#5. John Newcombe
The period between the 1950s and 1970s was an era where Australia dominated world tennis. The likes of Ken Rosewall, Rod Laver and Tony Roche were amongst the best players in the world of their respective generations. The last of the Australian players who dominated tennis was John Newcombe.
Known for his serve and volley, Newcombe is regarded to be one of the most complete and versatile players of all-time, having been ranked World No.1 in both Singles and Doubles which included seven Grand Slam Singles titles and 17 Doubles titles.
Being at the top of the ATP rankings for eight weeks, the only Grand Slam that eluded Newcombe was the French Open title with his best performance being reaching the quarter-finals in 1965 and 1969.In the 1965 Roland Garros, Newcombe was the eleventh seed and produced an upset by defeating 1963 finalist Pierre Darmon in the fourth round. In the quarter-finals, he was up against compatriot Fred Stolle.
Stolle beat the 22-year old 6-1, 7-5, 11-9 and eventually went on to win the tournament by triumphing over fellow-countryman Tony Roche in straight sets in the final.
He reached the quarter-finals again after four years, being the fourth seed and was up against Dutchman Tom Okker, who was one of only three non-Australians in the quarter-finals.
The match was a pretty exciting one that went on to five sets, with Okker being the victor. Newcombe may be regarded to be one of the finest players of all-time but his French Open performances were quite subdued compared to other majors and turned out to be the only Grand Slam which Newcombe was unable to win.
