Geoffrey Edmund Brown (4 April 1924 – 20 June 2001) was an Australian tennis player. Brown was born in

Murrurundi, New South Wales Murrurundi( ), is a rural town located in the Upper Hunter Shire, in the Upper Hunter region of New South Wales, Australia. Murrurundi is situated northwest by road from Newcastle and north from Sydney. At the the town had a population of ...

, Australia. He attended

Parramatta Marist High School , motto_translation = Go Forth With Strength , location = 2 Darcy Road, Westmead, Greater Western Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Australia ...

from 1938 to 1939 before joining the R.A.A.F as a gunner. He was demobilised at the end of the war and returned to playing tennis. Brown was runner-up in the

1946 Wimbledon Championships The 1946 Wimbledon Championships took place on the outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The tournament was held from Monday 24 June until Saturday 6 July 1946. It was the 60th ...

singles final, losing in five sets to

Yvon Petra Yvon Petra (; 8 March 1916 – 12 September 1984) was a French male tennis player. He was born in Chợ Lớn, Ho Chi Minh City, Cholon, French Indochina. Petra is best remembered as the last Frenchman to win the Wimbledon Championships men's s ...

, and doubles final playing with

Dinny Pails Dennis "Dinny" Pails (4 March 1921 – 22 November 1986) was an Australian tennis champion. Pails was born in England, but moved to Australia in 1922 at age 1. Pails won the men's singles championship at the Australian Championships in 1947. P ...

. He also reached the doubles finals at the

1949 Australian Championships The 1949 Australian Championships was a tennis tournament that took place on outdoor Grass courts at the Memorial Drive, Adelaide, Australia from 21 January to 31 January. It was the 37th edition of the Australian Championships (now known as the ...

and

1950 Wimbledon Championships The 1950 Wimbledon Championships took place on the outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The tournament was held from Monday 26 June until Saturday 8 July. It was the 64th stagi ...

, in both he was partnered by compatriot

Bill Sidwell Oswald William Thomas Sidwell (16 April 1920 – 19 August 2021) was an Australian tennis player. Sidwell reached five Grand Slam doubles finals, winning once, at the 1949 U.S. National Championships with compatriot John Bromwich. He also pla ...

and in both finals they lost to

John Bromwich John Edward Bromwich (14 November 1918 – 21 October 1999) was an Australian tennis player who, along with fellow countryman Vivian McGrath, was one of the first great players to use a two-handed backhand. He was a natural left-hander, though ...

and

Adrian Quist Adrian Karl Quist (23 January 191317 November 1991) was an Australian tennis player. Biography Adrian Quist was born in Medindie, South Australia. His father was Karl Quist, who had been a noted interstate cricketer, and owned a sporting goods ...

. He reached the quarterfinal at the

1949 Wimbledon Championships The 1949 Wimbledon Championships took place on the outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Criquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The tournament was held from Monday 20 June until Saturday 2 July. It was the 63rd stag ...

by defeating US champion

Pancho Gonzales Ricardo Alonso "Pancho" González (May 9, 1928 – July 3, 1995), known sometimes as Richard Gonzales, was an American tennis player. He won 15 major singles titles, including two U.S. National Singles Championships in 1948 and 1949, and 13 P ...

in the fourth round. With his countryman

he won the doubles title at the Irish Tennis Championships in July 1946. He won the singles title at the Kent Lawn Tennis Championships in 1948 and 1950. In April 1949 he reached the final of the South African Championships in Johannesburg but lost in four sets to

Eric Sturgess Eric William Sturgess (10 May 1920 – 14 January 2004) was a South African male tennis player and winner of six Grand Slam doubles titles. He also reached the singles final of a Grand Slam tournament three times but never won. Sturgess was ra ...

. In April 1950 Brown won the Surrey Tennis Tournament against Paddy Robert in the final. In May he played in the British Hard Court Championships in Bournemouth and reached the final in which he lost to

Jaroslav Drobný Jaroslav Drobný (; 12 October 1921 – 13 September 2001) was a World No. 1 amateur tennis and ice hockey champion. He left Czechoslovakia in 1949 and travelled as an Egyptian citizen before becoming a citizen of the United Kingdom in 1959, w ...

. In June he defeated

Sumant Misra Sumant Misra (11 January 1923 – 3 September 2011) was an Indian tennis player. Misra, who was born in Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh, played on the India Davis Cup team for nine years between 1947 and 1956 and captained the team in 1952 and 1953. He ...

in the singles final of the

Northern Lawn Tennis Championships Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

. Due to an illness and operation Brown did not play tennis for more than a year and returned in October 1951. In October 1952 he won the Sydney Metropolitan Grasscourt Championships, defeating

Lew Hoad Lewis Alan Hoad (23 November 1934 – 3 July 1994) was an Australian tennis player whose career ran from 1950 to 1973. Hoad won four Major singles tournaments as an amateur (the Australian Championships, French Championships and two Wimbledons ...

in the final in three sets. In 1947 and 1948 Brown played for the Australian

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...

team and compiled a record of three wins and one loss. Brown was married firstly to Veronica Lineham. Their first child, Virginia Ann Brown, was born in 1951. He went on to have three more children; Vonnie, Geoffrey Vincent, and Danielle. Brown later remarried. He died in

Euroa, Victoria Euroa is a town in the Shire of Strathbogie in the north-east of Victoria, Australia. At the 2016 census, Euroa's population was 3,275. The name Euroa comes from an Aboriginal word in the old local dialect meaning 'joyful'. History Major T ...

on 20 June 2001, at the age of 77.

Grand Slam finals

Singles (1 runner-up)

Doubles (3 runners-up)

Mixed doubles (2 runners-up)

References

External links

* * *
Australian Open – Player profile

British Pathe – Film Reel Wimbledon Tennis Stars In Final 1946
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Geoff 1924 births 2001 deaths Australian male tennis players People from Upper Hunter Shire Council Tennis players from New South Wales Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Australian Air Force airmen Sportsmen from New South Wales People educated at Parramatta Marist High School