The Open Era
Australia · born Melbourne, 1954 · right-handed · Wimbledon doubles champion 1980 and 1982, mixed 1985
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1
World doubles ranking, reached in June 1981
5
Grand Slam titles: four in doubles, one in mixed
49
Minutes for the 1982 Wimbledon doubles final, the shortest on record
184
Games played to win the 1985 Wimbledon mixed, the event record
313
Games played in the 1984 Wimbledon doubles, the event record
Paul Francis McNamee was born in Melbourne on 12 November 1954 and won the boys' singles at the 1973 Australian Open in his home city. He turned professional the same year. In 1979 he changed from a one-handed to a two-handed backhand, a switch no other leading player is known to have made in mid-career.
His great partnership was with Peter McNamara. Together they won the 1979 Australian Open at Kooyong, Wimbledon in 1980 and 1982, and three straight NSW Open titles in Sydney, and McNamee reached No. 1 in doubles in June 1981. He won the 1983 Australian Open with Mark Edmondson, Queen's in 1983 with Brian Gottfried and in 1984 with Pat Cash, and the 1985 Wimbledon mixed with Martina Navratilova. He played in Australia's Davis Cup winning teams of 1983 and 1986. In singles he won two titles, reached the 1982 Australian Open semi-finals and rose to No. 24 in 1986.
After retiring in 1988 he became one of the sport's leading administrators. He helped found the Hopman Cup in 1988 and directed it, and ran the Australian Open as chief executive until 2006, introducing the night final. He later directed the Australian Golf Open, was briefly chief executive of the Melbourne Football Club in 2008, and coached Hsieh Su-wei to a Wimbledon doubles title.
| Wimbledon doubles finals | 1980: with Peter McNamara beat Bob Lutz and Stan Smith 7-6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4. 1982: with McNamara beat Peter Fleming and John McEnroe 6-3, 6-2, played as best of three sets because of rain, 17 games in 49 minutes. 1984: with Pat Cash lost to Fleming and McEnroe 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon mixed 1985 | With Martina Navratilova saved two match points in the semi-final against Scott Davis and Betsy Nagelsen, won 6-7, 7-5, 23-21, then beat John Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Smylie 7-5, 4-6, 6-2. They played 117 games in three matches on the final day |
| Wimbledon 1984 opening match | Drew the defending champion John McEnroe in the opening match on Centre Court and took the third set, losing 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-1. McEnroe went on to win the title |
| Wimbledon 35 and over doubles | Won the invitation event with McNamara in 1990, beating Tim and Tom Gullikson 6-7, 7-6, 13-11, and lost the 1991 final to Peter Fleming and Stan Smith |
| Australian Open at Kooyong | Doubles titles in 1979 with McNamara and 1983 with Mark Edmondson |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Men's doubles | with Peter McNamara |
| 1982 | Men's doubles | with Peter McNamara |
| 1985 | Mixed doubles | with Martina Navratilova |
| New South Wales Championships | ||
| 1979 | Men's doubles New South Wales Open | with Peter McNamara |
| 1980 | Men's doubles New South Wales Open | with Peter McNamara |
| 1981 | Men's doubles New South Wales Open | with Peter McNamara |
| Australian Championships | ||
| 1979 | Men's doubles Australian Open | with Peter McNamara |
| 1983 | Men's doubles Australian Open | with Mark Edmondson |
| Queen's Club | ||
| 1983 | Men's doubles | with Brian Gottfried |
| 1984 | Men's doubles | with Pat Cash |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"I haven't forgotten the pressure I felt in the 1986 Davis Cup final to serve and volley like a true Aussie."
The person behind the player.
1979
In 1979, six years into his professional career, he gave up his one-handed backhand and learned to hit with two hands, and later added a semi-western forehand. His publisher calls him the only player to have changed from a one-handed to a two-handed backhand mid-career. That same season he won his first major, the Australian Open doubles.
Source: Text PublishingWimbledon 1985
Navratilova dropped him as her mixed doubles partner even though they had just won Wimbledon together. In his memoir he tells the story without blaming either side.
Source: New York Journal of BooksMelbourne, 1987
In 1987 he was crowned King of Moomba, the figurehead of Melbourne's autumn festival. He was the last to hold the title officially; the festival then chose a Moomba Monarch instead.
Source: WikipediaPerth, 2006
As tournament director of the Hopman Cup he brought in Hawk-Eye line calling with player challenges in January 2006, the first elite event to do so. "The Hopman Cup has always been an innovative tournament," he said, noting it had also been the first to adopt electronic line calling, 12 years earlier.
Source: Mail & Guardian, 28 November 2005Wimbledon 2013
As a coach he guided Hsieh Su-wei to a Wimbledon doubles title against a pair funded and coached by Tennis Australia, the body he had once helped to run.
Source: New York Journal of BooksFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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