John Hawkes (tennis)

John Hawkes
Full name John Bailey Hawkes
Country (sports)  Australia
Born 7 June 1899
Geelong, Australia
Died 31 March 1990(1990-03-31) (aged 90)
Geelong, Australia
Turned pro 1921 (amateur tour)
Retired 1932
Singles
Highest ranking No. 10 (1928, A. Wallis Myers)[1]
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open W (1926)
French Open SF (1928)
Wimbledon 2R (1928)
US Open 3R (1921)
Doubles
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open W (1922, 1926, 1927)
Mixed doubles
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open W (1922, 1926, 1927)
US Open W (1925, 1928)
Team competitions
Davis Cup F (1921, 1923Ch, 1925)

John Bailey "Jack" Hawkes (7 June 1899 in Geelong, Australia – 31 March 1990) was an Australian tennis player.

Biography

Hawkes was raised and lived his life in and around Geelong, Victoria. Educated at The Geelong College from 1909 to 1919, he showed enormous potential as a young sportsman, having won the Victorian School Boys U19 tennis title for 5 years in a row – described by historian Graeme Kinross Smith as the "nursery for tennis talent". Hawkes had also been touted as a future test cricketer for Australia and was made a member of the MCC at the age of 13. He was captain of the first Cricket team for the last 4 years of his school life at The Geelong College and according to school website, "In a legendary day of bowling in 1916, Jack Hawkes was to claim 10 wickets in a match against Wesley College." Tennis, however, was to create a more powerful pull than cricket. Taught on the lawn court at the family home "Llanberis", overlooking Corio Bay by family friend Russell Keays and influenced by tennis legend and family friend, Norman Brookes, Jack's career blossomed in the 1920s. The left-hander, won a clean sweep at the Australasian Championships of 1926, winning the men's singles, men's doubles and mixed doubles in the same year. Hawkes was also runner-up in a marathon final against doubles partner Gerald Patterson in the men's singles Australasian Championships in 1927, winner of two US mixed doubles titles, winner of a total of three Australian doubles titles with Gerald Patterson as well as runners-up with Gerald Patterson in Wimbledon doubles and US doubles of 1928. Hawkes also won a total of three mixed doubles Australian championships –

Hawkes was a three-times Davis Cup representative in 1921, 1923, 1925 and was controversially omitted from the team in the year of his Australian Open crown in 1926 and successful overseas tour of 1928. After his retirement from tennis, Hawkes was actively involved in tennis administration and ran the family business Hawkes Brothers, in Geelong until his retirement in the early 1970s. Jack Hawkes retired to Ocean Grove with his children; Ann Irvine (Hawkes), Sue Hawkes and Sal Hawkes, (where he had holidayed as a child at the family's beachside home "Imbool"), and later to Barwon Heads before his death in Geelong, at aged 90 after a short illness, on 31 March 1990.

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Result Year Championship Surface Opponent Score
Winner 1926 Australasian Championships Grass Australia James Willard 6–1, 6–3, 6–1
Runner-up 1927 Australian Championships Grass Australia Gerald Patterson 6–3, 4–6, 6–3, 16–18, 3–6

Doubles: 7 (3 titles, 4 runners-up)

Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Winner 1922 Australasian Championships Grass Australia Gerald Patterson Australia James Anderson
Australia Norman Peach
8–10, 6–0, 6–0, 7–5
Runner-up 1925 U.S. Championships Grass Australia Gerald Patterson United States R. Norris Williams
United States Vincent Richards
2–6, 10–8, 4–6, 9–11
Winner 1926 Australasian Championships Grass Australia Gerald Patterson Australia James Anderson
Australia Pat O'Hara Wood
6–1, 6–4, 6–2
Winner 1927 Australian Championships Grass Australia Gerald Patterson Australia Pat O'Hara Wood
Australia Ian McInness
8–6, 6–2, 6–1
Runner-up 1928 Wimbledon Grass Australia Gerald Patterson France Jacques Brugnon
France Henri Cochet
11–13, 4–6, 4–6
Runner-up 1928 U.S. Championships Grass Australia Gerald Patterson United States John Hennessey
United States George Lott
2–6, 1–6, 2–6
Runner-up 1930 Australian Championships Grass Australia Tim Fitchett Australia Jack Crawford
Australia Harry Hopman
6–8, 1–6, 6–2, 3–6

Mixed doubles: 7 (5 titles, 2 runners-up)

Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Winner 1922 Australasian Championships Grass Australia Esna Boyd Australia Gwen Utz
Australia Harold Utz
6–1, 6–1
Runner-up 1923 U.S. Championships Grass United Kingdom Kitty McKane United States Molla Bjurstedt Mallory
United States Bill Tilden
3–6, 6–2, 8–10
Winner 1925 U.S. Championships Grass United Kingdom Kitty McKane United Kingdom Ermyntrude Harvey
United States Vincent Richards
6–2, 6–4
Winner 1926 Australasian Championships Grass Australia Esna Boyd Australia Daphne Akhurst
Australia James Willard
6–1, 6–4
Winner 1927 Australian Championships Grass Australia Esna Boyd Australia Youtha Anthony
Australia James Willard
6–1, 6–3
Runner-up 1928 Australian Championships Grass Australia Esna Boyd Australia Daphne Akhurst
France Jean Borotra
walkover
Winner 1928 U.S. Championships Grass United States Helen Wills United States Edith Cross
Australia Edgar Moon
6–1, 6–3

References

  1. United States Lawn Tennis Association (1972). Official Encyclopedia of Tennis (First Edition), p. 424.

External links

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