Fraser, Neale

Neale Andrew Fraser
Born: October 03, 1933
Hometown: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Citizenship: Australia
Handed: Left
Inducted: 1984

Grand Slam Record
Australian Singles finalist  1957, 59, 60
Doubles 1957-58, 1962
Doubles finalist 1954, 60
Mixed 1959

Wimbledon Singles 1960
Singles finalist 1958
Doubles 1959, 61
Doubles finalist 1955, 57, 58, 73
Mixed 1962
Mixed finalist 1957, 59

French Doubles 1958, 60, 62
Doubles finalist 1959

U.S. Singles 1959-60
Doubles 1957, 59-60
Mixed 1958-60

Tournament Record
Davis Cup Player 1955-63
Captain 1970-93

Italian Singles Finalist 1959
Doubles 1957, 59, 61, 62
Doubles finalist 1960

A serve-bombing lefty whose onerous delivery was flat, sliced and kicked, Neale Fraser backed it up with tough volleying and was a marvelous competitor. Solidly built and athletic at 6-foot-1, he was especially overpowering on fast surfaces. Although he won Wimbledon in 1960 and the U.S. title in 1959 and 1960, Fraser found team play–doubles and Davis Cup–nearest his heart. As one of eight men to win all four majors in doubles, Fraser took three each Australian, French and U.S. and two Wimbledon with three different partners: Ashley Cooper, Lew Hoad, Roy Emerson.

His toughest match of the 1960 Wimbledon championship was won literally over the dead-weary body of Butch Buchholz. But before the frustrated American keeled over with cramps in their quarterfinal, Fraser had to dodge five match points in the 30-game fourth set. It ended with winner Fraser on the short end in games, 4-6, 6-3, 4-6, 15-15.

His most successful alliance was with Emerson for eight majors. Losing only one singles, he was a mainstay for four Cup-winning Australia sides, starting in 1959 at Forest Hills. Then he won both his singles, and, with Emerson, the doubles in heisting the punchbowl from the U.S., 3-2. On opening day he beat Wimbledon champ Alex Olmedo. In the decisive fifth match, he beat Barry MacKay, 8-3, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, in a duel interrupted by rain and carried over the following afternoon

His love for Davis Cup showed when he succeeded legendary Harry Hopman as non-playing captain in 1970, and held the job for a record 23 years, piloting four winners: 1973, 1977, and 1986, and a record 49 series victories. He lost the 1990 final to the U.S. He was No. 1 world in 1959 and 1960 and in the Top Ten every year between 1956 and 1962. Although he retired in 1963, he played a cameo at Wimbledon 10 years later as doubles finalist (to Jimmy Connors and Ilie Nastase) with John Cooper, brother of Ashley Cooper, with whom he’d won the U.S. doubles in 1957. A brother, Dr. John Fraser, a physician, was also a fine doubles player, a Wimbledon semifinalist with Rod Laver, as was Neale with Emerson in 1962. Neale was born October 3, 1933, in Melbourne, where he lives, and entered the Hall of Fame in 1984.

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