Francis 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 9 Grand Slam doubles tournaments. He is one of only five tennis players all-time to win multiple career Grand Slams in two disciplines, alongside Margaret Court, Roy Emerson, Martina Navratilova and Serena Williams. In 1951, he and Ken McGregor won the Grand Slam in men's doubles. Sedgman turned professional in 1953, and won the Wembley World Professional Indoor singles title in 1953 and 1958. He also won the Sydney Masters tournament in 1958, and the Melbourne Professional singles title in 1959. He won the Grand Prix de Europe Professional Tour in 1959.
Sedgman was ranked as the world No. 1 amateur in 1950 by Harry Hopman and Ned Potter, in 1951 by Pierre Gillou, Hopman and Potter and in 1952 by Lance Tingay, Gillou, Hopman and Potter. Tennis de France magazine ranked Sedgman as the world No. 1 professional tennis player for the 1953 season. Jack Kramer, in his personal ranking lists, ranked Sedgman as the world No. 2 professional behind Pancho Gonzales for the 1958, 1959 and 1960 seasons.
Contents
Career
Amateur
Sedgman was a 180 centimetres (5 ft 11 in) right-hander who played the serve-and-volley game that had just been popularised by Jack Kramer. He was one of a number of Australian players who used the Continental grip in which the racquet is held the same way for both the forehand and the backhand. He was particularly known for his volleying and speed at the net. When asked in 2005 who was the best player he had ever faced, Mervyn Rose replied, "Hopman's pet, Sedgie."
Sedgman led the Australian Davis Cup team to victory in 1950, 1951, and 1952. In a five-year span from 1948 to 1952 Sedgman won 22 Grand Slam titles in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. Sedgman and his partner Ken McGregor were the only men's doubles team to ever win the Grand Slam in a single year—they won all four majors in 1951. The following year they also won the first three majors, then, at Forest Hills, were upset by a pick-up team of another Australian, Mervyn Rose, and an American Vic Seixas, denying them eight consecutive Grand Slam victories. According to Rose in a 2005 interview, Harry Hopman, the coach of the Australian team, would not talk to him for two months afterwards.
Although still playing in the junior events in Australian tournaments in 1945, Sedgman began to enter the men's singles events as well. In June, he lost a close match to Jack Harper at the Elsternwick tournament. In December, at the Victorian championships, Sedgman beat Noel Kirkby before losing to Adrian Quist. Writing in The Melbourne Herald, renowned coach Harry Hopman called Sedgman a "potential champion". Hopman also said, "it is about a year ago that I advised him (Sedgman) to go to a gymnasium. The work he has done there – about three times a week after his work – has put on a stone in weight and improved him in many ways. His legs, wind and stamina are now first class. His temperament, too, is good".
Sedgman began the year by reaching the final of the South Australian championships in Adelaide, where he lost to John Bromwich. Writing in The Sydney Morning Herald, Bromwich said, "Sedgman was not inclined to indulge in long drawn-out-rallies, and after the ball crossed the net three or four times, he either endeavoured to force the play or strived for an outright placement". Sedgman made his debut at the Australian Championships in 1946. He won his first match against Reg Clements, but lost in the last 16 round, to Geoff Brown in straight sets. Brown played "faultlessly throughout", whilst Sedgman was "not able to settle down, and did not look comfortable".
Professional
Sedgman faced Jack Kramer in the 1953 World Series tour. Sedgman began the tour well and opened up an 11–6 lead (Kramer had been suffering from the flu during several matches). However, by winning in Houston on 11 March, Kramer opened up a 28–19 lead. In the end, Kramer won 54 matches to 41. The tour grossed $860,000. Sedgman won the tournament at Wembley beating Don Budge and Pancho Gonzales (both in straight sets). Sedgman won the tournament in Paris, beating Gonzales in the final. Sedgman beat Dinny Pails and Segura at Vienna and Geneva. Tennis de France magazine ranked Sedgman as the world No. 1 professional tennis player for the 1953 season. This gave Sedgman world number one rankings for both the amateur tennis world and for the contract tennis professionals in his career record.
