Lew Hoad
Lewis Alan Hoad was an Australian tennis player whose career ran from the early 1950s through the early 1970s. Hoad won four Grand Slam tournaments as an amateur. He was a member of the Australian team that won the Davis Cup four times between 1952 and 1956. Hoad turned professional in July 1957 and won the Forest Hills Tournament of Champions event in 1959. He also won the Ampol Tournament of Champions at Kooyong in 1958 and the Ampol Open Trophy world series of tournaments in 1959–1960, defending his Kooyong title in the world series. During his career his main competitors were his longtime amateur tennis teammate Ken Rosewall and, throughout his professional career, Pancho Gonzales.
Hoad was ranked in the world top ten for amateurs from 1952 until 1957, was ranked the world No. 1 by Tennis de France for 1953, and reached the world No. 1 spot in the Lance Tingay rankings for 1956. He was ranked the world No. 1 professional in Kramer's 1959–1960 Ampol points ranking system, which was the only points ranking of the era. He was ranked the world No. 1 tennis player, professional or amateur, for 1962 in a poll of 85 U.S. sports editors. He still holds the men's all-time record for the youngest player ever to be ranked world No. 1, in 1953, at age 19 years 38 days.
Serious back problems plagued Hoad throughout his career, possibly caused by a weight-lifting exercise he devised in 1954, particularly after he turned professional, and led to his effective retirement from tennis in 1967, although afterwards he made sporadic appearances at tournaments, enticed by the advent of the Open Era in 1968.
Following his retirement in 1972, Hoad and his wife Jenny owned and operated a tennis resort, Lew Hoad's Campo de Tenis in Fuengirola, Spain, near Málaga. Hoad died of leukemia on 3 July 1994.
Early life and career
Lewis Hoad was born on 23 November 1934, in the working-class Sydney inner suburb of Glebe, the eldest of three sons of tramway electrician Alan Hoad and his wife Ailsa Lyle Burbury. Hoad started playing tennis at age five with a racket gifted by a local social club. As a young child, he would wake up at 5 a.m. and hit tennis balls against a wall and garage door until the neighbours complained, and he was allowed to practice on the courts of the Hereford Tennis Club behind the house. At age 10 he competed in the seaside tournament at Manly in the under 16 category.In his youth, he often played with Ken Rosewall, and they became known as the Sydney "twins", although they had very different physiques, personalities and playing styles. Their first match was in their early teens and was played as an opener of an exhibition match between Australia and America. Rosewall won 6–0, 6–0. Hoad built up great physical strength, especially in his hands and arms, by training at a police boys' club, where he made a name as a boxer. Hoad was about 12 when he was introduced to Adrian Quist, a former Australian tennis champion and then general manager of the Dunlop sports goods company. Quist played a couple of sets with Hoad and was impressed by his natural ability. When Hoad was 14 he left school and joined the Dunlop payroll, following the pattern of that 'shamateur' era when most of Australia's brightest tennis prospects were employed by sporting goods companies.
Hoad had just turned 15 when he and Rosewall were selected to play for New South Wales in an interstate contest against Victoria. In November 1949, Hoad won the junior title at the New South Wales Championships, and the same weekend, he also competed in the final of the junior table tennis championship in Sydney.
Tennis career
Amateur career: 1951–1957
;1951Hoad's first Grand Slam tournament appearance was at the 1951 Australian Championships held in January at the White City Tennis Club in Sydney. He won his first match against Ronald McKenzie in straight sets but lost in the following round to defending champion Frank Sedgman. It was the only Grand Slam tournament he played that year.
Hoad won his first men's singles title, the Brisbane Exhibition tournament, on 11 August 1951, defeating Rosewall in the final in four sets.
;1952
In 1952, he reached the third round of the Australian Championships, played in Adelaide, and in April, he was selected by the Australasian Lawn Tennis Association as member of the team to play in overseas tournaments. In May, before departing to Europe, he won the singles title at the Australian Hardcourt Championships on Australian clay courts after a five-set win in the final against Rosewall. Hoad, who had never played a tournament on European red clay courts, received a walkover in the first round of the French Championships and lost in straight sets to sixth-seeded and 1947 and 1951 finalist Eric Sturgess. In only their second appearance as a doubles team at a Grand Slam event, Hoad and Rosewall reached the French semifinal. Hoad subsequently played the Belgian tennis championships in Brussels in early June and reached the quarterfinal in which he was outclassed by Budge Patty.
Hoad's first entry at the grass court Queen's Club Championship in June 1952 ended in the quarterfinal against countryman and eventual champion Frank Sedgman. A week later, he played his first match at the Wimbledon Championships defeating Beppe Merlo in a nervous and unimpressive five-set encounter. Wins against Rolando del Bello and Freddie Huber were followed by a fourth round loss against second-seeded and eventual finalist Jaroslav Drobný. Hoad and Rosewall caused an upset when they defeated second-seeded Gardnar Mulloy and Dick Savitt in the third round of the doubles event in a run that ended in the semifinal against Vic Seixas and Eric Sturgess.
After a semifinal result at the Swedish championships in July, and an exhibition between Australia and West Germany, Hoad and the Australian team traveled to the United States under the guidance of coach Harry Hopman. As a preparation for his first U.S. Championships he played the Meadow Club Invitational, Eastern Grass Court Championships, and Newport Invitational before teaming up with Rosewall to reach the semifinal of the U.S. National Doubles Championships in Brookline. Hoad was the eighth seeded foreign player at the U.S. Championships. He won four matches to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal but due in part to making 64 errors could not overcome his countryman Sedgman who would win the tournament without losing a set. With Thelma Coyne Long he reached the final of the mixed doubles event, the first Grand Slam final of his career, but they lost in straight sets to Doris Hart and Frank Sedgman. An early loss at the Pacific Southwest Championships in September concluded his first overseas tour. In September, he was jointly ranked No. 10 in the world for 1952 with Rosewall by Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph.
;1953
Hoad started 1953 poorly in the singles with a second-round exit against Clive Wilderspin at the Australian Championships in Melbourne after playing an uncharacteristic baseline game. He was more successful in doubles where he and Rosewall became the youngest team to win the Australian doubles title after a victory in the final against Mervyn Rose and Don Candy. In March, Hoad defended his singles title at the Australian Hardcourt Championships, defeating Rosewall in a five set semifinal in which he survived six matchpoints, and 34-year-old John Bromwich in the final. Two weeks later, Hoad lost the final of the N.S.W. Hardcourt Championships against Mervyn Rose. Hoad's second overseas tour started in late April, and after an exhibition in Cairo at the Gezira Sporting Club, he entered the Italian Championships in Rome. He reached the final, losing to Drobný in straight sets but won the doubles title with Rosewall. At the French Championships in May, Hoad was seeded fourth and made it to the quarterfinals in which he lost to Vic Seixas due to overhitting and an unreliable serve. Hoad and Rosewall followed up their Australian title with a win at the French Championships after a three-set win in the final against countrymen Rose and Wilderspin. In June Hoad's attacking serve-and-volley game proved too good for Wimbledon favorite Rosewall in the final of the Queen's Club Championship and he won the tournament without losing a set. At Wimbledon, Hoad was seeded sixth, and as at the French, Vic Seixas defeated him in the quarterfinal, this time in a close five-set match that ended on a Hoad double fault. In an all-Australian doubles final Hoad and Rosewall defeated Hartwig and Rose to win their third Grand Slam doubles title of the year. Hoad lost to Enrique Morea in the final of the Dutch Championships in mid July. He won his first title on U.S. soil in South Orange at the Eastern Grass Court Championships in mid August, defeating compatriot Rex Hartwig in the final. In the semifinal against Rosewall, he pulled a back muscle. Hoad and Rosewall's hopes of winning the doubles Grand Slam, two years after fellow Australians Ken McGregor and Frank Sedgman had first achieved that feat, were dashed when they lost surprisingly in the third round of the U.S. Doubles Championships.
