Brian Fairlie (born 13 June 1948), is a retired

tennis player Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cove ...

from New Zealand. During his career from 1968 to 1979, he won four titles in doubles, all with the Egyptian player

Ismail El Shafei Ismail El Shafei ( ar, إسماعيل الشافعي) (born 15 November 1947) is an Egyptian former professional tennis player and president of the Egyptian Tennis Federation. He is currently a member of the board of directors of the Internatio ...

, and 10 singles titles in the Open era (and at least two more in 1967).

Playing career

Juniors

Fairlie was the 1967 Boys' Singles champion of the

Australian Championships The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...

Professional

Failie's best result in a

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

was reaching the semi-finals of men's doubles at the

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

in 1971 with partner

Frew McMillan Frew Donald McMillan (born 20 May 1942) is a former professional male tennis player from South Africa who won five grand slam doubles titles including three Wimbledons with Bob Hewitt. All together, he won 63 doubles titles, surpassed only by ...

. A year earlier, he reached the singles quarterfinals of the U.S. Open, losing to

Tony Roche Anthony Dalton Roche Order of Australia, AO Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 17 May 1945) is an Australian former professional tennis player. A native of Tarcutta, Roche played junior tennis in the New South Wales regional city of Wagg ...

. While his highest ATP singles ranking was World No. 24 (in September 1973), Fairlie was ranked inside the world's Top 20 in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1969, his first full year on the circuit, he upset former

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

and U.S. Open champion

John Newcombe John David Newcombe AO OBE (born 23 May 1944) is an Australian former professional tennis player. He is one of the few men to have attained a world No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles. At the majors, he won seven singles titles, a fo ...

in the quarterfinals of the Heineken Open in Auckland. The tournament's website describes the atmosphere at the event that year: "There was wild excitement in a packed stadium when Kiwi Brian Fairlie pulled off an upset win over Newcombe in five hard-fought sets. When he went on to face Laver, the gates had to be closed against the huge crowds wanting to get in."
In both 1975 and 1976, Fairlie reached the finals of this tournament, losing on both occasions to fellow New Zealander

Onny Parun Onny Parun (born 15 April 1947) is a former tennis player of Croatian descent from New Zealand, who was among the world's top 20 for five years and who reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 1971 and 1972. He made the final of the Australi ...

. In 1976, Fairlie played in an Australian Open match notable for having the 13th oldest combined age in Grand Slam history. His age and the age of

Frank Sedgman Francis "Frank" Arthur Sedgman (born 29 October 1927) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. Over the course of a three-decade career, Sedgman won five Grand Slam singles tournaments as an amateur as well as 22 Grand Slam doubles ...

, his opponent, averaged 37 years, 10 months, and 9 days. In winning the second of his two singles titles (in Manila, Philippines in 1976), he lost only one set during the entire tournament.

Davis Cup

From 1966 through 1979, he played in 48 Davis Cup matches for New Zealand, winning 13 in singles and seven in doubles.

Team Tennis

In 1974, the inaugural year of

World Team Tennis World TeamTennis (WTT) is a mixed-gender professional tennis league played with a team format in the United States, which was founded in 1973. The league's season normally takes place in the summer months. Players from the ATP and WTA take a ...

, he became a member of the

Philadelphia Freedoms The Philadelphia Freedoms is a tennis team currently competing in World TeamTennis. Overview The team traces its origins to WTT's inaugural season, in 1974. The Philadelphia Freedoms (1974), original team starred tennis legend and social pi ...

; the team posted the league's best record for the year at 39–5.

Career finals

Singles (2 titles, 4 runner-ups)

Doubles (4 titles, 14 runner-up)

References

External links

* * *
Transcript of 2008 New Zealand House of Representatives proceedings
during which Representative Dail Jones reminisced about the matches in Auckland between Fairlie and Onny Parun. {{DEFAULTSORT:Fairlie, Brian 1948 births Living people Australian Championships (tennis) junior champions New Zealand male tennis players Sportspeople from Christchurch Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' singles