Ian Ayre (18 August 1929 – 12 October 1991) was an Australian

tennis 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 ...

player. He was educated at the

Anglican Church Grammar School The Anglican Church Grammar School (ACGS), formerly the Church of England Grammar School and commonly referred to as Churchie, is an independent, Anglican, day and boarding school for boys, located in East Brisbane, an inner suburb of Brisbane, ...

. Ayre was a contemporary 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 ...

(1927), George Worthington (1928),

Don Tregonning Donald Philip Tregonning (26 November 1928 – 14 September 2022) was an Australian professional tennis player and coach. Tregonning, a student of Melbourne coach Mick Sweetnam, was a member of the international amateur and professional tenni ...

(1928),

Rex Hartwig Rex Noel Hartwig (2 September 1929 – 30 December 2022) was an Australian tennis player. Early life Rex Hartwig was born on 2 September 1929 in Culcairn, New South Wales. Both parents played tennis, and at age 10, Hartwig won a local tournam ...

(1929),

Ken McGregor Kenneth Bruce McGregor (2 June 1929 – 1 December 2007) was an Australian tennis player from Adelaide who won the Men's Singles title at the Australian Championships in 1952. He and his longtime doubles partner, Frank Sedgman, are generally ...

(1929) and

Mervyn Rose Mervyn Gordon Rose AM (23 January 1930 – 23 July 2017) was an Australian male tennis player who won seven Grand Slam titles (singles, doubles and mixed doubles). Rose was born in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, and turned professional in 1 ...

(1930). He was on 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 in 1951, 1952, and 1953, but never played in a match.Peter Stone
"Ian Ayre to train squad"
''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'', 3 December 1969, p. 1. In 1953 he reached the fourth round at

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 * ...

, losing to

Sven Davidson Sven Viktor Davidson (13 July 1928 – 28 May 2008) was a Swedish tennis player who became the first Swede to win a Grand Slam title when he won the French Championships in 1957, beating Ashley Cooper and Herbert Flam. Career Davidson also rea ...

in straight sets, and the semifinals of the

Australian Open 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 ...

, losing to Mervyn Rose in five sets. He turned pro in 1955 and subsequently became a coach in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. In 1969 he supervised the Davis Cup team when the captain,

Neale Fraser Neale Andrew Fraser (born 3 October 1933) is a former number one amateur male tennis-player from Australia, born in Melbourne, Victoria, the son of a Victorian judge. Fraser is the last man to have completed the triple crown, i.e. having won t ...

, was temporarily unable to. In 1975 he won the first Veterans' Open Tournament of the Gold Coast and District Tennis Association at Queens Park Tennis Centre.Tennis Competitions
,

Tennis Gold Coast Tennis Gold Coast is the governing body for the sport of tennis in the Gold Coast, Queensland. The organisation is based in Southport, Queensland in Australia. Famous players from the Gold Coast are players such as Samantha Stosur and Bernard T ...

, retrieved 17 October 2012. According to a video interview with

Fay Toyne Fay Toyne (born 18 December 1943), also known by her married name Fay Toyne Moore, is a retired tennis player from Australia whose career spanned the 1960s. Toyne was a doubles finalist at the 1966 French Championships. Partnering Jill Blackma ...

about the history of Milton tennis centre in Brisbane, Ayre died of a heart attack whilst on a tennis court. His ''Sydney Morning Herald'' obituary states he was involved in a doubles match when he died.

References

1929 births 1991 deaths Australian male tennis players People educated at Anglican Church Grammar School Tennis people from Queensland Professional tennis players before the Open Era 20th-century Australian people {{Australia-tennis-bio-stub