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Harry Hopman

Australian tennis player (1906–1985)

Field	Value
name	Harry Hopman
CBE
image	Harry Hopman c 1930.jpg
fullname	Henry Christian Hopman
country
birth_date
birth_place	Glebe, New South Wales, Australia
death_date
death_place	Seminole, Florida, US
height
plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
tennishofyear	1978
tennishofid	harry-hopman
singlesrecord	463-201 (69.7%)
singlestitles	34
AustralianOpenresult	F (1930, 1931, 1932)
FrenchOpenresult	QF (1930)
Wimbledonresult	4R (1934, 1935)
USOpenresult	QF (1938, 1939)
doublesrecord	not listed
AustralianOpenDoublesresult	W (1929, 1930)
FrenchOpenDoublesresult	F (1930, 1948)
USOpenDoublesresult	F (1939)
Mixed
mixedrecord	not listed
AustralianOpenMixedresult	W (1930, 1936, 1937, 1939)
WimbledonMixedresult	F (1945)
USOpenMixedresult	W (1939)

CBE

Henry Christian Hopman CBE (12 August 1906 – 27 December 1985) was an Australian tennis player and coach.

Early life

Harry Hopman was born on 12 August 1906 in Glebe, Sydney as the third child of John Henry Hopman, a schoolteacher, and Jennie Siberteen, née Glad. His family then moved to Parramatta.

Hopman started playing tennis at the age of 13 and, playing barefoot, won an open singles tournament on a court in the playground of Rosehill Public School where his father was headmaster. He was later a student at Parramatta High School where he played tennis and cricket.

Davis Cup

Hopman was the successful captain-coach of 22 Australian Davis Cup teams from 1939 to 1967. With players such as Frank Sedgman, Ken McGregor, Lew Hoad, Ken Rosewall, Rod Laver, Neale Fraser, John Newcombe, Fred Stolle, Tony Roche, Roy Emerson, Ashley Cooper, Rex Hartwig, Mervyn Rose and Mal Anderson, he won the cup an unmatched 16 times.

In late 1951, when it appeared that Davis Cup player Frank Sedgman was about to turn professional, Hopman used his column in the Melbourne Herald to lead a fundraising campaign designed to keep Sedgman in the amateur ranks. Enough money was raised to purchase a petrol station in the name of Sedgman's wife-to-be and Sedgman remained an amateur for one more year. As Joe McCauley writes in The History of Professional Tennis, "For some reason, the pious Hopman, a strong opponent of the paid game, did not regard this as an infringement of Sedgman's amateur status."

Journalism

Hopman was also a journalist, joining the Melbourne Herald in 1933 as a sportswriter. He provided sporting commentary. After World War II, this became his focus until he was once again coaxed into tennis coaching. As an example of Hopman's journalism, Kramer writes that Sedgman, by then a successful touring professional, once "volunteered to help train the Aussie Davis Cup team. Hopman accepted the offer, and then he took Sedg aside and told him that what Hoad and Rosewall needed was confidence. So he told Sedg to go easy on them, which he gladly did. After a few days, Hopman wrote an exclusive in his newspaper column revealing how his kids could whip Sedgman and how this proved once again that amateurs were better than the pros."

Legacy

The Hopman Cup was named in his honour. Until her death in mid-2018, his widow Lucy Hopman travelled to Perth, Western Australia each year for the tournament.

Hopman was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1978.

Tennis great Jack Kramer, who was also a successful promoter of the professional tour, writes in his 1979 autobiography that Hopman "always knew exactly what was going on with all his amateurs. He had no children, no hobbies, and tennis was everything to him. Hopman always said he hated the pros, and he battled open tennis to the bitter end, but as early as the time when Sedgman and McGregor signed, Hopman was trying to get himself included in the deal so he could get a job with pro tennis in America."

Kramer, who admits that Hopman "has never been my favorite guy", goes on to say: "The minute one of his stars would turn pro, Hopman would turn on him. No matter how close he'd been to a player, as soon as he was out of Hopman's control, the guy was an outcast. 'It was as if we'd never existed' Rosewall said once."

Personal life

Hopman was first married to Nell Hall, with whom he won four mixed doubles finals. The marriage took place on 19 March 1934 at St Philip's Anglican Church in Sydney. She died of an intracranial tumour on 10 January 1968. Hopman emigrated to the United States in 1969 and became a successful professional coach, at Port Washington Tennis Academy, of future champions such as Vitas Gerulaitis and later John McEnroe. Hopman later opened the Harry Hopman's International Tennis camp in Treasure Island then Largo, Florida, with his second wife, Lucy Pope Fox, whom he married on 2 February 1971. One more tennis camp followed in Bologna (Italy)

He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1951 New Year Honours for services to sport, and promoted to Commander of the Order (CBE) in the 1956 New Year Honours, again for services to sport (particularly tennis).

Hopman died of a heart attack on 27 December 1985.

