Ken Fletcher
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Kenneth Norman Fletcher (June 15, 1940 – February 11, 2006) was an Australian who won several doubles and mixed doubles tennis championships.
He was born in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia to parents Norm and Ethel Fletcher. He was educated at St Laurence's College and showed early promise as a championship tennis player there. His greatest success as a tennis player came in 1963, when he became the first and only man to win a calendar year Grand Slam in mixed doubles, partnering fellow Australian Margaret Smith Court.
After this achievement, he went on to record mixed doubles championships in the Australian Open in 1964, French Open in 1964 and 1965, and Wimbledon in 1965, 1966, and 1968. All of his mixed doubles Grand Slam titles were in partnership with Smith Court.
He also achieved a Grand Slam title in men's doubles in the 1964 French Open, playing with Roy Emerson. At the Wimbledon men's doubles championship, he was a finalist with Robert Hewitt in 1965, the champion in 1966 partnering John Newcombe, and a finalist again in 1967 with Roy Emerson.
Ken was a larrikin by nature, and many of his exploits feature in Hugh Lunn's books, especially "Over the Top with Jim" and "Head Over Heels'. In later years he was instrumental in gaining significant funding for medical research in Australia, through his assosiation with Chuck Feeney.
Fletcher died of cancer at the age of 65 and was buried at the Mt Gravatt Lawn Cemetery, Brisbane.
[edit] External links
- [http://http://www.hughlunn.com.au/news.html Hugh Lunn's Website, Vale by Hugh Lunn
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