Ken Fletcher
Australian tennis player (1940-2006)
Kenneth Norman Fletcher (15 June 1940, 11 February 2006) was an Australian tennis player who won numerous doubles and mixed doubles Grand Slam titles.
01Biography
He was born in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia to parents Norm and Ethel Fletcher. He was educated at St Laurence's College and showed early promise as a championship tennis player there.
Fletcher won the 1963 Kent Championships on grass at Beckenham, defeating Owen Davidson in the semifinal and Martin Mulligan in the final.
Fletcher won the 1966 British Hard Court Championships at Bournemouth on clay, defeating Tom Okker in the final.
Also in 1966, he defeated John Newcombe at Wimbledon in the third round in five sets, but lost the quarterfinal to eventual champion Manuel Santana also in five sets.
His greatest success as a tennis player came in 1963, when he became the only man to win a calendar year Grand Slam in mixed doubles, partnering fellow Australian Margaret Court. He reached the final of the Australian Open in 1963, losing to Roy Emerson.
After this achievement, he went on to record mixed doubles championships in the Australian Open in 1964, French Open in 1964 and 1965, and Wimbledon in 1965, 1966, and 1968. All of his mixed doubles Grand Slam titles were in partnership with Smith Court.
He also achieved a Grand Slam title in men's doubles in the 1964 French Open, playing with Emerson. At the Wimbledon men's doubles championship, he was a finalist with Robert Hewitt in 1965, the champion in 1966 partnering John Newcombe, and a finalist again in 1967 with Emerson. In total, Fletcher won 27 international tennis titles. He was ranked World No. 10 in 1966 by Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph.
Ken was a larrikin by nature, and many of his exploits feature in Hugh Lunn's books, especially Over the Top with Jim and Head Over Heels. In later years, he was instrumental in gaining significant funding for medical research in Australia, through his association with Chuck Feeney. In 2008, Hugh Lunn published The Great Fletch, a book on Ken's life around the globe.
Fletcher died of cancer at the age of 65 and was buried at the Mount Gravatt Lawn Cemetery, Brisbane.
In January 2012, Ken Fletcher was inducted into the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame.
In 2013, the Ken Fletcher memorial was erected in the park, outside the Queensland Tennis Centre, named in his honour. He is the only player in the history of tennis, to win a grand slam, in mixed doubles in 1963, that is not enshrined in the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
02Grand Slam finals
Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 1963 | Australian Championships | Grass | Roy Emerson | 3-6, 3-6, 1-6 |
Doubles: 9 (2 titles, 7 runners-up)
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 1963 | Australian Championships | Grass | John Newcombe | Bob Hewitt Fred Stolle | 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 3-6 |
| Loss | 1964 | Australian Championships | Grass | Roy Emerson | Bob Hewitt Fred Stolle | 4-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 12-14 |
| Win | 1964 | French Championships | Clay | Roy Emerson | John Newcombe Tony Roche | 6-3, 6-4 |
| Loss | 1964 | Wimbledon | Grass | Roy Emerson | Bob Hewitt Fred Stolle | 5-7, 9-11, 4-6 |
| Loss | 1965 | French Championships | Clay | Bob Hewitt | Roy Emerson Fred Stolle | 8-6, 3-6, 6-8, 2-6 |
| Loss | 1965 | Wimbledon | Grass | Bob Hewitt | John Newcombe Tony Roche | 5-7, 3-6, 4-6 |
| Win | 1966 | Wimbledon | Grass | John Newcombe | William Bowrey Owen Davidson | 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 |
| Loss | 1967 | French Championships | Clay | Roy Emerson | John Newcombe Tony Roche | 3-6, 7-9, 10-12 |
| Loss | 1967 | Wimbledon | Grass | Roy Emerson | Bob Hewitt Frew McMillan | 2-6, 3-6, 4-6 |
Mixed doubles: 11 (10 titles, 1 runner-up)
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 1963 | Australian Championships | Grass | Margaret Smith | Fred Stolle Lesley Turner | 6-4, 6-4 |
| Win | 1963 | French Championships | Clay | Margaret Smith | Fred Stolle Lesley Turner | 6-1, 6-2 |
| Win | 1963 | Wimbledon | Grass | Margaret Smith | Bob Hewitt Darlene Hard | 11-9, 6-4 |
| Win | 1963 | US Championships (3) | Grass | Margaret Smith | Ed Rubinoff Judy Tegart | 0-6, 6-4, 6-4 |
| Win | 1964 | Australian Championships (2) | Grass | Margaret Smith | Mike Sangster Jan Lehane | 6-4, 6-4 |
| Win | 1964 | French Championships (2) | Clay | Margaret Smith | Fred Stolle Lesley Turner | 6-3, 4-6, 8-6 |
| Loss | 1964 | Wimbledon | Grass | Margaret Smith | Fred Stolle Lesley Turner | 6-4, 6-4 |
| Win | 1965 | French Championships (3) | Clay | Margaret Smith Court | John Newcombe Maria Bueno | 6-4, 6-4 |
| Win | 1965 | Wimbledon (2) | Grass | Margaret Court | Tony Roche Judy Tegart | 12-10, 6-3 |
| Win | 1966 | Wimbledon (3) | Grass | Margaret Court | Dennis Ralston Billie Jean King | 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 |
| ↓ Open Era ↓ | ||||||
| Win | 1968 | Wimbledon (4) | Grass | Margaret Court | Alex Metreveli Olga Morozova | 6-1, 14-12 |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Ken Fletcher”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Kenneth Norman Fletcher.jpg by Jack de Nijs for Anefo, CC0
- Ken Fletcher Memorial, Tennyson 02.JPG by Chris Olszewski, CC BY-SA 4.0
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