Tournament record

Australia Davis Cup

Player

1928, 1930, 1932

Captain

1938–1939, 1950–1969
- Winner: 1939, 1950–1953, 1955–1957, 1959–1962, 1964–1967
- Runner-up: 1938, 1954, 1958, 1963, 1968

Italian Championship

Mixed Doubles 1934

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 3 (3 runner-ups)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1930	Australian Championships	Grass	Australia Edgar Moon	3–6, 1–6, 3–6
Loss	1931	Australian Championships	Grass	Australia Jack Crawford	4–6, 2–6, 6–2, 1–6
Loss	1932	Australian Championships	Grass	Australia Jack Crawford	4–6, 6–3, 3–6, 6–3, 6–1

Doubles: 7 (2 titles, 5 runner-ups)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents
Win	1929	Australian Championships	Grass	AUS Jack Crawford	AUS Jack Cummings
AUS Edgar Moon	6–1, 6–8, 4–6, 6–1, 6–3
Win	1930	Australian Championships	Grass	AUS Jack Crawford	AUS Tim Fitchett
AUS John Hawkes	8–6, 6–1, 2–6, 6–3
Loss	1930	French Championships	Clay	AUS Jim Willard	FRA Henri Cochet
FRA Jacques Brugnon	3–6, 7–8, 3–6
Loss	1931	Australian Championships	Grass	AUS Jack Crawford	AUS James Anderson
AUS Norman Brookes	2–6, 4–6, 3–6
Loss	1932	Australian Championships	Grass	AUS Gerald Patterson	AUS Jack Crawford
AUS Edgar Moon	10–12, 3–6, 6–4, 4–6
Loss	1939	US Championships	Grass	AUS Jack Crawford	AUS Adrian Quist
AUS John Bromwich	6–8, 1–6, 4–6
Loss	1948	French Championships	Clay	AUS Frank Sedgman	SWE Lennart Bergelin
TCH Jaroslav Drobný	6–8, 1–6, 10–12

Mixed doubles: 8 (5 titles, 3 runner-ups)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponents
Win	1930	Australian Championships	Grass	AUS Nell Hall Hopman	AUS Marjorie Cox Crawford
AUS Jack Crawford	11–9, 3–6, 6–3
Loss	1932	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	BEL Josane Sigart	USA Elizabeth Ryan
ESP Enrique Maier	5–7, 2–6
Loss	1935	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	AUS Nell Hall Hopman	GBR Dorothy Round Little
GBR Fred Perry	5–7, 6–4, 2–6
Win	1936	Australian Championships	Grass	AUS Nell Hall Hopman	AUS May Blick
AUS Abe Kay	6–2, 6–0
Win	1937	Australian Championships	Grass	AUS Nell Hall Hopman	AUS Dorothy Stevenson
AUS Don Turnbull	3–6, 6–3, 6–2
Win	1939	Australian Championships	Grass	AUS Nell Hall Hopman	AUS Margaret Wilson
AUS John Bromwich	6–8, 6–2, 6–3
Win	1939	US Championships	Grass	USA Alice Marble	USA Sarah Palfrey Cooke
USA Elwood Cooke	9–7, 6–1
Loss	1940	Australian Championships	Grass	AUS Nell Hall Hopman	AUS Nancye Wynne Bolton
AUS Colin Long	5–7, 6–2, 4–6

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

1926	1927	1928	1929	1930	1931	1932	1933	1934	1935	1936	1937	1938	1939	1940	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945	1946	1947	1948	1949	1950	1951	1952	1953	SR	W–L	Win %	0 / 44
Tournament
Australia	3R	2R	QF	SF	F	F	F	QF	QF	3R	SF	SF	3R	QF	QF	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	QF	1R	2R	3R	3R	2R	A	A	0 / 21	39–20	66.1
France	A	A	2R	A	QF	A	A	A	4R	4R	A	A	A	A	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	A	A	2R	A	3R	A	1R	2R	0 / 8	10–6	62.5
Wimbledon	A	A	2R	A	3R	A	3R	A	4R	4R	A	A	A	A	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	2R	A	2R	A	3R	A	1R	A	0 / 9	15–9	62.5
United States	A	A	1R	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	QF	QF	A	A	A	A	A	A	2R	A	2R	A	2R	A	A	A	0 / 6	9–6	60.0
Win–loss	1–1	0–1	3–4	3–1	9–3	4–1	6–2	2–1	7–3	6–3	3–1	3–1	4–2	5–2	2–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	4–3	0–0	3–4	1–1	6–4	1–1	0–1	0–0

References

Sources

The Game, My 40 Years in Tennis (1979), Jack Kramer with Frank Deford ()
The History of Professional Tennis (2003), Joe McCauley
Rich Hillway, tennis historian

References

"Harry Hopman: Career match record". Tennismem SL.
"Hopman, Henry Christian (Harry) (1906–1985)". Australian Dictionary of Biography.
''The History of Professional Tennis'' (2003) Joe McCauley, p. 58.
Jack Kramer with Frank Deford. (1981). "The Game : My 40 Years in Tennis". Deutsch.
"Hopman, Eleanor Mary (Nell) (1909–1968)". Australian Dictionary of Biography.
(3 February 1976). "Tennis, Anyone?". The Evening Independent.
Australia :{{London Gazette. (29 December 1950)
Australia list: {{London Gazette. (30 December 1955)
(30 December 1985). "Harry Hopman, Davis Cup captain, dies". The Evening Independent.

Info: Wikipedia Source

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