As the second-seeded foreign player, Hoad was one of the favorites for the singles title at the U.S. Championships. He won four matches to reach the semifinal where for the third time in 1953 he lost in a Grand Slam event to Vic Seixas. Following his defeat, and that of Rosewall in the other semifinal, there was criticism in the press that both 18-year-old players were physically and mentally worn out due to the intensive schedule imposed by coach Harry Hopman. In September, Seixas again beat Hoad, this time in the semifinal of the Pacific Southwest Championships in Los Angeles. Hoad was rested a few weeks upon his return to Australia and then entered the Queensland Championships in early November where he won the singles title in a 41-minute final against Hartwig. Two weeks later, Hoad won the N.S.W. Championships after four-set victories over Tony Trabert in the semi-final and over Rosewall in the final in front of a 10,000 Sydney crowd but had trouble with a sore right elbow. His good form continued in early December at the Victorian Championships when he again defeated Rosewall in the final. The much anticipated Davis Cup challenge round match against defendants United States took place at the Melbourne Kooyong Stadium in late December. Surprisingly Hartwig was selected to partner Hoad in the doubles instead of Rosewall, a decision widely criticized in the press. In the opening singles matches, Hoad defeated Seixas, his nemesis that season, in straight sets, while Trabert defeated Rosewall, also in straight sets. Hoad and Hartwig lost the doubles match against Seixas and Trabert and Australia trailed 1–2 at the start of the final day. Hoad is remembered for his match as a 19-year-old amateur against the United States champion Tony Trabert. In a hard-fought match in front of a 17,000 crowd, Hoad defeated Trabert in five sets to help his country retain the Cup. It was seen as one of the best Davis Cup matches in history. Directly following the final, Hoad received his call-up papers for National Service.
Hoad was ranked No. 5 in the world for the year 1953 according to Lance Tingay in his September rankings. At the end of the year, following the Australian season, Hoad was ranked world No. 1 for 1953 by Tennis de France, published by Philippe Chatrier. Tingay would comment in September 1954 that Hoad in 1953 "played so well during the Australian season that his status as best in the world was axiomatic." He added that for the 1954 season, "His form since has been almost disastrous. Hoad's decline has been a mystery." Hoad was the youngest tennis player ever at 19 years 38 days to achieve a world No. 1 ranking, a record which still stands.
;1954
challenge-round match against the US at White City, Sydney
In January, Hoad played just one tournament before entering his National Service training. At the South Australian Championships in Adelaide he reached the final but sub-par play led to a straight-sets defeat to Trabert. On 13 January, Hoad joined the 13th National Service Training battalion in Ingleburn for a period of 98 days and commented that "It will be a welcome break from tennis". As a consequence, Hoad was unable to participate in the Australian Championships. At the end of February, Hoad received a leave from service to play for the Australian team in the third test match against South Africa in front of the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh. He played a singles match, a doubles match with Rosewall and a mixed-doubles match with his girlfriend Jenny Staley. When Hoad returned to service, he was bitten by a spider while on maneuvers which caused him to become ill and hospitalized him for ten days. He spent two days in coma which was not made public.
While he was in service, Hoad devised a weight-lifting exercise, doing push-ups with round 50 lb. weights placed on his back, which Hoad later believed probably initiated his back trouble. Hoad left the National Service at the end of April and his third overseas tour with an Australian team started on 5 May. For the first time in his career, Hoad was the top-seeded player at a Grand Slam tournament when he entered the French Championships but he failed to live up to it when he lost in the fourth round to 41-year-old Gardnar Mulloy. Hoad reached the doubles final with Rosewall but the pair were soundly beaten by Seixas and Trabert in a 56-minute final. Partnering Maureen Connolly, who had won the women's singles title, Hoad won the mixed-doubles event after a win in the final against Jacqueline Patorni and Rex Hartwig. In June, Hoad overcame countryman Rose in the final of the Queen's Club Championship to successfully defend his 1953 singles title. Hoad was one of the favorites for the Wimbledon Championships and was seeded second behind Trabert. In the fourth round, Hoad avenged his loss to Mulloy at the French Championships, defeating him in four sets. In the quarterfinal the powerful service and excellent returns of 33-year-old Jaroslav Drobný proved too much for Hoad and he was beaten in straight sets within the hour. Hoad and Rosewall were unable to defend their Wimbledon doubles title after losing in fives sets in the semifinal to Seixas and Trabert. A surprise loss against Roger Becker in the semifinal at the Midlands Counties Championships in Birmingham was followed in mid-July by winning the singles title at the Swiss Championships in Gstaad. As in the previous year, Hoad met Rosewall in the Eastern Grass Court Championships in August, this time in the final, and again the titleholder was victorious, overpowering Rosewall to win the singles title in three straight sets. At Newport in mid August, Hoad was beaten by 17-year-old compatriot Roy Emerson who won the deciding set 8–6. For the third time in 1954, Seixas and Trabert defeated Hoad and Rosewall at a Grand Slam doubles event, winning the U.S. Doubles Championships in Brookline.
Hoad, seeded first among the foreign players at the U.S. Championships, failed to live up to his seeding when he lost to Ham Richardson in a five-set quarterfinal. His lackluster form continued when he was defeated by unseeded Luis Ayala in the quarterfinal of the Pacific Southwest Championships in mid-September. After returning to Australia at the end of September, Hoad scheduled extra practice to work on his serve and volley but subsequently lost to Don Candy in the semifinal of the Sydney Metropolitan Championships. In early November, matters briefly improved as he consolidated the Queensland title in Brisbane. In the final, he overcame a sunstroke and the loss of sets three and four by 0–6 to defeat Hartwig in five sets. In mid-November, he was upset by veteran John Bromwich who better exploited the windy conditions in the quarterfinal of the N.S.W. Championships. At the Victorian Championships, the last significant tournament before the Davis Cup Challenge Round, Hoad was defeated in straight sets in the semifinal by Seixas. As in the previous match against Sven Davidson he showed such poor form and at times an apparent lack of interest that he was jeered by the crowd and several left after he smashed a ball into the stands. The 1954 Davis Cup Challenge Round was played on 27–29 December on the grass courts at the White City Stadium in Sydney between title holders Australia and the United States. Hoad played the first rubber, in front of a record crowd of 25,000, which he lost to Trabert, in a high-quality four-set match. Rosewall also lost his singles match and the United States won back the cup after Seixas and Trabert defeated Hoad and Rosewall in four sets in the doubles rubber.
