Neale Fraser obit

Neale Fraser, Australian 19-time tennis major winner, dies aged 91

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Australian tennis great Neale Fraser, a winner of 19 grand slam crowns, has died aged 91.

Fraser reached world number one in singles in 1959, the same year he won his first of three major singles titles at the US championships.

The following year, he beat legend Rod Laver in the Wimbledon and US finals.

Fraser won 11 doubles titles across all the Australian, French, Wimbledon and US championships, and five mixed majors during a prolific stretch from 1956 to 1960.

Fellow Australian tennis hall of famer Lew Hoad once said he had "the best serve in the world".

Fraser said he "could never think of anything better than representing your country" and, as such, shunned offers to turn professional through the 1960s in the hopes of becoming Australia's Davis Cup captain.

He took over the non-playing role from Harry Hopman in 1970 and held the post until 1993, winning four trophies from his 24 campaigns, adding to four successive titles as a player from 1959-62.

"What Australians like about him best is that he's been a wonderful representative to Australia [and] for Australia on and off the court," Hopman said at Fraser's induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1984.

According to Tennis Australia, so prolific was Fraser in the international tournament, Hopman called it "Neale Fraser's Cup".

"He was almost like my second dad," said Pat Cash, who was part of Fraser's last victorious Davis Cup squad, in 1986.

Fraser was also one of the first five players inducted into the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame in 1994, just one year after it was created — joining the exclusive group alongside Laver, Margaret Court, long-time doubles partner Roy Emerson and Evonne Goolagong Cawley.

In 2008, Fraser was awarded the International Tennis Federation's Philippe Chatrier Award for outstanding achievement in tennis.

"I've had an incredible career," he told Tennis Australia.

Neale Fraser was the son of barrister and politician Archibald Fraser.

The young Fraser was taught by coach Bryan Slattery, and later won the Wimbledon singles in 1960 and the U.S. Championships singles in 1959 and 1960. He failed to win the Australian Championships, finishing as runner-up on three occasions (1957, 1959, and 1960) and held a championship point in the 1960 final. Team play – doubles and Davis Cup – proved nearest to Fraser's heart. In doubles, he took three Australian (1957, 1958, and 1962), French (1958, 1960, and 1962) and US (1957, 1959, and 1960) titles, and two Wimbledons (1959, and 1961) with three different partners: Ashley Cooper, Lew Hoad, and Roy Emerson.

Fraser was also successful in the mixed doubles, winning the Australian Championships in 1956 with Beryl Penrose, Wimbledon in 1962, and the U.S. Championships from 1958 to 1960 with Margaret Osborne duPont. He holds the distinction of having won the U.S. National (now Open) singles, doubles and mixed doubles titles in 1959 and then successfully defending those titles a year later. Since that time, no one has equalled that feat at a grand slam tournament, let alone successively.

Fraser was ranked the World No. 1 amateur in 1959 and 1960 by Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph, and was in the top 10 every year between 1956 and 1962.

Fraser became Davis Cup captain for the Australian team in 1970, holding the position for a record 24 years and piloting Australia to four wins in 1973, 1977, 1983, and 1986, and recording 55 wins from 75 ties played.

Fraser is one of the 20 men to win all four majors in doubles, and in 1984, he was elected into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Fraser was honoured with an MBE in 1974, and an AO in 1988. He was chairman of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame from 1997 until 2005. In 2008, he received the International Tennis Federation's highest honour: the Phillippe Chartier Award for outstanding achievements in tennis.

Fraser was also the centenary ambassador for the Davis Cup, and was the first recipient of the ITF and International Hall of Fame's Davis Cup Award of Excellence.

"I was obviously enjoying something. Whatever deeds I've done, I've managed to enjoy them all to the Nth degree."

He is survived by his wife, Thea.