{"id":20547,"date":"2019-06-11T16:03:10","date_gmt":"2019-06-11T06:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/?p=20547"},"modified":"2019-06-11T16:03:10","modified_gmt":"2019-06-11T06:03:10","slug":"frank-sedgman-named-officer-of-the-order-of-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/news\/2019\/06\/11\/frank-sedgman-named-officer-of-the-order-of-australia","title":{"rendered":"Frank Sedgman named Officer of the Order of Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Frank Sedgman<\/strong>, the man who started the greatest era of Australian tennis, has been recognised in the Queen\u2019s Birthday Honours List, elevated to the rank of Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The recognition comes 40 years after he was first made a Member of the Order of Australia and 70 years after he won the Australian Open for the first time.<\/p>\n

Sedgman, aged 91, has been honoured for distinguished service to tennis as a player at the national and international level and as a role model for young sportspersons.<\/p>\n

In typically humble fashion Sedgman was surprised by the honour.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt my age, I can\u2019t believe it. I don\u2019t even play tennis anymore,\u201d Sedgman said. \u201cI don\u2019t even know who put me up for it but this is a great honour and I am so proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

The honour acknowledges a brilliant career during which he was Wimbledon and Davis Cup Champion, pioneer of the professional circuit, a mentor and a coach who set a standard for behaviour on and off the court.<\/p>\n

At his peak in 1951-52 he won 16 major titles including (with Ken McGregor<\/strong>) seven consecutive grand slam doubles titles.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrank holds a special place in our sport,\u201d Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley<\/strong> said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrank had the courage to turn pro at a time when the tennis establishment valued only amateur participation at the elite level, and he was shunned from both Davis Cup and Grand Slam competition for doing so.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis actions, and that of his fellow \u2018barnstormers\u2019, paved the way, and created a viable career option, for the players of today. I\u2019m delighted he\u2019s been recognised with this honour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sedgman grew up in Melbourne during the Depression and honed his skills by hitting a ball for hours against the factory wall where his father worked.<\/p>\n

It was his partnership with coach Harry Hopman<\/strong> after the Second World War that started a golden age for the sport.<\/p>\n

Hopman urged the Victorian to build his fitness levels so he could match the strength of the so-called \u2018power game\u2019 of serve and volley played by the Americans.<\/p>\n

In 1950 Sedgman led Australia to a Davis Cup victory and with McGregor defended the title the following two years.<\/p>\n

His charisma and sense of fair play made tennis a glamour sport inspiring a generation of players such as Ashley Cooper, Mal Anderson, Ken Rosewall, Lew Hoad, Roy Emerson, Neale Fraser, Rod Laver, John Newcombe <\/strong>and Tony Roche.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cHe was our idol and he showed us how to play and how to behave,\u201d said Neale Fraser.<\/p>\n

Sedgman did more than inspire others \u2013 he pioneered a professional career for them by signing a contract to play exhibitions against Jack Kramer<\/strong> in 1953.<\/p>\n

The exhibitions were so popular it encouraged Kramer to expand the circuit and eventually turned the sport into the multi-million career opportunity players enjoy today.<\/p>\n

Kramer said he believed Sedgman\u2019s speed and all-round play would have troubled Roger Federer<\/strong>. \u201cIt would be wonderful to watch,\u201d he mused.<\/p>\n

After retiring, Sedgman operated a gym in Melbourne where he coached Roy Emerson<\/strong> and Margaret Court<\/strong> who became the most successful amateur players of the 1960s.<\/p>\n

Ever the humble champion, Sedgman once reflected that his greatest pride was \u201cthe way we won the Davis Cup and represented our country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The man who started the greatest era of Australian tennis, has been recognised in the Queen\u2019s Birthday Honours List<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6038,"featured_media":20550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6038"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}