Paul McNamee

Paul McNamee (born 12 November 1954) is an Australian former doubles world No. 1 tennis player and prominent sports administrator.

Paul McNamee
McNamee playing tennis in 2011
Country (sports)Australia
Born (1954-11-12) 12 November 1954
Melbourne, Australia
Height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Turned pro1973
Retired1988
PlaysRight-handed (two-handed backhand) *single-handed until 1979[1]
CollegeMonash University
Prize money$1,233,615
Singles
Career record247–231
Career titles2
Highest rankingNo. 24 (12 May 1986)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenSF (1982)
French Open4R (1980)
Wimbledon4R (1982)
US Open2R (1979, 1983, 1984, 1986)
Other tournaments
WCT Finals1R (1983)
Doubles
Career record306–163
Career titles24[lower-alpha 1]
Highest rankingNo. 1 (8 June 1981)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian OpenW (1979, 1983)
French OpenSF (1986)
WimbledonW (1980, 1982)
US OpenSF (1980)
Other doubles tournaments
Tour FinalsF (1980)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
WimbledonW (1985)
Team competitions
Davis CupW (1983, 1986)

Tennis career

Juniors

In his hometown, McNamee won the boys' singles tournament at the 1973 Australian Open.

Pro tour

McNamee is the only player to switch a grip as a professional, changing from a one-handed backhand to two-handed in 1979.[2] He won two singles and twenty-three doubles titles during his professional career. A right-hander, he reached his highest singles ATP-ranking on 12 May 1986 when he became the world No. 24. McNamee reached his highest doubles ATP-ranking on 8 June 1981 when he became the world No. 1. McNamee won 24 men's doubles titles including four Grand Slam doubles titles in his career. He won the 1979 Australian Open and the 1980 and 1982 Wimbledon Championships with Peter McNamara and the 1983 Australian Open with Mark Edmondson. He won the mixed-doubles title in Wimbledon with Martina Navratilova in 1985.

When John McEnroe won Wimbledon in 1984, McNamee was the only player to take a set off McEnroe throughout the entire championship when he won the third set of their first-round match.

McNamee was also a member of the Australian Davis Cup Team which won the Davis Cup in 1983 and 1986.

In 1987, McNamee became Melbourne's last officially crowned King of Moomba, subsequently a Moomba Monarch was selected (male Monarchs were popularly, but unofficially, still called King of Moomba).[3]

Sports administrator

McNamee played a key role in the founding of the Hopman Cup international tennis tournament in 1988. He served as tournament director of the Hopman Cup and CEO of the Australian Open until 2006.

From 2006 to 2008 he was the tournament director for Golf Australia of the Australian Golf Open.[4] He also served as the CEO of the Melbourne Football Club from March to July 2008.[5]

In late 2008, it was revealed that McNamee has joined the push for Australia to field a cycling team at the Tour de France – with support from Cadel Evans as a consultant for Australian Road Cycling, a Melbourne-based consortium.[6]

Career finals

Singles (2 titles, 5 runner-ups)

Result No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Win 1. 1980 Palm Harbor, U.S. Hard United States Stan Smith 6–4, 6–3
Loss 1. 1980 Palermo, Italy Clay Argentina Guillermo Vilas 4–6, 0–6, 0–6
Win 2. 1982 Baltimore WCT, U.S. Carpet Argentina Guillermo Vilas 4–6, 7–5, 7–5, 2–6, 6–3
Loss 2. 1983 Houston, U.S. Clay Czechoslovakia Ivan Lendl 2–6, 0–6, 3–6
Loss 3. 1983 Brisbane, Australia Carpet Australia Pat Cash 6–4, 4–6, 3–6
Loss 4. 1986 Nice, France Clay Spain Emilio Sánchez 1–6, 3–6
Loss 5. 1986 St. Vincent, Italy Clay Italy Simone Colombo 6–2, 3–6, 6–7

Doubles (23 titles, 15 runner-ups)

