Australian tennis has lost one of its giants with the passing of Neale Fraser AO, MBE on the 2nd of December 2024, and the Australian Davis Cup Tennis Foundation has lost one of its founders and most passionate advocates.

Neale Fraser was a founding member of the Foundation and for 48 of the 52 years of its existence, Neale has held the position of either Vice President or President and more recently as the Patron.
Neale’s contribution to the Foundation and his tireless advocacy and work on its behalf has been the cornerstone of its success. Not only did he contribute his business acumen but also his strong links with the International Tennis Federation, Tennis Australia and players who have represented our Country.

Neale won 19 Grand Slam titles including Wimbledon and US singles titles, but his name will forever be associated with the Davis Cup both as a player and record-setting run as Australian captain.
“I could never think of anything better than representing your country,” he often said.

ADCTF President Todd Woodbridge said “Neale was the heart and soul of Davis cup in this country…nobody loved representing Australia more than Frase either on court as a player or off court as the captain…it will be his lasting legacy to the game in Australia.”

As one of just seven Australians to have captained the nation in Davis Cup since 1950, Neale also holds the record for the longest reign as captain (23 years) and, after being succeeded by John Newcombe (and Tony Roche), then John Fitzgerald, Pat Rafter, Wally Masur and Lleyton Hewitt, Neale has remained as invested in Australia’s fortunes in Davis Cup as much as when he was first selected to join Harry Hopman’s squads in the 1950s.

He learned to play on the clay courts next door to his childhood home in Melbourne and developed a game built around a thunderous left-handed serve.

As a cricket fan he watched how leg-spin bowlers turned the ball in different directions by cocking their wrists and he adapted this ‘googly’ approach to his serve.

Emerging during the golden era of Australian men’s tennis, he was initially unable to break into the Davis Cup team and lost three times in major singles finals, including twice to close friend Ashley Cooper – first at the 1957 Australian Championships and at Wimbledon in 1958.

His persistence paid off in 1959 when he won all three US titles – singles, doubles and mixed – at Forest Hills and led Australia to victory in the Davis Cup.

In 1960 he defeated Rod Laver to claim the Wimbledon singles crown and then again swept the three titles in New York.

One of his doubles partners, Roy Emerson, described Fraser as ‘a General’ on the court.
Despite lucrative offers to turn professional, Neale remained an amateur in the hope he would succeed Hopman as Australian Davis Cup Captain.

That ambition was fulfilled in 1970 and he remained in the position until 1993, helming 24 Davis Cup campaigns during which Australia won the title four times.

Generations of players were inspired by his leadership including John Newcombe, John Fitzgerald and Pat Cash. “He was like a father to me,” Cash reflected. “He just knew how to make you feel important and play your best.”

Neale was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1984, and the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame in 1994. In 2008 he was awarded the ITF’s Philippe Chatrier Award for outstanding achievement in tennis.

Neale made a magnificent contribution to the Davis Cup competition, to the Foundation and to tennis in general.

He will be sorely missed by the entire tennis community.

The Board, on behalf of all of the Members of the Foundation, extend our condolences to his wonderful wife Thea, his family and his many friends around the world.

A Tennis Australia tribute including a video tribute to Neale’s career is available here:
Neale Fraser

Australia has qualified for the Davis Cup Finals which will be played in Malaga between the 19th & 24th November.

Lleyton Hewitt’s team were thrilled to reach November’s eight-team showdown.

The Australians booked their place with two great victories – 2-1 over France and 3-0 against a depleted Czech Republic team– earlier in the week.

Our team were cheered on by a small but enthusiastic group of ADCTF members!

The schedule for the Finals has now been announced and Australia will face the USA on Thursday 21st November in a must-win tie.

Huge congratulations to John Peers and Matt Ebden for clinching the gold medal in doubles after an exciting (and at times nail-biting) match against the USA’s Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram.

Ebden and Peers trailed by a set and a break against the Americans before storming back to a 6-7( 6) 7-6 (1), 10-8 win which had everyone who was watching on the edge of their seats.