In September, Hoad's world ranking had slipped to No. 7 in Tingay's ranking, although Tingay, Chatrier and other writers ranked Hoad world No. 5 in a collaborative ranking. In a season review article in the Dunlop Lawn Tennis Annual & Almanack editor and former tennis player G.P. Hughes mentioned that "Hoad in particular had a bad year". In a 1956 interview, Hoad admitted that especially in 1954 he often got fed-up with tennis and didn't care whether he played or not.
;1955
Hoad started the 1955 season on a low note when he was unable to play the South Australian tennis championship in early January due to a torn ligament. To some surprise he entered the mixed doubles event at the 1955 Australian Championships with his girlfriend Jenny Staley and the pair finished as runner-ups to Thelma Coyne Long and George Worthington. In the singles event, Hoad reached his first Grand Slam tournament final after solid wins over Seixas and Hartwig. In the final Rosewall's accuracy and control, however, were too strong for him and he lost in three straight sets. Hoad did not participate in the French Championships as the Davis Cup team that he was part of only left for Europe at the end of May during the Championships. In the singles final of the Queen's Club Championship in mid-June Hoad, who had gotten married earlier that day, lost his service seven times and lost to Rosewall in two straight sets but won the doubles event with Hartwig. Hoad was the fourth-seeded player at the Wimbledon Championships at the end of June. In his quarterfinal match against seventh-seeded Budge Patty, his game lacked accuracy and he conceded a break in each set resulting in a loss in straight sets.
Having lost the Davis Cup in 1954, Australia had to play through the 1955 Davis Cup preliminary rounds to challenge holders United States. In July, Australia defeated Mexico, Brazil and Canada to win the Americas Zone and subsequently beat Japan and Italy in the Inter-zone matches in August. In the Challenge Round, played at the West Side Tennis Club, Forest Hills from 26–28 August, Hoad defeated the French and Wimbledon champion Trabert in four sets in his first singles rubber and with Hartwig won the doubles match to reclaim the Davis Cup for Australia. These were the first ever tennis matches broadcast in color, on a national broadcast by NBC television.
Hoad was the second-seeded foreign player at the U.S. Championships held from September 2 to 11, immediately after the Davis Cup Challenge Round, on the muddy courts of Forest Hills. In the quarterfinal, he lost his service three times in succession in the third set and suffered a straight-sets defeat in 50 minutes against Trabert, the first-seeded U.S. player, and eventual champion. In his first significant tournament after the U.S. Championships, Hoad won the New South Wales Championships in November after a win in the final against Rosewall. In December, he added the singles title at the Victorian Championships after a tough five-sets final win over 19-year old Ashley Cooper. In September, he was ranked No. 3 in the world according to Tingay.
;1956
Hoad started the year with a five-set defeat in the final of the South Australian Championships against countryman Neale Fraser. At the following Manly tournament, the crowd overflowed the stands during the final hindering Rosewall's baseline game more than Hoad's, resulting in a straight-sets win for Hoad in 35 minutes. At the Australian Championships, played in Brisbane, Hoad overcame a two sets to one deficit against Mervyn Rose in the quarterfinal and beat Neale Fraser in the semifinal to reach his second consecutive Australian final. His opponent was again Ken Rosewall, and this time Hoad overcame his rival and titleholder in four sets to win his first Grand Slam singles title. His success was completed by winning the doubles title with Rosewall against Don Candy and Mervyn Rose. At the beginning of March, Hoad and his wife left for an overseas private tour, i.e. a tour sanctioned but not organized by the Australian tennis federation. First stop of the tour was Cairo where Hoad won the singles title at the Egyptian Championships against Sven Davidson followed by a tournament win in Alexandria over Fred Kovaleski. At Monte Carlo in late March, he was surprisingly beaten by Tony Vincent in the quarterfinal. In the Australian ranking published in April, reflecting the season until the end of March, Hoad overtook Rosewall as No. 1. Singles titles at the Lebanese Championships and at the Connaught Club in Essex followed in April but the month ended with a semifinal loss to Ham Richardson at the British Hard Court Championships in Bournemouth.
Hoad won his first Italian Championships on the clay courts of the Foro Italico in Rome in early May when he outplayed Sven Davidson in straight sets. At the French Championships, Hoad survived a five-set scare against Robert Abdesselam in the third round before winning the final against Sven Davidson in straight sets to claim his second consecutive Grad Slam singles title. Unknown to the public, Hoad had stayed up the night previous to the final, invited by a Russian diplomat, and was drunk when he came home. An intensive workout by Rod Laver got him into a state that allowed him to play the final. In May, Hoad won the International Golden Ball tournament in Wiesbaden, West Germany after a straight-sets victory in the final over Art Larsen but at the Trofeo Conde de Godó in Barcelona, he lost in the quarterfinal to Bob Howe. As a preparation for Wimbledon, Hoad elected to play the singles event at the Northern Championships in Manchester instead of the Queen's Club Championships. He reached the final but had to bow for 34-year old Jaroslav Drobný who won the deciding set 7–5. Hoad was seeded first for the Wimbledon Championships and was the pre-tournament favorite. He lost two sets along the way to reach the final, in which he faced Rosewall. In the first all-Australian final since 1922, Hoad was victorious in four sets to gain his first Wimbledon and third successive Grand Slam championship title. Hoad also won the doubles title with Rosewall, their third Wimbledon title, outclassing Orlando Sirola and Nicola Pietrangeli in the final in straight sets. Following his Wimbledon title he entered the Midlands tournament and was beaten in the semifinal by Mike Davies. In August, Hoad won the singles title at the German Championships, held on the clay courts at Hamburg, with a four-set defeat of Orlando Sirola in the final.
Shortly after Wimbledon, Hoad experienced severe pain and stiffness in his lower back, at a level higher than before the tournament. He arranged to travel to the U.S. by boat on the RMS Queen Mary rather than suffer a long plane trip. However, the pain continued and reduced the level of his play for the remainder of the year and into 1957.
After his transatlantic voyage in August, Hoad played directly in the U.S. Championships, having missed the preparatory grass court tournament at Newport. Having won the first three stages of the Grand Slam, Hoad was favoured to win the fourth and then turn professional for a lucrative contract offered by Jack Kramer. In an upset, however, he lost the final in four sets to Rosewall in the U.S. Championships at Forest Hills. Hoad and Rosewall won the doubles title against Seixas and Richardson. After this, Hoad played in the O'Keefe Invitational at the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club in Rosedale, Toronto on a red clay surface. He defeated Luis Ayala in the semifinal and Sven Davidson in a four set final. At the Pacific Southwest Championships in September, the last leg of his overseas tour before returning to Australia, Hoad was beaten by Alex Olmedo in the third round. In early November he lost the final of the Queensland Championships to Ashley Cooper in five sets and was hindered by numbness in the serving arm between the elbow and the wrist. The following week Hoad had to retire from the New South Wales Championships during his first round match against Ross Sherriff due to a sore arm. In mid December Hoad and Rosewall competed in the final of the Victorian Championships which was their last final as amateurs as Rosewall turned professional at the end of the month. The final started late due to rain and was stopped due to darkness at two sets to one for Hoad but the following day Rosewall won the last two sets and the title. In late December, Hoad was part of the Australian Davis Cup team which successfully defended the cup in the Challenge Round against the United States who were weakened by the absence of Tony Trabert who had turned professional in the fall of 1955. In his last Davis Cup appearance, Hoad won both his singles rubbers, against Herbie Flam and Seixas, as well as his doubles match with Rosewall to help Australia to a 5–0 victory. Hoad was confined to bed with back pain for the two days prior to the Davis Cup matches, and was relieved to find that he could play well. In September, Hoad was ranked No. 1 in the world by Lance Tingay. Hoad won 16 tournaments in 1956, and 17 doubles titles.
