Full name Ashley John Cooper Career record 69–16 Retired 1962 Grand slams won (singles) 4 | Residence Australia Country (sports) Australia Name Ashley Cooper Turned pro 1959 | |
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Plays Right-handed (one-handed backhand) | ||
Int. Tennis HoF 1991 (member page) | ||
Ashley John Cooper AO (born 15 September 1936) is a former tennis player from Australia who was ranked the World No. 1 amateur player for 1957 and 1958. Cooper won four singles and doubles titles at Grand Slam tournaments.
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Playing career
Cooper won his first Grand Slam singles title at the 1957 Australian Championships where he defeated compatriot Neale Fraser in the final in four sets.
Cooper played his best year in 1958, becoming one of only eleven men to win three of the four Grand Slam events in the same year. He successfully defended his Australian singles title after a straight-sets victory in the final against Malcolm Anderson. In July he won his first Wimbledon title after beating Fraser in the final, and followed up with a first singles title at the U.S. Championships, again defeating Anderson in the final. Additionally Cooper was a semifinalist at the French Championship, losing to Luis Ayala in five sets.
The right-handed Cooper was the top ranked player in both 1957—when he was a Wimbledon and Forest Hills finalist, and Paris semi-finalist—and in 1958. Cooper played on the Australian Davis Cup team that won the cup in 1957, and were finalists in 1958. In 1959, he married Helen Wood, Miss Australia 1957, and in January turned professional after signing a contract with Jack Kramer.
Upon retiring as a player, Cooper has served as a tennis player development administrator with Tennis Queensland, where he has been based for nearly fifty years. He presently also sits on the Board of Directors for Tennis Australia.
Honours
Cooper was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1987 and the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1991. In the Queen's Birthday Honours List of 2007, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his service to tennis.
In 2009 Cooper was inducted into the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame.