The amateur years
Australia · born New South Wales, 1929 · died 2022 · twice Wimbledon doubles champion and the man who won the 1955 Davis Cup point
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3
Wimbledon doubles finals in a row, 1953 to 1955, two won
12-1
Davis Cup record, 1953 to 1955
2
Major singles finals in 1954, Australian and US
6
Major titles: four in doubles, two in mixed
101
Matches he said he played in six months on Jack Kramer's professional tour
Rex Noel Hartwig was born on 2 September 1929 and grew up on the family farm at Culcairn, New South Wales, where he learned the game hitting a ball against a brick wall and won his first tournament at ten with his father as partner. He moved to Albury to work on the grass courts there, and then to Melbourne to work for Spalding. His South Australian singles title in 1952 earned him a place in the Davis Cup squad.
With Mervyn Rose he reached the Wimbledon doubles final in 1953, won the US doubles that year and won both the Wimbledon and Australian doubles in 1954. In 1954 he also reached the singles finals of the Australian and US Championships, losing to Rose in Sydney and to Vic Seixas at Forest Hills. He won the Australian mixed doubles in 1953 and 1954, and in 1955 won Wimbledon again with Lew Hoad.
He played Davis Cup from 1953 to 1955 and lost one match, the 1953 Challenge Round doubles. In the 1955 Challenge Round at Forest Hills he and Hoad won the doubles that took the cup back for Australia. He turned professional with Jack Kramer at the end of 1955, toured the United States, and in 1958 bought a farm at Greta in Victoria, where he raised sheep and six children with his wife Madge. He returned for veterans' and Grand Masters' events at Wimbledon in the late 1970s, and died on 30 December 2022, aged 93.
| Wimbledon doubles finals | 1953 with Mervyn Rose: lost to Lew Hoad and Ken Rosewall 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 7-5. 1954 with Rose: beat Vic Seixas and Tony Trabert 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. 1955 with Hoad: beat Neale Fraser and Rosewall 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 |
|---|---|
| Singles finals, 1954 | Australian Championships, White City, Sydney: lost to Rose 6-2, 0-6, 6-4, 6-2. US Championships, Forest Hills: lost to Seixas 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 |
| US Championships 1953 | Doubles with Rose: beat Gardnar Mulloy and Bill Talbert 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. Mixed with Julia Sampson: lost the final to Doris Hart and Seixas 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 |
| Davis Cup Challenge Rounds | 1953, Kooyong: lost the doubles with Hoad to Seixas and Trabert 6-2, 6-4, 6-4; Australia won 3-2. 1954, White City: beat Seixas 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-3; the United States won 3-2. 1955, Forest Hills: with Hoad beat Seixas and Trabert 12-14, 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 to give Australia an unbeatable lead; Australia won 5-0 |
| Wimbledon in the veterans' years | Lost the 1977 veterans' doubles final with Seixas to Sven Davidson and Torben Ulrich 8-6, 6-4. Won the Grand Masters' doubles with Frank Sedgman in 1978, beating Pancho Gonzales and Whitney Reed 6-0, 6-1, and in 1979, beating Fraser and Gonzales 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1954 | Men's doubles | with Mervyn Rose |
| 1955 | Men's doubles | with Lew Hoad |
| Australian Championships | ||
| 1953 | Mixed doubles | with Julia Sampson Hayward |
| 1954 | Men's doubles | with Mervyn Rose |
| 1954 | Mixed doubles | with Thelma Coyne Long |
| Western Australian Championships | ||
| 1952 | Men's singles | |
| 1955 | Men's singles | |
| South Australian Championships | ||
| 1952 | Men's singles | |
| US Championships | ||
| 1953 | Men's doubles | with Mervyn Rose |
| New South Wales Championships | ||
| 1954 | Men's singles | |
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
"When you're a kid, you dream you'll make Wimbledon one day and one day you do."
The person behind the player.
Culcairn, 1930s
He learned to play by hitting a ball against a brick wall on the family farm at Culcairn. His father was his first doubles partner, and the two won his first tournament when he was ten.
Source: Tennis AustraliaAlbury
As a teenager he lived at the Albury lawn courts as an apprentice lawnkeeper, so that he could play anyone who came to town looking for a hit. He later told The Border Mail he had sown the second row of courts at the complex.
Source: The Border MailForest Hills, 1955
He and Hoad clinched the 1955 Davis Cup against Trabert and Seixas. A match report quoted by KB Hill said Hartwig, the player of the match, made the final point by volleying past Trabert, who sprawled on the court, then threw his racquet high in the air and danced across the court to Hoad.
Source: The Footy AlmanacProfessional tour
On Jack Kramer's professional tour he played Pancho Gonzales and Pancho Segura across the United States. He recalled driving 37,000 miles, flying 17,500 miles and playing 101 matches in six months, in 46 of the 48 states.
Source: The Border MailGreta
Clearing out the house before his death, his son Leigh found a small silver tray in the bottom of a drawer, inscribed as presented to Rex Hartwig by Queen Elizabeth in 1953. Leigh said his father's humility was what stood out.
Source: The Border MailWimbledon, 1999
In 1999 Hartwig was one of the special guests invited to the Championships by the Chair of the All England Club, with Alex Olmedo, Ted Schroeder and Maria Bueno. KB Hill wrote that the Hartwigs were met at Heathrow by a stretch limousine.
Source: Wimbledon Compendium 2025Free membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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