;1957
Hoad played poorly in early 1957, due to back trouble, and was placed in an upper body cast for six weeks, following which he slowly returned to tennis competition in April 1957. He then experienced a period of pain-free playing for 11 months. Hoad won his second successive Wimbledon singles title, defeating Ashley Cooper in a straight-sets final that lasted 57 minutes. After the tournament, he turned professional by signing a two-year contract with Kramer for a record guarantee of $125,000 which included a $25,000 bonus for winning the 1957 Wimbledon singles title. Hoad would receive 20% of the gate receipts for each match, along with a 5% bonus if he won the match of the day. Hoad stated in a newspaper interview that his contract would guarantee him AUS£56,000 over a two-year term, and 25% of all receipts for the matches in which he played, plus another 6% for expenses. These "percentage of gate" clauses of the contract would result in Hoad earning over £50,000 sterling in the first 11 months of his pro career according to Kramer. Another report states £71,400 sterling by late 1959. Hoad's biographers state that Hoad earned "nearly $200,000" by the end of the 1958 tour. By turning professional, Hoad was no longer eligible to compete in the amateur Grand Slam tournaments.
Professional career: 1957–1972
Jack Kramer's first attempt to sign Hoad and Rosewall for his professional tour came in September 1954 when both players were in Los Angeles for the Pacific Coast Championships. Both signed a contract but later changed their minds and elected to remain amateurs. A renewed offer in October 1955 was also turned down. Fresh from his victory over Hoad at the 1956 U.S. Championships, it was Ken Rosewall who first signed the professional contract and went on to spend the new year as the regular victim of Pancho Gonzales on the pro tour.;1957
In July 1957, Hoad won his debut match as a professional against Frank Sedgman at the Forest Hills Tournament of Champions. He won his next match, against Pancho Segura, but then lost nine straight matches to various opponents as he adjusted to the pro tour. After Forest Hills, Hoad commented on the difference between amateur and professional tennis: "It's an entirely different league. These pros make mistakes but they don't make them on vital points. That's the difference."
In September during a four-man tour of Europe by Hoad with Kramer, Rosewall, and Segura, Kramer and Hoad were interviewed live on BBC television. Kramer stated in that interview his estimation of Hoad's game: "I feel that he's potentially the best player that tennis might ever have."
;1958
In 1958 a series of 100 head-to-head matches was planned between Hoad and the reigning champion of professional tennis, Pancho Gonzales. The series started in January in a number of Australian cities in major stadiums on grass courts with a best-of-five set format, and at the end of the Australian subtour, Hoad was leading 8–5. The key match of the Australian series was the second Kooyong encounter, which Hoad won in four sets, a marathon 80 games, 4–6, 9–7, 11–9, 18–16 which leveled the series at five wins each. Hoad followed-up with a 15 to 3 winning streak against Gonzales. In February, the series continued in the United States, mostly in indoor venues and local gyms with a best-of-three set format. Hoad won 18 of the first 27 matches, and on 28 February, Gonzales met with Kramer and indicated that he had lost confidence of winning the series. However, after they played an outdoor match on 1 March on a chilly night in Palm Springs, Hoad's back stiffened which affected him significantly for the rest of the series. Twice Hoad was forced to take time off to rest his back and was substituted for in his absence by Rosewall and Trabert. From 9–18 Gonzales surged to a 26–23 lead, and at the end of the series on 8 June, he had defeated Hoad by 51 matches to 36. Gross receipts for the American portion of that series were reported in a Daily Mail interview with Hoad in 1959 to be $240,000.
For the 1958/1959 seasons, Kramer had a troupe of professional champions that included 11 Hall of Fame players, under contract, and he designed a series of major tournaments to provide a format in which all of them could participate. Kramer designated four tournaments as professional majors, Forest Hills, Kooyong, L.A. Masters, and Sydney White City. Hoad won three of these eight tournaments in 1958/59. In January 1958, Hoad won the Kooyong Tournament of Champions in Melbourne, with prize money of AUS£10,000. The tournament was funded by the Australian oil company Ampol. Hoad defeated Gonzales in the deciding match, and won all five of his matches in the round-robin event. He received AUS£2,500 for his win, $6,160 including doubles returns, a record payday in pro tennis. In the final of the Cleveland World Pro on 5 May, Hoad lost a two-set lead against Gonzales while struggling with a leg-muscle injury. Hoad dropped out of the tour in late May to rest his thigh injury. At the Forest Hills Tournament of Champions in June 1958, Hoad's thigh injury healed in time for his final match which he won against Gonzales on the final day in a weekend match televised nationally on CBS. The reporter for the L.A. Times called this Hoad/Gonzales broadcast "one of the most sensational displays of tennis that I can remember." However, Gonzales won the event with a better overall round-robin record. At Roland Garros in September, Hoad won his quarterfinal against Trabert, and his semifinal against Gonzales. While leading in the final against Rosewall, Hoad wrenched his back reaching for a ball, and could not play well in the remainder of the match. He had to default the Wembley Pro tournament in September due to an "arthritic" back. Hoad rested for the next three months and did not play again until 1959. Hoad had earned nearly $200,000 by the end of the 1958 season.
;1959
In early 1959, he began Kramer's Ampol Open Trophy world series of tournaments slowly, hampered by an elbow injury. Mr. W.G. Walkley, the Managing Director of Ampol, the major Australian oil company, announced that the company would provide an award of AUS£2,500, plus the Ampol Open Trophy, to the acknowledged world's best tennis player, adjudged from the world series of tournaments. At the end of January, Hoad defeated Rosewall and Cooper to win at Perth and in February 1959, he defeated Rosewall in three sets to win the South Australian Pro Championships in Adelaide. This gave Hoad the lead in Ampol bonus points after the first group of five tournaments, a lead which he would never relinquish until the Ampol Open Trophy series ended in January 1960. The Ampol Open Trophy series resumed in North America in June with the L.A. Masters at the L.A. Tennis Club on cement, followed by the O'Keefe Professional Championships at the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club in Rosedale on red clay, and the Forest Hills Tournament of Champions in New York City at the Forest Hills stadium on grass.
In the four-man 1959 Kramer World Professional Championship Tour, which ran from 20 February through May in the United States, Hoad built a lead of 12 to 5 in his series of matches against Gonzales, after a win in Newcastle, Pennsylvania in late April. Gonzales stated that "I had blisters under my blisters from the punishment" on that tour. However, the daily grind of the tour began to cause a renewal of Hoad's back trouble, and he finally won against Gonzales by 15 matches to 13. He also won his head-to-head's with newly turned pro Ashley Cooper and Mal Anderson. With a win-loss record of 42–20 he finished second in the four-man tour ranking behind Gonzales and earned $28,250. Gross receipts for that 100-day American series were reported in a Daily Mail interview with Hoad as $160,000.
At the Cleveland World Pro Championships in late April, played during the 4-man U.S. tour and not part of the Ampol Open Trophy series, Hoad lost the final to Gonzales in three straight sets. This would be Hoad's final appearance at the Cleveland event. At the L.A. Masters round robin tournament from 5 to 14 June, part of the Ampol series, Hoad and Gonzales both finished with five wins and one loss, but Gonzales won the title on account of his victory over Hoad in their head-to-head match, which had been the first match for both in the event. During the tournament, Hoad received several Hollywood offers for screen tests, but turned them down with the comment "What do I want with money?". At the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club in Rosedale, Toronto, from June 16 to 21, part of the Ampol series, Hoad and Rosewall played a special exhibition match against each other. In the O'Keefe Professional Championships tournament on red clay at the club, Hoad lost to Sedgman and Rosewall lost to Trabert. Gonzales won the tournament by beating Cooper, Trabert and Sedgman.
At the Forest Hills Tournament of Champions from June 23 to 28, part of the Ampol series, and broadcast nationally on the CBS television network, Hoad defeated Rosewall in the semifinal and Gonzales in the final, both in four sets, to claim the title. Hoad won $3,000 for his victory in the singles, plus $750 for winning the doubles with Trabert. In the August 1959 issue of World Tennis, Riggs wrote of the Forest Hills final, "the match signified the end of an era. The great Gonzales who had dominated professional tennis for four years had been decisively beaten..." In that same issue of World Tennis, it was noted that Hoad had been seeded No. 1 at Forest Hills and Gonzales seeded No. 2 on the basis of Ampol points. According to tennis journalist and author Joe McCauley this was the zenith of Hoad's career.
In August 1959, Hoad finished runner-up to Cooper at the Slazenger Professional Tournament in Eastbourne, not part of the Ampol series. The first prize of the Slazenger tournament was GBR£150, the smallest purse reported to be offered on the 1959 professional season. This would be the last Slazenger Pro in which the contract professionals would participate. In September, Hoad lost to Sedgman in the semifinal of the French Pro at Roland Garros, part of the Ampol series, but defeated Rosewall in a playoff for third place. In the Grand Prix de Europe regional tour of European locations from August to October, which excluded Roland Garros and Wembley, Hoad finished in third place behind Sedgman and Rosewall, and at the end of 1959, Kramer placed Hoad in fourth place in his personal world professional rating, while the French sportspaper L'Équipe ranked Hoad fifth as of mid-December, before the Ampol series was completed. However, Kramer's Australian tennis agent Bob Barnes placed Hoad in first spot, corresponding to Hoad's standing on the official Ampol ranking.
The Ampol Open Trophy series moved back from Europe to Australia where it was completed with five tournaments in November and December/January. Hoad won the Perth and Adelaide events to begin the final group of tournaments. At the Sydney Tournament of Champions from 8 to 13 December, Gonzales defeated Rosewall in the semifinal and Hoad in the final, both in straight sets. At Brisbane from December 15 to 19, Rosewall defeated Hoad in the semifinal and Gonzales in the final in long matches. The final event of the Ampol Open Trophy world series, the Qantas Kooyong Championships, began on 26 December 1959 with prize money of AUS£6,000. With a victory at Kooyong, either Hoad or Gonzales would have won the Ampol Open Trophy series, but Gonzales decided to return to the U.S. for the holidays to be with his fiancée. Gonzales, in withdrawing from the Qantas Kooyong, thereby defaulted the Ampol series and Open Trophy to Hoad.
On 2 January 1960, Hoad defeated Rosewall in a three-hour, four-set match to win the Qantas Kooyong round-robin tournament, a match which Kramer acclaimed as one of the best ever played. With Hoad's successful defence of the Kooyong title also came the Ampol Open Trophy win, and a bonus prize of AUS£2,500 for winning the trophy. The Ampol Open Trophy world series had consisted of 15 tournaments around the world played between 10 January 1959 and 2 January 1960. Hoad finished first in the series with 51 bonus points, ahead of Gonzales and Rosewall. The Melbourne newspaper "The Age" for 4 January 1960 declared, Hoad "was crowned the new world professional tournament champion at Kooyong" by winning the Ampol world series. French language "L'Impartial" for 6 January 1960 declared "Lewis Hoad world champion", the win at Kooyong "allows him at the same time to claim the world title for 1959". The order of finish of the 12 professionals on the Ampol world series was designated by Kramer to be the official ranking for 1959, and determined the seeding list for all tournaments.. The field of professional players for the Ampol series included 11 present-day members of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. This would turn out to be Hoad's only professional world championship world series victory in three full attempts, and the only world championship tournament series reported between 1946 and 1964.
Kramer's office reported that for the 1959 year as a whole, Hoad had won his personal series of matches against Gonzales 24 to 23. He withdrew from the 1960 world championship tour, citing a need for family time.
By then Hoad had made, according to one report, approximately $200,000 since turning pro, while an Australian newspaper interview with Hoad reported his professional winnings under his two-year contract at £100,000, presumably in Australian currency, or U.S.$224,000, including U.S.$70,000 for 1959 alone. Hoad's biographers stated that he made "almost $200,000" by the end of the 1958 season. Kramer stated that he paid Hoad $140,000 through May, 1958 and $225,000 through June 1959, not including promotional money, with much of the 1959/60 season still to come. The total before promotions would be well over $250,000 through 1959, or about £100,000 in British currency, more than twice the level of his contract guarantee of $125,440. Hoad stated in the Australian newspaper interview that his endorsement income was about £20,000, again presumably in Australian currency, or $22,440 per year, plus investment returns on a hotel ownership with other players. It was reported that Hoad would likely earn more in 1959 than top baseball player Mickey Mantle and the best-paid American football players. Hoad later claimed, "I never had a problem with Jack Kramer."
;1960
Hoad had been the number-one money winner in pro tennis for both 1958 and 1959, and he negotiated a new seven-year contract with Kramer in early February 1960, as did Rosewall, to run through the 1966 season. In March, Kramer resigned as promoter, and reorganized the pro tour ownership, terminating his own "Tennis Inc.", which had owned the contracts and assumed responsibility for the player contract guarantees. The pro tour was now under the new International Professional Tennis Players Association, owned jointly by the contract pros. The players themselves were now responsible for the contract guarantees and any liabilities of the tour. Kramer continued as tour director and promoter without personal liability.
Hoad took a three-month layoff at the beginning of 1960 to rest his back and spend time with his family. When he returned to play, he was rusty, slow, and carried some extra weight, but he gradually recovered his form. He won a New Zealand tour in April, over Anderson, Sedgman, and Cooper. In May, he lost a five-set final to Rosewall at the Melbourne Olympic Pool where a court was set up on the drained pool floor. Hoad won tournament finals in June at Santa Barbara, California and in September at Geneva, Switzerland, both over Rosewall, but appeared out of condition in the Roland Garros final against Rosewall. In late 1960, Hoad won the first Japanese Professional Championships in Tokyo, beating Rosewall, Cooper, and Gimeno to win the $10,000 tournament. In the final, Hoad prevailed at 13–11 in the fifth set over Rosewall. Hoad received $2,400 for winning both the singles and doubles with Anderson in Tokyo.
;1961
at the Professional Championship in Noordwijk, Netherlands in August 1961
Hoad played a few one-set matches on the 1961 pro world series tour in January, but soon withdrew because of a broken left foot and was substituted for by first Trabert and then Sedgman. He finished fourth in a tour of five Soviet cities in July, returning to play after his broken foot had healed. In September, Hoad lost in the first round of the French Pro to Luis Ayala, and at the Wembley Pro, he defeated Gonzales in a four-set semifinal but lost in a four-set final to Rosewall, appearing stiff and sluggish. Also that month, Hoad and Gonzales had already played a ten-match best-of-three sets tour of Britain and Ireland, with Buchholz and Davies playing the undercard matches. Hoad won his series against Gonzales by a score of six matches to four. Hoad won four of the five matches in the series which were played on grass. The four players shared AUS£9,000. In November, Hoad won the fifth and deciding rubber for Australia against the United States in the inaugural Kramer Cup by beating Trabert in four sets. Trabert said afterwards: "Trying to stop Lew in that final set was like fighting a machine gun with a rubber knife". L'Équipe ranked Hoad as the third-best player of the year. In July 1961 Gardnar Mulloy rated Hoad as world No. 1 ahead of Gonzales, and the favourite to win a prospective open Wimbledon.
;1962
There was no official pro championship tour in 1962, as Laver had declined to accept pro offers made by Kramer at the 1961 Wimbledon. Kramer resigned as tour promoter and director. From 14 to 17 March 1962, Hoad won the Adelaide Professional Championships, beating Rosewall, Gimeno, and Sedgman, the final against Rosewall very close. On 12 August 1962, Hoad was awarded the Facis Trophy for winning the Italian tour. In late August, Hoad played a five-match, best-of-three sets tour in Britain against Trabert, defeating Trabert at Nottingham, Edinburgh, Bournemouth, and Dublin, while Trabert won at Scarborough. Hoad won the professional tournament in Zürich in September 1962 by a win in the final against Pancho Segura. In late September, Hoad lost to Rosewall in a 3 1/4 hour, four-set final at Wembley. Hoad and Rosewall teamed to win the doubles final at both Roland Garros and Wembley. In the 1962 Kramer Cup tournament, in best-of-five set formats, Hoad defeated Gimeno in the semifinal tie in Turin, Italy on clay, and Hoad won the opening match of the final at Adelaide in December against Olmedo on grass. Hoad was voted the top tennis player of 1962 in a poll by 85 U.S. sports editors.
;1963
In January 1963, Hoad and Rosewall guaranteed the contract of new pro Rod Laver, and Hoad and Rosewall, longtime teammates, became the proprietors of the professional tour. Hoad agreed to reduce his own share of money taken in at the gate for the upcoming 1963 tour of Australia in order for Laver to be able to take 25% of the gate, which arrangement would help Laver earn his guarantee more quickly. In January, Hoad beat Laver 8–0 in a series of matches in Australia, some of which were best-of-five and televised from sold-out stadiums. Hoad was then inactive for five months due to a shoulder injury. On his return in June, he lost to Laver in the semifinal of the Adler Pro, and at the Forest Hills U.S. Pro tournament he lost to Buchholz in the first round. The Forest Hills event did not have a television contract, was a financial failure, and the players, with the exception of Gonzales, were not paid. At the French Pro indoor event at Stade Coubertin in September, Hoad was defeated in straight sets by Rosewall in the semifinal and lost the third place play-off against Sedgman. At the Wembley Pro, he reached the final after surviving a marathon semifinal against Buchholz in which he strained his leg muscle and was limping throughout most of the match. Hoad was tired and sluggish in the final, which again he lost to Rosewall, this time in four sets. McCauley acclaimed the semi-final with Buchholz "one of the best contests ever staged at Wembley". At the end of the year, Laver had become the No. 2 professional player behind Rosewall, although Hoad held a head-to-head advantage over Laver on the year.
Hoad's gross earnings from tennis play for the year were about $20,000, or fifth among the pro players. However, in addition to this prize money, Hoad's contract and the guarantees associated with it were reportedly met by a distribution of tournament profits and television revenues above the purse prize money to meet his contract rights, inherited from the Kramer era by the IPTPA.
;1964–67
In February and March 1964, Hoad played a 16-day 24-match best-of-three sets tour of New Zealand with Laver, Rosewall, and Anderson. Hoad and Laver both finished on top with seven wins and five losses, but Hoad won first place with a 3 to 1 head-to-head score against Laver. In late September 1964, Hoad and Gonzales played a four match best-of-three sets head-to-head series in Britain, at Brighton, Carlyon Bay, Cardiff, and Glasgow. Hoad won at Carlyon Bay and Cardiff, while Gonzales won at Brighton and Glasgow. Hoad experienced foot trouble in 1964 and finished in sixth place in the tournament series points system. In early 1965, much of his large right toe was removed, and he was only able to play a limited schedule thereafter. Hoad won his final victory against Laver on 24 January 1966 at White City in Sydney, his home town, defeating him in straight sets.
Hoad played out his seven year contract on 14 November 1966, and withdrew from competitive play for ten months. Hoad and his wife invested in the development of a tennis club and real estate holdings in southern Spain. He returned unexpectedly to participate in the Wimbledon Pro tournament in late August 1967.
Hoad participated in the 1967 Wimbledon Pro, a three-day BBC televised tournament organized by the All-England Club as a trial for "open" tennis and as such the first Wimbledon tournament open to male professional tennis players. Hoad was one of the eight players invited for the singles event and despite being in semi-retirement and without competitive play for ten months, he won his first match against 39-year-old Gonzales in three sets. The BBC television commentator called it "the finest match ever seen on these hallowed grounds." This would be the last match on grass between Hoad and Gonzales, with Hoad holding a lifetime edge on grass over Gonzales of 20 matches to 14. With little energy left he lost the semifinal to Rosewall in two straight sets. Hoad played for an eight week period on the pro tour in 1967, and then retired permanently from regular competitive tennis play.
;Open era 1968–1972
Back problems plagued Hoad throughout his career and forced his retirement from the tennis tour in October 1967 but the advent of the Open Era enticed him to make sporadic appearances at tournaments. Hoad reached the final of the Irish Championships at Dublin in July 1968 but lost to Tom Okker in straight sets, hampered by a thigh injury. In November 1969, Hoad won the Dewar Cup Aberavon singles title, part of the Dewar Cup indoor circuit, after defeating Mark Cox in the semifinal and Bob Hewitt in the final, both wins in two straight sets. At the 1970 Italian Open, he reached the third round which he lost in four sets to Alex Metreveli. At the 1970 French Open, he defeated Charlie Pasarell in four close sets, and reached the fourth round before succumbing to eventual finalist Željko Franulović. At Wimbledon that year he lost in the second round to Ismail El Shafei.
Hoad achieved his final tennis tournament title win in singles on 7 August 1971, the Playmon Fiesta 71, on red clay at Benidorm, Spain. He defeated Antonio Muñoz in the semifinal and Manuel Santana in the final by identical scores of 9-7, 6-3. This would mark a twenty year span during which Hoad won men's singles titles in tennis, between the ages of 16 and 36, dating back to the Brisbane tournament of August 1951. In the spring of 1972, Hoad teamed up with Frew McMillan to play the doubles event at the Italian Open and reached the final against Ilie Năstase and Ion Ţiriac. They led 2–0 in sets but retired at 3–5 down in the fifth set in protest of the poor light conditions and the antics of the Rumanian pair. At the end of June, at the age of 37, he made his final Wimbledon appearance losing in the first round to Jürgen Fassbender in four sets.
