The 1973 Davis Cup Australian Team
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After five years in the Davis Cup wilderness due to professional players not being allowed to take part, a rule-change in 1973 meant Australia would return to the competition. The eventual 1973 Davis Cup final saw the Australians pitted against a United States team that had won the previous five Davis Cups.
Australia’s 1973 Davis Cup Tennis team traveled to a a nondescript civic center in Cleveland, Ohio to take on the might of the USA. Australia had spent five years in the Davis Cup wilderness because of the rules banning professionals from playing. But this would be Australia’s time – their sweetest and most comprehensive victory meted out by two of the most lethal tennis players the world has ever seen.
In 2013, the team members, John Newcombe, Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Mal Anderson, Geoff Masters, Colin Dibley and captain Neale Fraser were honoured.
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1973 was a unique time as professionals were allowed to partner amateurs in the team competition. A rejuvenated Aussie squad travelled to Cleveland, Ohio for the final against their American arch-rivals. In fact, respected tennis commentator Bud Collins dubbed them “perhaps the strongest team ever”.
“I read a lot about recruiting people in various sports,” Fraser said.
“But I think I probably, along with Wayne Reid, our president at the time, recruited three of the greatest sportspeople of all time (Newcombe, Laver and Rosewall) to play for Australia. I felt once I had those three, boy, I was on a hiding to nothing if we didn’t win.”
Australia was attempting to wrest the cup away from a nation which had held it for five straight years. Playing on indoor carpet before a parochial American crowd against a team led by the impressive Stan Smith – who had recently topped the rankings – was going to be a tough ask.
Yet Newcombe, at the peak of his powers, accounted for Smith in a five-set thriller, a result he would describe as his finest performance. Laver then gave the visitors a 2-0 lead, improving as the match wore on to defeat Tom Gorman 8-10 8-6 6-8 6-3 6-1. When Newcombe and Laver the next day combined to inflict a dominant 6-1 6-2 6-4 win over Smith and Erik Van Dillen, the cup had returned to Australian hands. The pair then iced a 5-0 victory with wins in the reverse singles.
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