Australian tennis is mourning the passing of Mal Anderson MBE whose career took him from a dirt court on a Queensland farm to Davis Cup and Grand Slam glory.
“I just loved tennis from the earliest age,” he once reflected. “I was addicted to it and it became my life.”
Anderson played in Australia’s golden post-war age during which he won the US singles title (1957) and three major doubles titles.
“On his day Mal was capable of playing any shot in the book and he had a fantastic serve,” said Roy Emerson.
Anderson grew up on a cattle station at Theodore in Queensland where his father built a court on the property out of dirt and ant nests.
As a boy he played against the Laver brothers who had a similar court built on their family property near Rockhampton.
Anderson loved to recall watching Trevor and Bob Laver telling their little brother Rod to get off the court when he scampered on to have a hit.
As he developed as a player, Anderson was sent to Grammar School in Rockhampton where he was coached by Charlie Hollis.
His breakthrough came in 1956 when he reached the semifinals of the Australian Championships where he lost to Ken Rosewall.
The following year he collected the Australian mixed doubles title with Fay Muller, won the French doubles championship with Ashley Cooper and then defeated Cooper to take the singles in New York.
Although unseeded at the United States Championships, Anderson dominated the tournament defeating three seeds and dropping only two sets on his way to the title.
After the triumph he married Daphne Emerson (sister of Roy) – a partnership that produced three children, nine grand-children and a growing number of great-grandchildren.
The year ended with a defence of the Davis Cup at Kooyong against the United States where Anderson defeated both Barry MacKay and Vic Seixas in five sets – something he credited to Captain Harry Hopman.
“He would say you may not be the best player, but you can be the fittest,” Anderson said.
After a brief professional career, Anderson ran a successful tennis and squash centre in Brisbane before returning to the court for a twilight of his career.
In 1972 (although semi-retired) he was runner-up to Ken Rosewall at the Australian Open after ousting John Newcombe in five sets in an exhausting quarterfinal.
The following year he played in the early rounds of the Davis Cup that Australia eventually won and teamed with John Newcombe to win the doubles title at the Australian Open.
After retiring, Anderson mentored many young players including Pat Rafter, Scott Draper, Wally Masur and John Fitzgerald.
“I was really sad to hear of Mal’s passing. He was one of those people who helped shape my tennis from very early on,” Pat Rafter said.
“He took me overseas for the first time, over to Wimbledon, and introduced me to what the professional game looked like and what it meant to carry yourself properly around it. For a young Aussie kid coming through, that was a pretty special thing to have someone like Mal do for you.
“I still remember being at Queen’s Club in London and hearing the reception he got when his name was announced – the whole place stood up for him. That told you everything about the respect people had for him, not just here in Australia but around the world. He was a true legend of the game, but more importantly he was a terrific bloke – humble, generous with his time and always happy to help younger players along.
“Tennis in Australia has lost one of its greats, and a lot of us have lost a mate and mentor. I feel very lucky to have known him.”
Scott Draper recalled how Anderson taught him and other players how to give back to the sport and realise the game was bigger than them.
“Mal was someone I looked up to from a very young age. I had my first tennis lesson from Mal at five. Our family spent every weekend playing tennis at his centre, it was a home away from home,” Draper said.
“In my teens, I was part of the Mal Anderson high-performance squad with my brother Mark. Mal was the epitome of fitness and professionalism and role-modelled the highest standards, inspiring all of us to be better.
“I was lucky to travel with him on his Mal Anderson Exhibition tours, which are an incredible legacy. He took tennis to the regions and took young wannabes like me with him. We learned how to coach and play exhibition matches. Mal was a joy to be around, humility personified and always took genuine interest in your life. A great bloke and his legacy will definitely live on in me.”
Wally Masur explained how Anderson led by example and showed him what it meant to be a professional and the Australian way.
“I first met Mal when he took 10 youngsters on a satellite circuit around country NSW in about 1979,” Masur said.
“If you were out of the tournament he made you run at 6.30am, punishing runs that usually brought up the contents of my stomach. He did every one of those runs with us and did them easily.
“Then it was four or five hours on the practice court, and he hit for every minute of those hours. Never a critical word, just encouragement and he was with you every step of the way. I’ll leave it to his peers to judge where he sits in the pantheon of Australian tennis greats, but what a gentleman and an inspiration he was to a young player trying to make the tour.”
Former Davis Cup captain John Fitzgerald said Anderson was a very special person to anyone who knew anything about tennis.
“He played a sliding-door role in my life when I was one of about 10 young guys (Fitzgerald was 17) who he took on a five-week Satellite Tour in the eastern states around 1978/79,” Fitzgerald said.
“He taught me what it took to train and work if you wanted to be a player. It was a light-bulb realisation for me and helped my direction enormously. That was when the penny dropped for me on what is involved if you want to be successful in this sport.”
Anderson never lost his love for the country and spent years touring regional Queensland conducting coaching clinics and inspiring generations of young players.
In 2022, during the centenary celebrations of Theodore – 200 kilometres south of Rockhampton with a population of just 451 – Anderson gifted his 1957 US Open trophy, along with a Davis Cup and a doubles trophy won with John Newcombe, to the Theodore Tennis Club.
When asked to reflect on his life he said his success followed his passion.
“If you have the love for it and want to work hard for it you can achieve,” he said.
MAL ANDERSON
DAVIS CUP
1957-1958, 1972-1973: 13 wins 6 losses
GRAND SLAM TITLES (4)
Singles: US 1957
Doubles: France 1957, Australia 1973
Mixed doubles: Australia 1957
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