From 1970 to 1974, Hoad was the coach of the Spanish Davis Cup team.
According to research done for a 1970 British Pathé documentary film about Hoad's tennis ranch, Hoad had earned GBP 350,000 during the course of his playing career. In a 1977 newspaper interview, Hoad's career earnings were stated to be GBP 250,000.
Playing style
Strength of arm and wrist played an important part in Hoad's game, as he often drove for winners rather than rallying and waiting for the right opportunity, though he also had the skill to win the French Championships on the slower clay court. Hoad played right-handed and had a powerful serve and groundstrokes but his game lacked consistency. At times Hoad had difficulty maintaining concentration. According to Kramer, "Hoad had the loosest game of any good kid I ever saw. There was absolutely no pattern to his game.... He was the only player I ever saw who could stand six or seven feet behind the baseline and snap the ball back hard, crosscourt. He'd try for winners off everything, off great serves, off tricky short balls, off low volleys. He hit hard overspin drives, and there was no way you could ever get him to temporise on important points." Kramer compares Hoad to Ellsworth Vines. "Both were very strong guys. Both succeeded at a very young age.... Also, both were very lazy guys. Vines lost interest in tennis before he was thirty, and Hoad never appeared to be very interested. Despite their great natural ability, neither put up the outstanding records that they were capable of. Unfortunately, the latter was largely true because both had physical problems."Hoad was runner-up for the Australian junior table tennis championship in 1951, and developed strong wrists and arms through heavy weight-lifting regimes. Hoad would use wrist strength in his strokes to make last split-second changes in racquet direction. He would saw off about a half inch from the ends of his racquet handles, which were short to begin with, and move the grip higher to wield his racquets as if they were ping-pong bats.
Assessment
Hoad was ranked world No. 1 for 1953 by Tennis de France, published by Philippe Chatrier, making him the youngest player of all time to be ranked world No. 1.In 1956 Hoad was ranked world No. 1 by Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph. His win/loss ratio for that season in all matches was 114/129 or 88%. His win ratio in an injury-plagued 1958 was 41%. However, Hoad's win rates on the world championship tour that year and in the 1959 four-man tour compare favourably to Rosewall's percentages on the 1957 world championship tour and on the 1960 four man tour. In the 1959 Ampol Open Trophy tournament series, Hoad's winning percentage was 71% compared to Gonzales' 72% and Rosewall's 62%. Gonzales defaulted three Ampol tournaments and played 15 fewer matches than Hoad in the tournament series. For the 1959 season as a whole, Hoad had a 24 to 23 edge in wins against Gonzales, a series consistency which surpasses any other opponent of Gonzales during his world champion years. Hoad's consistency on grass surfaces is highlighted by his lifetime edge in play against Gonzales on grass of 20 to 14. Hoad trails Rosewall lifetime in grasscourt matches, 18 to 26, Hoad's results declining after 1961. Hoad was 14 wins and 18 losses against Rosewall lifetime in grass court tournament play,. Hoad was 8 wins and 10 losses lifetime on clay against Rosewall, and 11 wins and 11 losses lifetime on clay against Trabert. Lifetime on all surfaces, primarily indoor, Hoad trails Gonzales 77–104 and trails Rosewall 51–84. On outdoor surfaces, Gonzales held a 36 to 31 lifetime edge over Hoad, or 53%.
On the head-to-head world pro tours of the era, Hoad compiled 51 wins and 64 losses against Gonzales, the best head-to-head showing of any pro against the reigning champion Gonzales, and in spite of a three month period of substandard play during the 1958 season due to injury. On the 1959 Ampol world championship series of tournaments, Hoad's record was 3 wins and 5 losses against Gonzales However, Hoad was more consistent than Gonzales against the other ten players on the Ampol series, winning 33 of 43 matches, while Gonzales won 21 of 28, and this gave Hoad the overall victory in the series. Hoad won six tournaments compared to Gonzales' four, and he had 6 wins and 2 losses against Rosewall on the 1959 Ampol series, while Gonzales had 1 win and 3 losses against Rosewall. Hoad had a 15–13 edge over Gonzales in their meetings on the 4-man championship tour of 1959, but as Joe McCauley noted, Hoad was deprived of overall victory on this tour because he was less consistent than Gonzales when facing the rookie pros, Mal Anderson and Ashley Cooper. Hoad's combined record against the rookies was 27–7 compared to Gonzales’ 34–0.
Gonzales always maintained that Hoad was the toughest, most skillful adversary that he had ever faced. "He was the only guy who, if I was playing my best tennis, could still beat me." said Gonzales in a 1995 New York Times interview. "I think his game was the best game ever. Better than mine. He was capable of making more shots than anybody. His two volleys were great. His overhead was enormous. He had the most natural tennis mind with the most natural tennis physique." In a 1970 interview he stated that "Hoad was probably the best and toughest player when he wanted to be. After the first two years on the tour, his back injury plagued him so much that he lost the desire to practice. He was the only man to beat me in a head-to-head tour, 15 to 13." Kramer, however, had mixed feelings about Hoad's ability. In spite of calling him one of the 21 best players of all time, albeit in the second echelon, he also writes that "when you sum Hoad up, you have to say that he was overrated. He might have been the best, but day-to-day, week-to-week, he was the most inconsistent of all the top players."
Hoad stated in a 1984 interview in World Tennis, "I would play hard in a major tournament final, but if it was the final of the Hamburger Open, against a player I knew I could beat, well..", and he shrugged his shoulders.
In a 1963 article in World Tennis Rosewall judged Gonzales to be a notch above Hoad but stated that "...the latter is the greatest of all time when he is 'on'.", an opinion echoed by Frew McMillan. In 2010, Rosewall rated Hoad at the top of his personal list of the top four greatest tennis players of all time, ahead of Gonzales, Laver, and Federer. However, in 2017, Rosewall was asked the question in Italian publication Corriere della Sera if he believed Roger Federer was the greatest of all time and he replied "there is no doubt. I challenge anyone to argue otherwise". In 2007, Butch Buchholz rated Hoad as the greatest player of his era, but said he was "injury prone and not exactly a model of fitness". Buchholz stated that "If you had an Earth vs. Mars match, and had to send one man to represent the planet, I would send Hoad." Buchholz had played the undercard matches on Hoad's 1961 British tour against Gonzales, and Hoad's 1963 Australian tour against Laver. In July, 1961, Gardnar Mulloy rated Hoad as the greatest player of the time, based on his results against Gonzales, and named Hoad as the favourite to win a prospective open Wimbledon. Mulloy had beaten both Hoad and Gonzales in singles competition.
Max Robertson, tennis author and commentator, rated Hoad as the best post-war Wimbledon player, followed by Gonzales and Laver, in his 1977 book Wimbledon 1877–1977. In the second edition his list was unchanged but in the third edition he listed Hoad second behind Boris Becker. In The Encyclopedia of Tennis veteran sportswriters Allison Danzig and Lance Tingay as well as tennis coach and writer and former player Harry Hopman listed their ten greatest players. Hopman, Hoad's tennis mentor, rated Tilden, Budge, Perry, Cochet, Lacoste, Doherty, and Emerson above Hoad. Hopman left both of his "Tennis Twins", Hoad and Rosewall, off his selection. Allison Danzig rated Tilden, Cochet, Budge, Lacoste at the top of his list, but included Emerson. Of the three, only Tingay included Hoad in his list, ranking him in fifth position, third among post-WWII players. Tingay rated Tilden, Budge, Laver, and Gonzales in the top four positions. Tingay included only three post-WWII players, and left out Kramer and Rosewall, but he included Renshaw, Doherty, and Wilding from the pre-WWI era.
