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 (age 70)
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[a]
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)

Junior career

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

Professional career

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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

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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

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Singles (2 titles, 5 runner-ups)

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

Doubles (23 titles, 15 runner-ups)

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

Notes

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

References

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  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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