Lewis Alan Hoad (23 November 1934 - 3 July 1994) was an Australian World No. 1 tennis player. In his 1979 autobiography, Jack Kramer, the long-time tennis promoter and great player himself, ranked Hoad as one of the 21 best players of all time. For five straight years, beginning in 1952, he was ranked in the world top 10 for amateurs, reaching the World No. 1 spot in 1956. Hoad was a member of the Australian team that between 1952 and 1956 won the Davis Cup four times.

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. 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 he often played with Ken Rosewall and they became known as the Sydney 'twins', although they had very different physiques, personalities and playing styles. Their first match was in their early teens and 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 that same weekend he also competed in the final of the junior table tennis championship in Sydney.

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