Hoad gave his own rankings in a 1980 interview, ranking Emerson and Borg at the top in terms of big tournaments won.
However, Hoad claimed that "the only way to really assess players is to play them", rating Gonzales as the best player of those whom he had played against. He stated that Laver would probably dominate Borg in a hypothetical head-to-head series.
In 100 Greatest of All Time, a 2012 television series broadcast by the Tennis Channel, Hoad was ranked the 19th greatest male player. Kramer stated in 1981, "Everybody loved Hoad, even Pancho Gonzales. They should put that on Lew's tombstone as the ultimate praise for the man.... Even when Hoad was clobbering Gonzales, Gorgo wanted his respect and friendship." In a 1975 issue of Sports Illustrated, Arthur Ashe was quoted as relating a remark which Pancho Gonzales had said to him, "If there was ever a Universe Davis Cup, and I had to pick one man to represent Planet Earth, I would pick Lew Hoad in his prime."
Rod Laver in 2012 rated Hoad as the greatest player of the 'past champions' era of tennis, while rating Federer as the greatest player of the Open Era. Laver described Hoad's strengths of "power, volleying and explosiveness" as justification of his accolade. In July 2012, when Federer won his seventh Wimbledon singles championship, Laver said "Roger Federer certainly is my claim to be the best of all time if there is such a thing" and in January 2018, at the Australian Open won by Federer, Laver said "For me, I think Roger Federer is certainly the greatest player that has come along" and "He’s stood the test of time - that’s probably the one thing that puts you in that category of the best ever." However, in a January 2019 interview, Laver stated that Hoad was "the best player who ever held a racquet. He had every shot in the book and he could overpower anyone. He was so strong." Pancho Gonzales made a similar remark about Hoad, "He was such a strong son****...when he tried, you just couldn't beat him. He hit the ball harder than anyone I ever played."
Personal life
Hoad proposed to his girlfriend, Australian tennis player Jenny Staley, on her 21st birthday party in March 1955 and they planned to announce their engagement in June in London while both were on an overseas tour. After arrival in London Jenny discovered that she was pregnant and the couple decided to get married straight away. The marriage took place the following day on 18 June 1955 at St Mary's Church, Wimbledon in London on the eve of Wimbledon fortnight. They had two daughters and a son.After announcing his retirement in 1967, due to persistent back problems, Hoad moved to Fuengirola, Spain, near Málaga, where he and his wife owned and operated a tennis resort, Lew Hoad's Campo de Tenis, for more than thirty years entertaining personal friends such as actors Stewart Granger, Sean Connery, Richard Burton, Deborah Kerr and her husband writer Peter Viertel, actor Kirk Douglas, singer Frank Sinatra and saxophonist Stan Getz. Hoad's son Peter stated, "My dad was extremely well connected."
In September 1978, Hoad's back problem was successfully treated with spinal fusion surgery, and he was relieved of pain. There had been two ruptured discs and a herniation. The doctor asked one of Hoad's friends, "How on earth did this man walk, let alone play tennis?" In a 1980 interview, Hoad claimed that "my back is marvelous now....it's absolutely perfect now."
Hoad was diagnosed with a rare and incurable form of leukemia on 13 January 1994 which caused his death on 3 July 1994. Press reports of a heart attack were incorrect. Hoad's personal physician specialist was his own son-in-law Dr. Manuel Benavides, who explained the cause of death. A book co-written with Jack Pollard and titled My Game was published in 1958. In 2002, Pollard teamed up with his widow, Jenny, to write My Life With Lew.
Hoad was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, in 1980 and this was followed in December 1985 by his induction into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame. In January 1995 he was posthumously inducted into the Tennis Australia Hall of Fame together with friend and rival Ken Rosewall. The ITF organizes a seniors tournament in his honor called The Lew Hoad Memorial ITF Veterans Tournament, hosted by the Lew Hoad Campo de Tenis.
The Kooyong Classic at Kooyong Stadium, the principal warm-up event for the Australian Open, awards the Lew Hoad Memorial Trophy to the winner of the men's singles. Kooyong stadium was the site of some of Hoad's greatest victories.
Performance timeline
Singles
Hoad joined the professional tennis circuit in 1957 and as a consequence was banned from competing in the amateur Grand Slams until the start of the Open Era at the 1968 French Open.Grand Slam and Pro Slam finals
Singles
Grand Slam finals (4–2)
Pro Slam finals (0–7)
Doubles: 13 (8 titles, 5 runner-ups)
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
| Win | 1953 | Australian Championships | Grass |  Ken Rosewall | Don Candy Mervyn Rose | 9–11, 6–4, 10–8, 6–4 |
| Win | 1953 | French Championships | Clay | Ken Rosewall | Mervyn Rose Clive Wilderspin | 6–2, 6–1, 6–1 |
| Win | 1953 | Wimbledon | Grass | Ken Rosewall | Rex Hartwig Mervyn Rose | 6–4, 7–5, 4–6, 7–5 |
| Loss | 1954 | French Championships | Clay | Ken Rosewall |  Vic Seixas Tony Trabert | 4–6, 2–6, 1–6 |
| Loss | 1954 | U.S. National Championships | Grass | Ken Rosewall | Vic Seixas Tony Trabert | 6–3, 4–6, 6–8, 3–6 |
| Loss | 1955 | Australian Championships | Grass | Ken Rosewall | Vic Seixas Tony Trabert | 3–6, 2–6, 6–2, 6–3, 1–6 |
| Win | 1955 | Wimbledon | Grass | Rex Hartwig | Neale Fraser Ken Rosewall | 7–5, 6–4, 6–3 |
| Win | 1956 | Australian Championships | Grass | Ken Rosewall | Don Candy Mervyn Rose | 10–8, 13–11, 6–4 |
| Loss | 1956 | French Championships | Clay | Ashley Cooper | Don Candy Robert Perry | 5–7, 3–6, 3–6 |
| Win | 1956 | Wimbledon | Grass | Ken Rosewall |  Orlando Sirola Nicola Pietrangeli | 7–5, 6–2, 6–1 |
| Win | 1956 | U.S. National Championships | Grass | Ken Rosewall | Hamilton Richardson Vic Seixas | 6–2, 6–2, 3–6, 6–4 |
| Win | 1957 | Australian Championships | Grass | Neale Fraser | Mal Anderson Ashley Cooper | 6–3, 8–6, 6–4 |
| Loss | 1957 | Wimbledon | Grass | Neale Fraser | Budge Patty Gardnar Mulloy | 10–8, 4–6, 4–6, 4–6 |
Mixed doubles: 4 (1 title, 3 runner-ups)
Other significant finals
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Win | 1959 | Forest Hills Tournament of Champions | Grass | Pancho Gonzales | 6–1, 5–7, 6–2, 6–1 |