Editing Lew Hoad (section)

==Assessment==

===By journalists===

In ''The Encyclopedia of Tennis'' (1973) veteran sportswriters [[Allison Danzig]] and [[Lance Tingay]] as well as tennis coach, writer and former player [[Harry Hopman]] listed their personal choices of the ten greatest players in tennis history. Only Tingay included Hoad in his list,{{efn|name=encyclopedia_of_tennis|Hopman left both of his "Tennis Twins", Hoad and Rosewall, off his selection and ranked Tilden, Budge, Perry, Laver, Cochet, Lacoste, H. Doherty, Vines as his first nine and listed Gonzales and Emerson in shared tenth position. Danzig rated Tilden, Cochet, Budge, Lacoste, Kramer, Perry, Johnston, Laver and Vines at the top of his list, and also listed Gonzales and Emerson in shared tenth position.<ref name="robertson1974"/>}} ranking him in fifth position, behind Tilden, Budge, Laver and Gonzales.<ref name="robertson1974">{{cite book|last=Robertson|first=Max|author-link=Max Robertson|title=The Encyclopedia of Tennis|year=1974|publisher=Allen & Unwin|location=London|isbn=9780047960420|page=175}}</ref>

[[Max Robertson]], tennis author and commentator, rated Hoad as the best post-war Wimbledon player, followed by Gonzales and Laver, in his 1977 book ''Wimbledon 1877–1977''.<ref name="robertson1977">{{cite book|last=Robertson|first=Max|author-link=Max Robertson|title=Wimbledon 1877–1977|year=1977|publisher=Arthur Baker Limited|location=London|isbn=0213166437|page=164}}</ref>  In his second book about Wimbledon, ''Wimbledon – Centre Court of the Game'' (1981) his list was unchanged but in the second edition in 1987 he listed Hoad second behind [[Boris Becker]].<ref name="robertson1981">{{cite book|last=Robertson|first=Max|author-link=Max Robertson|title=Wimbledon – Centre Court of the Game|year=1981|publisher=[[British Broadcasting Corporation]]|location=London|isbn=0563179236|page=307}}</ref><ref name="robertson1987">{{cite book|last=Robertson|first=Max|author-link=Max Robertson|title=Wimbledon – Centre Court of the Game|year=1987|publisher=[[BBC Books]]|location=London|isbn=0563204540|page=463}}</ref>

In ''[[100 Greatest of All Time]]'', a 2012 television series broadcast by the Tennis Channel, Hoad was ranked the 19th greatest male player, just behind fellow Australian John Newcombe at 18th, and just ahead of tour promoter Jack Kramer, who had signed Hoad to the professional ranks, at 21st, and Hoad's longtime tennis rival Gonzales at 22nd.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tennischannel.com/goat/71.aspx |title=The List ::Tennis Channel |website=www.tennischannel.com |access-date=11 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120605022801/http://www.tennischannel.com/goat/71.aspx |archive-date=5 June 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2016, tennis journalist Richard Evans stated that in his judgment Hoad was the greatest player in the world before the emergence of Federer,<ref>10sballs, 11 February 2016.  https://archive.10sballs.com/2016/02/11/lew-hoad-profile-by-richard-evans/</ref> and "was without question the strongest man who ever played the game."<ref name="archive.10sballs.com"/>

In 2017, tennis journalist Shuvam Chakraborty stated that "winning the biggest titles has always been a hallmark of greatness for players throughout the ages. But for [the] old pros, if you ask them who the greatest player of their day was, they will all say one man – Lew Hoad." And "compared to some of his contemporaries, Hoad's resume may not stand out. However, his peaks might have been the highest of all time. His peers would certainly agree with that."<ref name="Chasing Greatness: GOAT or GOATs">{{cite web |author1=Shuvam Chakraborty |title=Chasing Greatness: GOAT or GOATs? |url=https://www.perfect-tennis.com/chasing-greatness-goat-or-goats/? |website=peRFect Tennis |date=22 June 2017}}</ref>

In 2021, tennis journalist Rémi Bourrières (former Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Tennis Magazine (2007–2019)) ranked Hoad at No. 3 among the pre-Open players, behind Tilden and Budge.<ref>Rémi Bourrières,"From Santana to Lacoste: the 10 GOATs among the lost legends of men's tennis", 30 December 2021. https://www.tennismajors.com/others-news/from-santana-to-lacoste-the-10-goats-among-the-lost-legends-of-mens-tennis-522421.html</ref> Bourrières ranking was (1) Tilden (2) Budge (3) Hoad (4) Gonzales (5) Perry (6) Cochet (7) Lacoste (8) Santana (9) Renshaw (10) Ashe. Bourrières summarized Hoad as: "This tall blond man with the physique of an Apollo and almost animal strength was perhaps the best of that glorious Australian generation that was to dominate the world in the middle of the 20th century: Laver, Rosewall and others."