In 1954, Sedgman competed in the World Series alongside Gonzales, Pancho Segura, Budge, Bobby Riggs and Carl Earn. On the opening night of the tour at Madison Square Garden, Sedgman led Gonzales by a set and 5–3, but Gonzales took the second set 11-9 and the third set 13–11 to claim victory. Gonzales went on to win the series. Sedgman was runner-up to Gonzales in the Cleveland version of the U.S. Pro, played under the billed name of Cleveland World Pro Championships. In September and October, Sedgman won a 4-man tour of Asia over Gonzales, Segura, and Kramer. In November, Sedgman won the Australian professional championships in Perth beating Gonzales and then Segura in the final. Sedgman toured Australia in 1954–55 with Gonzales, Segura, McGregor and Ian Ayre. Gonzales won the tour. Sedgman missed approximately four and a half months tennis in 1955 due to an operation for appendicitis.
Sedgman missed the first 5+1⁄2 months of 1956.
In September 1956, Sedgman beat Tony Trabert in the semi-finals of the tournament at Wembley, but lost in the final to Gonzales, despite leading by a set and 4–1. Sedgman won round robin tournaments at Brisbane and Kooyong in December against Trabert, Segura, and Hartwig. In 1957, Sedgman won the Perth round robin event in January beating Segura, Rex Hartwig and Trabert. Sedgman beat Ken Rosewall in three straight sets in 57 minutes in their first match against each other as professionals in the semifinals at the Ampol Tournament of Champions at White City, Sydney, in February. Sedgman lost to Segura in the final. Sedgman finished runner-up to Gonzales at the Forest Hills Tournament of Champions (played on a round-robin basis) despite losing his opening match to Hoad, as he won against Rosewall, Trabert, and Segura. He lost the deciding match to Gonzales in five sets, although he led two sets to one.
Open era
Open tennis arrived in 1968. Sedgman returned to play in Grand Slam events at the 1970 Australian Open, where he lost in five sets in the second round to former champion Bill Bowrey. Sedgman won the Victorian Hardcourt Championships in October 1970 beating John Stephens in the final and won the title again in 1971 beating Neale Fraser in the final, a few days before his 44th birthday (he had won his first Victorian hardcourt title 24 years earlier in 1947). He reached the third round at Wimbledon in 1971. At the 1972 Australian Open, Sedgman beat fifth seed Owen Davidson before losing in the third round to John Cooper. He continued to play professionally until his 1976 retirement. His last appearance in the Australian Championships men's singles in 1976 was 30 years after his first appearance (a record span at Australian Championships men's singles).
Personal life
Frank Sedgman was born to Edith and Arthur Sedgman on 29 October 1927 in Mont Albert, Victoria. He was the first of four children, with one brother Bob, and two sisters Kathleen and Sandra. Sedgman attended Box Hill State School, Blackburn State School, then Box Hill High School, leaving school at 16. He first played tennis at the Blackburn Tennis Club.
Sedgman married Jean Sedgman (Née. Spence) on the 30th of January 1952 at the Toorak Presbyterian Church. The couple has since had children and grandchildren. Grandson Steven Greene played for the Hawthorn Football Club.
Broadcasting and promoting
Sedgman commentated on various Australian TV channels (mainly on broadcasts of Davis Cup matches or Australian championships) from 1960 to 1976. In 1972, the LTAA appointed Tennis Camps of Australia to promote the Australian Open (Sedgman, Jim and Doug Reid and John Brown were the directors). The first year that Tennis Camps promoted the event (the 1973 event which began in December 1972 and concluded in January 1973) was also the first year that Channel Seven televised the event. "I remember we gave the TV rights away (for nothing), so that we could get publicity for the event" said Sedgman. Sedgman was one of the commentators for Channel 7 in the mid-1970s. He commentated on the Newcombe v Connors final of 1975, lost in the second round of the men's singles that year and was still involved in promoting the event. Tennis Camps ceased to promote the event in the early 1980s.
Honours
Sedgman was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island and was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1979; in 1985 he was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame. He received an Australian Sports Medal in 2000. Sedgman was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours for "distinguished service to tennis as a player at the national and international level, and as a role model for young sportspersons". In his 1979 autobiography, Jack Kramer, the long-time tennis promoter and player, included Sedgman in his list of the 21 greatest players of all time. In 2019 he was made an Officer in the Order of Australia.
Major finals
Singles performance timeline
Sedgman joined the professional tennis circuit in 1953 and as a consequence was banned from competing in the amateur Grand Slam events until the start of the Open Era at the 1968 French Open.
The results of the Pro Tours are not listed here.