John Bailey Hawkes (7 June 1899 – 31 March 1990) 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 who won the singles title at the

1926 Australasian Championships The 1926 Australasian Championships (now known as the Australian Open) was a tennis tournament that took place on outdoor Grass courts at the Memorial Drive, Adelaide, Australia from 23 January to 2 February. It was the 19th edition of the Austral ...

and was ranked No. 10 in the world in 1928.

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 In cricket, a ten-wicket haul occurs when a bowler takes ten wickets in either a single innings or across both innings of a two-innings match. The phrase ten wickets in a match is also used. Taking ten wickets in a match at Lord's earns the bow ...

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 Sir Norman Everard Brookes (14 November 187728 September 1968) was an Australian tennis player. During his career he won three Grand Slam singles titles; Wimbledon in 1907 and 1914 (the first non-British individual to do so) and the Australa ...

, 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 had five championship points in a marathon singles final against his doubles partner

Gerald Patterson Gerald Leighton Patterson Military Cross, MC (17 December 1895 – 13 June 1967) was an Australian tennis player. Patterson was active in the decade following World War I. During his career he won three Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tourname ...

in the Australian Championships in 1927, but went on to lose the match in five sets. Hawkes also won two US mixed doubles titles, won a total of three Australian doubles titles with Gerald Patterson and was runner-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 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 ...

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 (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 the age of 90 after a short illness, on 31 March 1990. He was survived by his wife Mickey and their four children; Ann, Sally, Sue and John.

Grand Slam finals

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

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

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

References

External links

Bud Collins Arthur Worth "Bud" Collins Jr. (June 17, 1929 – March 4, 2016) was an American journalist and television sportscaster, best known for his tennis commentary. Collins was married to photographer Anita Ruthling Klaussen. Education Collins was b ...

: ''Total Tennis – The Ultimate Tennis Encyclopedia'' (2003 Edition, ). * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hawkes, John 1899 births 1990 deaths Australasian Championships (tennis) champions Australian male tennis players Sportspeople from Geelong Tennis people from Victoria (Australia) United States National champions (tennis) Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's singles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles 19th-century Australian people 20th-century Australian people