• Source: Ken Fletcher

Kenneth Norman Fletcher (15 June 1940 – 11 February 2006) was an Australian tennis player who won numerous doubles and mixed doubles Grand Slam titles.




Biography


He was born in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia to parents Norm and Ethel Fletcher. He was educated at St Laurence's College and showed early promise as a championship tennis player there.
Fletcher won the 1963 Kent Championships on grass at Beckenham, defeating Owen Davidson in the semifinal and Martin Mulligan in the final.
Fletcher won the 1966 British Hard Court Championships at Bournemouth on clay, defeating Tom Okker in the final.
Also in 1966, he defeated John Newcombe at Wimbledon in the third round in five sets, but lost the quarterfinal to eventual champion Manuel Santana also in five sets.
His greatest success as a tennis player came in 1963, when he became the only man to win a calendar year Grand Slam in mixed doubles, partnering fellow Australian Margaret Court. He reached the final of the Australian Open in 1963, losing to Roy Emerson.
After this achievement, he went on to record mixed doubles championships in the Australian Open in 1964, French Open in 1964 and 1965, and Wimbledon in 1965, 1966, and 1968. All of his mixed doubles Grand Slam titles were in partnership with Smith Court.
He also achieved a Grand Slam title in men's doubles in the 1964 French Open, playing with Emerson. At the Wimbledon men's doubles championship, he was a finalist with Robert Hewitt in 1965, the champion in 1966 partnering John Newcombe, and a finalist again in 1967 with Emerson. In total, Fletcher won 27 international tennis titles. He was ranked World No. 10 in 1966 by Lance Tingay of The Daily Telegraph.
Ken was a larrikin by nature, and many of his exploits feature in Hugh Lunn's books, especially Over the Top with Jim and Head Over Heels. In later years, he was instrumental in gaining significant funding for medical research in Australia, through his association with Chuck Feeney. In 2008, Hugh Lunn published The Great Fletch, a book on Ken's life around the globe.
Fletcher died of cancer at the age of 65 and was buried at the Mount Gravatt Lawn Cemetery, Brisbane.
In January 2012, Ken Fletcher was inducted into the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame.

In 2013, the Ken Fletcher memorial was erected in the park, outside the Queensland Tennis Centre, named in his honour. He is the only player in the history of tennis, to win a grand slam, in mixed doubles in 1963, that is not enshrined in the International Tennis Hall of Fame.




Grands Slam finals






= Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

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= Doubles: 9 (2 titles, 7 runners-up)

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= Mixed doubles: 11 (10 titles, 1 runner-up)

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References






External links


Ken Fletcher at the Association of Tennis Professionals
Ken Fletcher at the International Tennis Federation
Hugh Lunn's Website, Vale by Hugh Lunn
Australian Open Player Profile




Further reading


Lunn, Hugh (2008). The Great Fletch: The Dazzling Life of Wimbledon Aussie Larrikin Ken Fletcher ISBN 0-7333-2209-3

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