Australian clay courts after a five-set win in the final against Rosewall. Hoad, who had never played a tournament on European red clay courts, received a walkover in the first round of the French Championships and lost in straight sets to sixth-seeded and 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 subsequently played the Belgian tennis championships in Brussels in early June and reached the quarterfinal in which he was outclassed by Budge Patty.
  Hoad's first entry at the grass court Queen's Club Championship in June 1952 ended in the quarterfinal against countryman and 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. 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 second-seeded Gardnar Mulloy and Dick Savitt in the third round of the doubles event in a run that ended 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 under the guidance of coach Harry Hopman. As a preparation for his first U.S. Championships he played the Meadow Club Invitational (Southampton), Eastern Grass Court Championships (South Orange), and Newport Invitational 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 his countryman Sedgman who would win the tournament without losing a set. With Thelma Coyne Long he reached the final of the mixed doubles event, the first Grand Slam final of his career, but they 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.
  1953
  Hoad started 1953 poorly in the singles with a second-round exit against Clive Wilderspin at the Australian Championships in Melbourne after playing an uncharacteristic baseline game. He was more successful in doubles where he 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 singles title at the Australian Hardcourt Championships, defeating Rosewall in a five set semifinal in which he survived 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 against Mervyn Rose. Hoad's second overseas tour started in late April, and after an exhibition in Cairo at the Gezira Sporting Club, he entered the Italian Championships in Rome. He reached the final, losing to Drobný in straight set
caption: Ken Rosewall (left) and Hoad at the 1954 Davis Cup challenge-round match against the US at White City, Sydney
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