The win comes 28 years after Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde combined to win gold at Atlanta 2004.

Australia has been drawn to play Spain, France and Czechia in the Group Stage of the Finals.

Spain will host this group which will be played in Valencia between the 10th & 15th September 2024 with a round-robin format.

Captain Lleyton Hewitt has selected Alex de Minaur, Alexei Popyrin, Jordan Thompson, Max Purcell and Matthew Ebden as the team for this fascinating tie.

The other venues for these finals are Bologna (Italy), Manchester (United Kingdom) and Zhuhai (China).

With our success in Manchester Australia is one of 8 teams who have now qualified for the Quarter-final knock-out stage of this year’s finals to be played in Malaga.

The schedule for these ties has now been announced and Australia will play Czechia on Wednesday 22nd November in a knock-out tie for a chance to advance to the semi-final.

You can find the full draw for the Finals HERE

Australia has qualified for the November Finals with an impressive final day showing at the group stage in held in Manchester.

After the first two ties against Great Britain and France, Australia needed to win all three matches in our tie against Switzerland to guarantee our place in the final eight.

An enthusiastic group of Foundation members cheered on our team of Thanasi Kokkinakis, Alex de Minaur and the doubles pairing of Max Purcell and Matt Ebden who duly obliged with scintillating performances.

First up was Thanasi Kokkinakis who defeated Switzerlands Dominic Stricker 6-3, 7-5 to get us off to a great start.
Australian No.1, De Minaur, then continued by outplaying Marc-Andrea Huesler, who was named for Switzerland ahead of three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka.
De Minaur’s 6-4, 6-3 win over Huesler sealed Australia’s second overall victory of the week following their 2-1 win over France.

Onto the doubles – with Matt Ebden and Max Purcell winning the third straight
rubber of their undefeated week, as they outclassed Stricker and Huesler 6-2 6-4.

Team Captain Lleyton Hewitt said “I’m extremely proud of the boys – the effort, the backs-against-the-wall motto of being able to fight our way out of it and see the big picture,” said Hewitt of the Australian team, which took a 1-1 record into the Saturday tie after a loss to Great Britain and victory over France earlier in the week.
“They were able to do it and they deserve it. ”

Australia finished 2nd on the table in our group behind Great Britain and qualifies for the knockout stage of the finals which get underway in Malaga on the 21st November.

The International Tennis Federation and Kosmos Tennis have announced that the group stage of the Davis Cup Finals will take place in September from 2022 onwards.

The event will be hosted across four cities (previously three), with each staging one group of four teams from 14-18 September2022

The Davis Cup Finals, which feature the quarter-finals onwards, will then be held in one yet-to-be-announced venue from 23-27 November 2022.

It is currently expected that the cities and make up of each pool of teams will be announced later in March.

The full media release from the ITF can be found HERE

The Davis Cup Finals will take place across three cities between the 25 November and the 5 December in 2021.

Madrid, Innsbruck and Turin will each host two of the six groups, with Madrid staging two quarter-finals, and Innsbruck and Turin one quarter-final each.
The Spanish capital will also host the semi-finals and final.

Australia’s campaign gets under way in Turin when they meet Croatia and Hungary.

We are saddened to announce the passing of our past Secretary Graeme Cumbrae-Stewart on Monday evening 24th August 2020, after a lengthy illness.

Our thoughts and best wishes are extended to his wife Helene during this difficult time.

Graeme was Secretary of the Foundation for 15 years, retiring in 2014 due to deteriorating health, bringing to an end a 55 year association with tennis administration through the Australian Davis Cup Tennis Foundation, the Glen Iris Valley Tennis Club, The Glen Iris Valley Recreation Club and Tennis Victoria.

Over the years, Graeme organised many of the successful AO Luncheons and other functions for members and along with Helene attended a number of Australia’s overseas Davis Cup ties as well as many home ties.

On his retirement the Foundation published the following article which highlights the vast contribution Graeme made to tennis administration over his lifetime. You can read the article HERE