Australian tennis great Neale Fraser dies aged 91

Paul McNamee won the Davis Cup twice under the guidance of Neale Fraser and says simply: “If one person embodied the spirit of the Davis Cup, it was him.”

This is not merely rhetoric. Fraser, who died on Tuesday, aged 91 rose briefly to the top of world tennis in 1959 and 1960, winning Wimbledon and the US Nationals – as they were then known – twice. He was ranked the world’s No.1 amateur then.

He also won 16 major doubles and mixed doubles titles and four Davis Cups under the captaincy of the legendary Harry Hopman.

Australian tennis greats John Newcombe, Frank Sedgman, Neale Fraser, Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, and John Alexander at Kooyong early last year. Credit: Tennis Australia/Fiona Hamilton

But as tennis moved to professionalism, Fraser resisted for fear of disqualifying himself from succeeding Hopman. “His love was Davis Cup,” said McNamee. “He committed his life to the service of Davis Cup, rather than turn professional.”

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