===By players===
[[Fred Perry]] in 1978 "put Borg in a class with Jack Kramer, Lew Hoad, Pancho Gonzales and Ellsworth Vines".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/07/09/archives/borg-overcomes-connors-for-3d-wimbledon-crown-rises-to-the.html|title=Borg Overcomes Connors For 3d Wimbledon Crown|author=Neil Amdur|date=9 July 1978|access-date=10 April 2022|website=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>  In 1983 Perry listed his greatest male players of all time and listed them in two categories, before World War 2 and after. Perry's modern best behind Laver: "Borg, McEnroe, Connors, Hoad, Jack Kramer, John Newcombe, Ken Rosewall, Manuel Santana". Perry stated "the match I’d love to see would be Lew Hoad against Borg. Hoad was better than most thought. He hit so hard and so quickly off the ground he would have stretched Borg."<ref>{{cite web|title=The Miami Herald, 25 April 1983|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/624261568|website=newspapers.com|date=25 April 1983 }}</ref>

[[Don Budge]] stated, "If Lew Hoad was on, you may as well just go home or have tea, because you weren’t going to beat him."<ref name="worldtennismagazine.com">Joseph B. Stahl, "Greatest of the Wood-Racquet Men", http://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/10802</ref> Budge did not include Hoad in his top five greatest of all-time list in a 1975 newspaper interview, citing  (1) Ellsworth Vines (2) Jack Kramer  (3) Fred Perry (4) Bill Tilden  and (5) Rod Laver.<ref>{{cite web|title=The South Bend Tribune, 10 August 1975|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/515677308/|website=newspapers.com|date=10 August 1975 }}</ref>

In July 1961, [[Gardnar Mulloy]] ranked Hoad as the greatest player of the time, based on his results against Gonzales, and named Hoad as the favourite to win a prospective open Wimbledon.<ref>{{cite news |author1=John Crittenden |title=Barriers to crumble at Wimbledon – Gar |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/302057845/ |work=The Miami News |date=16 July 1961 |page=4C |via=Newspapers.com | url-access=limited}}</ref>

Kramer had a negative assessment of Hoad's consistency. Although Kramer ranked him one of the 21 best players of all time, albeit in his second echelon, he also writes that "when you sum Hoad up, you have to say that he was overrated. He might have been the best, but day-to-day, week-to-week, he was the most inconsistent of all the top players."{{sfnp|Kramer|1981|p=230}} Kramer compared Hoad to [[Ellsworth Vines]]. "Both were very strong guys. Both succeeded at a very young age.... Also, both were very lazy guys. Vines lost interest in tennis (for golf) before he was thirty, and Hoad never appeared to be very interested. Despite their great natural ability, neither put up the outstanding records that they were capable of. Unfortunately, the latter was largely true because both had physical problems."{{sfnp|Kramer|1981|pp=229, 230}} However, Kramer had a positive evaluation of Hoad's game when motivated, "When Lew felt like playing, man, he was really something.  I never saw anybody who could snap the ball back hard off both sides from way behind the baseline for winners the way he did."<ref name="worldtennismagazine.com"/> Kramer stated in 1981, "Everybody loved Hoad, even [[Pancho Gonzales]]. They should put that on Lew's tombstone as the ultimate praise for the man.... Even when Hoad was clobbering Gonzales, Gorgo wanted his respect and friendship."{{sfnp|Kramer|1981|p=201}}

Gonzales stated that Hoad was the toughest, most skillful adversary that he had ever faced and stated in a 1995 interview that "He was the only guy who, if I was playing my best tennis, could still beat me.".<ref>{{cite news |author1=Dave Anderson |title=The lone wolf faces a match point |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1995/03/12/issue.html |work=The New York Times |date=12 March 1995 |page=3 Section 8 |url-access=limited}}</ref>{{sfnp|Hoad|Pollard|2002|p=62}} "I think his game was the best game ever. Better than mine. He was capable of making more shots than anybody. His two volleys were great. His overhead was enormous. He had the most natural tennis mind with the most natural tennis physique."<ref name=sahof/> In a 1970 interview he stated that "Hoad was probably the best and toughest player when he wanted to be. After the first two years on the tour, his back injury plagued him so much that he lost the desire to practice. He was the only man to beat me in a head-to-head tour, 15 to 13."<ref>{{cite news|author1=Dave Anderson|title=Pancho Picks Hoad|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rAAzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=W-sDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7390%2C2313980|work=The Spokesman-Review|date=23 January 1970}}</ref> In a 1975 issue of [[Sports Illustrated]], [[Arthur Ashe]] was quoted as relating a remark which Pancho Gonzales had said to him, "If there was ever a Universe Davis Cup, and I had to pick one man to represent Planet Earth, I would pick Lew Hoad in his prime."<ref>{{cite magazine |author1=Arthur Ashe |author2=Frank Deford |title=A shout for those Aussies |magazine=[[Sports Illustrated]] |date=10 March 1975 |volume=42 |issue=10 |page=45 |url=https://www.si.com/vault/issue/43266/47}}</ref>

