John Edward Bromwich
Born: November 21, 1918
Died: October 21, 1999
Hometown: Kogarah, N.S.W., Australia
Citizenship: Australia
Handed: Right
Inducted: 1984
Grand Slam Record
Australian Singles 1939, 1946
Singles finalist 1937, 38, 47-49
Doubles 1938-40, 1946-50
Doubles finalist 1937, 51
Mixed 1938
Mixed finalist 1939, 46, 47, 49, 54
Wimbledon Singles finalist 1948
Doubles 1948, 50
Mixed 1947-48
Mixed finalist 1949
U.S. Doubles 1939, 49, 50
Doubles finalist 1938
Mixed 1947
Mixed finalist 1938
Tournament Record
Davis Cup Team Member 1937, 38, 39, 46, 47, 49, 50
Winning Team 1939, 1950
Elected to the Hall of Fame in 1984 as one-half of the great Australian double Bromwich and Quist, John Edward Bromwich missed winning Wimbledon by the narrowest of margins. In the 1948 final Bob Falkenburg escaped him at three match-point junctures, from 3-5, 15-40, then advantage out, in the fifth set, won by the Californian, 7-5. But Bromwich did win two major singles, the Australian in 1939 and 1946, and was a three-time U.S. semifinalist, 1938, 1939, 1947. He lost the last one to the only other U.S. semifinalist playing before World War II, Frank Parker.
A loping, big-jawed man, 6-feet, 152 pounds, with an unruly shock of blond hair, Bromwich was one of the most curious stylists the game’s history. A natural left-hander, he nevertheless served right-handed, stroked with two hands on his right side and one, the left on his left side. Using an extremely loosely-struck racket, he had superb touch and chipped maddeningly on his foes’ shoetops. “People called my racket an onion bag,” he laughs, “and complained they couldn’t hear me hit the ball. But at least they didn’t see me serve with both hands, which I did as a young player, sort of like chopping wood.” He was an attacker, his volleys well placed and his competitive fire ever burning high.
World War II interrupted the strong partnership of himself–the right court player–and Adrian Quist, but they won their native Australian title eight straight times, a team record for majors, and gave up the title only after a tremendous struggle, 6-3 in the fifth against Frank Sedgman and Ken McGregor in 1951. Bromwich was 33, Quist 38. The two of them scored a singular triumph as the Australian Davis Cup team in 1939, rebounding from 0-2 down against the Cup-holding U.S. in Philadelphia to win. They began turning it around with a 5-7, 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 doubles victory over Joe Hunt and Jack Kramer, and Bromwich clinched in the decisive fifth match, 6-0, 6-3, 6-1, over Parker.
Ted Schroeder recalls, “Jack and Joe were up a set and a break, but after that Brom played the most phenomenal 2-1/2 sets of doubles I’ve ever seen.” Bromwich was described by journalist Jim Russell as “so tightfisted with a point he made Scrooge seem a philanthropist,” and Schroeder seconds it: “You had to win the point he never gave one away.”
Bromwich smiles at that cordially, and remembers, “in 39 our tennis association was too poor to send us to the French and Wimbledon. But there was no doubt we’d get to the U.S. to challenge for the Cup. We were sure we’d win because we’d only lost 3-2 the year before, and their great Don Budge had turned pro. Three weeks by boat to California, then train to Philadelphia. War had been declared just before the matches began so everything was up in the air. We were surprised to be down 0-2, and didn’t have much confidence, even after the doubles. But Quisty was back again at his best to beat Bobby Riggs in five, and it was up to me against Parker. Our coach, Fred Perry, told me if I hit one ball to Frankie’s forehand to hit 5,000. That’s all I did. They tell me the first point lasted two minutes, the first game 13, and his forehand came apart. Very satisfying because we wanted to be the first to win the Cup as Australia after the Australasia years.
“But more thrilling to me was to come back 11 years later, to Forest Hills, and be part of our next winner, at 32. The Yanks had been thrashing us after the war, and I wasn’t surprised when Hop [Captain Harry Hopman] went with the youngsters, Sedgman and McGregor, in the singles. I thought he’d play them all the way, but he said he wanted my experience with Sedg in the doubles, and we took the Cup by beating Schroeder and Gar Mulloy in five. A nice way for me to go out”–winning his 20th of 21 Cup doubles. Ranked in the world Top Ten on both sides of the war–he, Quist and Parker were the only ones of such longevity–Brom made the list in 1938, 1939, 1946, 1947 and 1948, coming back splendidly after army service in which he was wounded and contracted malaria in the New Guinea campaign.
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