John Hillebrand is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

former

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 was active from the late 1950s until the early 1970s. He also is a songwriter whose hymn, God Will Guide You Home, was translated into the Cheyenne language (Tsisinstsistots). He is currently living in

San Pedro, California San Pedro ( ; Spanish: " St. Peter") is a neighborhood within the City of Los Angeles, California. Formerly a separate city, it consolidated with Los Angeles in 1909. The Port of Los Angeles, a major international seaport, is partially located wi ...

. He had played Dale Jensen in a London tournament in 1962, and upon arriving in California called him. He wanted help to relocate to Southern California. Dale arranged for him to immediately play a senior tournament in Costa Mesa, where he met Dr. Jim Pugh, a dentist and tennis player. They immediately became good friends. Jim sponsored John into the United States, and had him teach his son, Jim Pugh, age 10, who went on to become the top world ranked doubles player in 1989. John's best finish 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 ...

tournament came in 1963, when he reached the men's doubles quarterfinals 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 ...

with partner Peter McPherson.

Career

Player

In the first 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 * ...

in 1963, he defeated

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 five sets with the score 14–12, 9–7, 4–6, 4–6, 6–3.

Arthur Ashe Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. (July 10, 1943 – February 6, 1993) was an American professional tennis player who won three Grand Slam singles titles. He started to play tennis at six years old. He was the first black player selected to the Unite ...

then defeated him 5–7, 7–5, 11–9, 3–6, 6–3 in the second round. In 1964, Hillebrand and partner Clive Brebnor reached the men's doubles final of the

British Hard Court Championships The British Hard Court Championships is a defunct Grand Prix tennis and WTA Tour affiliated tennis tournament played from 1968 to 1983 and 1995 to 1999. The inaugural edition of the tournament was held in 1924 in Torquay, moving to the West Hant ...

, where they lost to

Cliff Drysdale Eric Clifford Drysdale (born 26 May 1941) is a South African former tennis player. After a career as a highly ranked professional player in the 1960s and early 1970s, he became a well-known tennis announcer. Drysdale won the singles title at t ...

and

Keith Diepraam Keith Diepraam (born 11 September 1942) is a retired South African male tennis player. Diepraam started playing tennis at age 15 when he went to Glenwood High School in Durban, South Africa. In 1964 he was runner–up to countryman Cliff Drysd ...

in straight sets."Drysdale, Knight Gain Tennis Final"

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, 25 April 1964. Hillebrand had wins either in singles or doubles against

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Paul McNamee Paul McNamee (born 12 November 1954) is an Australian former doubles world No. 1 tennis player and prominent sports administrator. Tennis career Juniors In his hometown, McNamee won the boys' singles tournament at the 1973 Australian Open. ...

Peter McNamara Peter McNamara (5 July 1955 – 20 July 2019) was an Australian tennis player and coach. McNamara won five singles titles and nineteen doubles titles in his career. A right-hander, McNamara reached his highest singles ATP-ranking on 14 March ...

Bob Hewitt Robert Anthony John Hewitt (born 12 January 1940) is a former professional tennis player from Australia. In 1967, after marrying a South African, he became a South African citizen. He has won 15 major titles and a career Grand Slam in both men' ...

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 ...

, and

Jaroslav Drobny Jaroslav (also written as Yaroslav or Jarosław in other Slavic languages) is a Czech and Slovak first name, pagan in origin. There are several possible origins of the name Jaroslav. It is very likely that originally the two elements of the nam ...

. He also has wins over Davis Cup players Mark Cox (GB), Roger Taylor (GB), Keith Diepraam (South Africa), Beppi Merlo (Italy), Pierre Barthes (Fr), Daniel Contet (Fr), Micah Dubitsky (Israel), Andres Licis (Poland),

Christian Kuhnke Christian Kuhnke (born 14 April 1939) is a former German tennis player. He was part of the West Germany Davis Cup team who reached the Challenge Round in the 1970 Davis Cup. Kuhnke was a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon in 1963 and 1964 and at the Au ...

(Germany), Juan Gisbert (Spain), and Nikki Pilic (Yugoslavia). Singles tournaments he won include Monte Carlo, Chapel Allerton, Sutton Coalfield, Eastbourne, Hoylake, St. Annes-On-Sea, and Israel. He won the Irish International Doubles Championship with

Warren Jacques Warren Jacques (born 10 March 1938) is an Australian tennis coach and former player. Jacques, a native of Sydney, was active on the international tour in the 1960s. He reached the fourth round of the 1961 Wimbledon Championships, beating Jør ...

in 1961. As a junior, Hillebrand won the Victorian Under 19 Clay Court Singles Championships three years in a row. Up until that time, it had only been done once, by Neale Fraser. Hillebrand also won the Tasmanian State Under 19 Singles Championships in 1957. After retirement as a player, Hillebrand captained the winning "A" pennant team of Liston/Esplanade to the Premiership of Melbourne, Victoria in 1966.

Coach

As a coach he taught

Jim Pugh Jim Pugh (born February 5, 1964) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. He grew up in Palos Verdes, California and at age 10 began taking tennis lessons from John Hillebrand. He played tennis at UCLA. He became a doubl ...

from a 10 year old to number 1 in men's doubles in 1989. He also coached his wife (now ex) Charleen to 123 National US senior titles. Later on he became the director of the Australian School of Tennis in San Pedro, California.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hillenbrand, John Australian male tennis players Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people)