In a 1963 article in ''World Tennis'', Rosewall judged Gonzales to be a notch above Hoad but stated that "...the latter is the greatest of all time when he is 'on'."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131720746 |title=Rosewall praises Gonzales. |work=[[The Canberra Times]] |date=29 May 1963 |page=45 |via=Trove}}</ref>  In 2010, Rosewall ranked Hoad at the top of his personal list of the top four greatest tennis players of all time, ahead of Gonzales, Laver, and Federer.<ref name="Chasing Greatness: GOAT or GOATs"/> However, in 2017, Rosewall was asked the question in Italian publication Corriere della Sera if he believed Roger Federer was the greatest of all time and he replied "there is no doubt.  I challenge anyone to argue otherwise".<ref>{{cite web |title=Antenato |url=https://www.pressreader.com/italy/corriere-della-sera/20170719/282733406918338 |publisher=Corriere della Sera |language=Italian |date=19 July 2017 |via=PressReader}}</ref>

Hoad gave his own rankings in a 1980 interview, ranking Emerson and Borg at the top in terms of major tournaments won. However, Hoad claimed that "the only way to really assess players is to play them", rating Gonzales as the best player of those whom he had played against.<ref name=":1"/>

In 1988, a panel consisting of Bud Collins, Cliff Drysdale, and [[Butch Buchholz]] ranked the top three male tennis players as Laver, Borg and McEnroe. Buchholz ranked Laver, Borg, Rosewall, Gonzales, and McEnroe as his top five choices, while Drysdale ranked Hoad tied with Connors in fifth place behind Laver, Borg, Budge, and McEnroe.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Miami News, 10 March 1988|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/298214058|website=newspapers.com|date=10 March 1988 }}</ref> However, in 2007 Buchholz ranked Hoad as the greatest player of their time, but said he was injury prone and not exactly a model of fitness. Buchholz stated that "If you had an Earth vs. Mars match, and had to send one man to represent the planet, I would send Hoad."<ref name="bodo2007"/>  Buchholz had played the undercard matches on Hoad's 1961 British tour against Gonzales, and Hoad's 1963 Australian tour against Laver.

[[Frew McMillan]] stated his opinion of Hoad in 2001. "The finest player of all time? Possibly. At his best certainly the greatest of the greats that I have seen. Light on his feet yet with the punching power of a fierce fighter. I could marvel at Rod Laver and McEnroe, their flair and artistic strength, but Hoad's ruthless efficiency would take my breath away."<ref>{{cite web|title=Golden Boy and good girls|url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2001/jul/01/tennis.theobserver1|website=[[The Guardian]]|publisher=The Observer|date=1 July 2001}}</ref>

[[Gordon Forbes]] gave his opinion in a 2009 interview. "The best they knew? Hoad, says Forbes. Better than Rod Laver? "Hoad was much stronger, bigger. They were both magicians but Hoad was the best.""<ref>"Abe Segal & Gordon Forbes: 'Sport was all fun and now it almost isn't at all' Peter Bills, Wednesday 25 March 2009 01:01. https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/columnists/peter-bills/abe-segal-amp-gordon-forbes-sport-was-all-fun-and-now-it-almost-isn-rsquo-t-at-all-1653173.html</ref>

[[Rod Laver]] in 2012 ranked Hoad as the greatest player of the 'past champions' era of tennis, while ranking Federer as the greatest player of the Open Era. Laver described Hoad's strengths of "power, volleying and explosiveness" as justification of his accolade.<ref>{{cite web|title=Rod Laver's 10 best past and present players|url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/archive/old-sport-pages/photos-fn77kxzt-1226250654969?page=11|work=Herald-Sun|date=2012}}</ref> In July 2012, when Federer won his seventh Wimbledon singles championship, Laver said "Roger Federer certainly is my claim to be the best of all time if there is such a thing"<ref>{{cite news |title=Federer greatest of all time, says Laver |url=https://www.tennis.com.au/news/2012/07/06/federer-greatest-of-all-time-says-laver |newspaper=[[Tennis Australia]] |date=6 July 2012}}</ref> and in January 2018, at the Australian Open won by Federer, Laver said "For me, I think Roger Federer is certainly the greatest player that has come along" and "He's stood the test of time – that's probably the one thing that puts you in that category of the best ever."<ref>{{cite web |author1=Lauren Wood |title=Rod Laver passes torch to new GOAT, Roger Federer after he claims 20th grand slam |url=https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/tennis/rod-laver-passes-torch-to-new-goat-roger-federer/news-story/1a3fad2bb90c89fe1dbd6a7e96afc740 |website=[[Herald Sun]] |date=29 January 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author1=Kim Trengove |title=Federer celebrates 20 and the Laver Cup legacy |url=https://lavercup.com/news/2018/02/06/federer-celebrates-20-laver-cup-legacy |website=Laver Cup|date=6 February 2018 }}</ref> However, in a January 2019 interview, Laver stated that Hoad was "the best player who ever held a racquet. He had every shot in the book and he could overpower anyone. He was so strong."<ref>Laver interview with Grantlee Kieza in the "Courier Mail", 26 January 2019</ref> Pancho Gonzales made a similar remark about Hoad, "He was such a strong son****...when he tried, you just couldn't beat him. He hit the ball harder than anyone I ever played."{{sfnp|Hodgson|Jones|2001|p=234}}