Result No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss 1. 1977 Santiago, Chile Clay United States Henry Bunis Chile Patricio Cornejo
Chile Jaime Fillol
7–5, 1–6, 1–6
Win 1. 1979 Nice, France Clay Australia Peter McNamara Czechoslovakia Pavel Složil
Czechoslovakia Tomáš Šmíd
6–1, 3–6, 6–2
Win 2. 1979 Cairo, Egypt Clay Australia Peter McNamara India Anand Amritraj
India Vijay Amritraj
7–5, 6–4
Win 3. 1979 Palermo, Italy Clay Australia Peter McNamara Egypt Ismail El Shafei
United Kingdom John Feaver
7–5, 7–6
Win 4. 1979 Sydney Outdoor, Australia Grass Australia Peter McNamara United States Steve Docherty
United States Christopher Lewis
7–6, 6–3
Win 5. 1979 Australian Open, Melbourne Grass Australia Peter McNamara Australia Cliff Letcher
Australia Paul Kronk
7–6, 6–2
Win 6 Feb 1980 San Juan, U.S.[lower-alpha 1] Hard Australia Paul Kronk South Africa Robert Trogolo
United States Mark Turpin
7–6, 6–3
Win 7. 1980 Palm Harbor, U.S. Hard Australia Paul Kronk Australia Steve Docherty
Australia John James
6–4, 7–5
Win 8. 1980 Houston, U.S. Clay Australia Peter McNamara United States Marty Riessen
United States Sherwood Stewart
6–4, 6–4
Loss 2. 1980 Forest Hills WCT, U.S. Clay Australia Peter McNamara United States Peter Fleming
United States John McEnroe
2–6, 7–5, 2–6
Loss 3. 1980 London/Queen's Club, England Grass United States Sherwood Stewart Australia Rod Frawley
Australia Geoff Masters
2–6, 6–4, 9–11
Win 9. 1980 Wimbledon, London Grass Australia Peter McNamara United States Robert Lutz
United States Stan Smith
7–6, 6–3, 6–7, 6–4
Win 10. 1980 Stockholm, Sweden Carpet Switzerland Heinz Günthardt United States Robert Lutz
United States Stan Smith
6–7, 6–3, 6–2
Loss 4. 1980 Bologna, Italy Carpet United States Steve Denton Hungary Balázs Taróczy
United States Butch Walts
6–2, 3–6, 0–6
Loss 5. 1980 Johannesburg, South Africa Hard Switzerland Heinz Günthardt United States Robert Lutz
United States Stan Smith
7–6, 3–6, 4–6
Win 11. 1980 Sydney Outdoor, Australia Grass Australia Peter McNamara United States Vitas Gerulaitis
United States Brian Gottfried
6–2, 6–4
Loss 6. 1980 Australian Open, Melbourne Grass Australia Peter McNamara Australia Mark Edmondson
Australia Kim Warwick
5–7, 4–6
Win 12. 1981 Masters Doubles WCT, London Carpet Australia Peter McNamara United States Victor Amaya
United States Hank Pfister
6–3, 2–6, 3–6, 6–3, 6–2
Loss 7. 1981 Hamburg, Germany Clay Australia Peter McNamara Chile Hans Gildemeister
Ecuador Andrés Gómez
4–6, 6–3, 4–6
Win 13. 1981 Stuttgart Outdoor, Germany Clay Australia Peter McNamara Australia Mark Edmondson
United States Mike Estep
2–6, 6–4, 7–6
Win 14. 1981 Sydney Outdoor, Australia Grass Australia Peter McNamara United States Hank Pfister
United States John Sadri
6–7, 7–6, 7–6
Loss 8. 1982 Nice, France Clay Hungary Balázs Taróczy France Henri Leconte
France Yannick Noah
7–5, 4–6, 3–6
Win 15. 1982 Monte Carlo, Monaco Clay Australia Peter McNamara Australia Mark Edmondson
United States Sherwood Stewart
6–7, 7–6, 6–3
Win 16. 1982 Bournemouth, England Clay United Kingdom Buster Mottram France Henri Leconte
Romania Ilie Năstase
3–6, 7–6, 6–3
Win 17. 1982 Wimbledon, London Grass Australia Peter McNamara United States Peter Fleming
United States John McEnroe
6–3, 6–2
Win 18. 1983 Memphis, U.S. Carpet Australia Peter McNamara United States Tim Gullikson
United States Tom Gullikson
6–3, 5–7, 6–4
Win 19. 1983 London/Queen's Club, England Grass United States Brian Gottfried South Africa Kevin Curren
United States Steve Denton
6–4, 6–3
Loss 9. 1983 Washington D.C., U.S. Clay United States Ferdi Taygan United States Mark Dickson
Brazil Cássio Motta
2–6, 6–1, 4–6
Win 20. 1983 Brisbane, Australia Carpet Australia Pat Cash Australia Mark Edmondson
Australia Kim Warwick
7–6, 7–6
Win 21. 1983 Australian Open, Melbourne Grass Australia Mark Edmondson United States Steve Denton
United States Sherwood Stewart
6–3, 7–6
Win 22. 1984 Houston, U.S. Clay Australia Pat Cash United States David Dowlen
Nigeria Nduka Odizor
7–5, 4–6, 6–3
Win 23. 1984 Aix-en-Provence, France Clay Australia Pat Cash New Zealand Chris Lewis
Australia Wally Masur
4–6, 6–3, 6–4
Win 24. 1984 London/Queen's Club, England Grass Australia Pat Cash South Africa Bernard Mitton
United States Butch Walts
6–4, 6–3
Loss 10. 1984 Wimbledon, London Grass Australia Pat Cash United States Peter Fleming
United States John McEnroe
2–6, 7–5, 2–6, 6–3, 3–6
Loss 11. 1984 Hong Kong Hard Australia Mark Edmondson United States Ken Flach
United States Robert Seguso
7–6, 3–6, 5–7
Loss 12. 1985 Rotterdam, Netherlands Carpet United States Vitas Gerulaitis Czechoslovakia Pavel Složil
Czechoslovakia Tomáš Šmíd
4–6, 4–6
Loss 13. 1985 Boston, U.S. Clay Australia Peter McNamara Belgium Libor Pimek
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Živojinović
6–2, 4–6, 6–7
Loss 14. 1986 Fort Myers, U.S. Hard Australia Peter Doohan Ecuador Andrés Gómez
Czechoslovakia Ivan Lendl
5–7, 4–6
Loss 15. 1986 Sydney Indoor, Australia Hard (i) Australia Peter McNamara West Germany Boris Becker
Australia John Fitzgerald
4–6, 6–7

Notes

  1. 1980 San Juan tournament was part of Grand Prix circuit but doubles event not officially listed by the ATP.

References

  1. Chang, Michael and Yorkey, Mike. "Holding Serve: Persevering on and Off the Court", Thomas Nelson Inc, 1 May 2002.
  2. Steinberger, Michael (24 August 2014). "The Death of the One-Handed Backhand". The New York Times Magazine. p. MM40. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  3. Craig Bellamy, Gordon Chisholm, Hilary Eriksen (17 February 2006) Moomba: A festival for the people.: "History of Moomba" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 October 2009. Retrieved 27 December 2008. PDF pp 17–22
  4. "Sydney to keep Open until 2009", Martin Blake, The Age, 11 February 2007
  5. AAP (2008). McNamee dumped as Demons CEO. Retrieved 23 July 2008.
  6. Cadel, McNamee support push for Australian Tour de France team Article.
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