John Fitzgerald's first tennis racquet was a John Newcombe - endorsed wooden Slazenger, used during regular hits with his brothers Peter and Ray on an asphalt court on the family sheep and wheat farm near Cockaleechie, on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula.
Young John was 12 when he saw his first Davis Cup final, on television in 1973. It was Newcombe and Rod Laver, an Australian dream team if ever there was one, which trounced the United States 5-0 on carpet in Cleveland, Ohio. Fitzgerald watched keenly. He was enthused, inspired.
So there was certain symmetry to the scenario that unfolded in the offices of Tennis Australia in the middle of 2000. Newcombe had announced his intention to stand down as cup captain after seven eventful years, and it was Fitzgerald, one-time wielder of a Newk Slazenger, who, in late July, was chosen to succeed him.
Fitzgerald became only the fourth man to fill the position in half a century, joining a leadership group completed by Harry Hopman and Neale Fraser. And Newcombe, of course, whose reign in tandem with coach Tony Roche brought one trophy – Australia’s 27th – but plenty more colour and controversy.
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