John Newcombe's final Slam win, 50 years on: 'Time has flown'

All eyes were on the best tennis players in the world Sunday for the start of the Australian Open. Fifty years ago, ATP No. 1 Club member John Newcombe was at the centre of the spotlight.

The Australian, who climbed to No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings in 1974, won five major singles titles in the Open Era. The last of those triumphs came 50 years ago.

“It's really strange to think that 50 years ago I won the Australian Open. Time has flown,” Newcombe said in an interview with Tennis Australia. “And I can remember a lot of things about that match very vividly and clearly, coming back to the Australian Open, how it's grown since Kooyong. So proud of what Tennis Australia has done with building the Open up into an amazing event.”

Only two Australian men have won the Australian multiple times in the Open Era. One is Ken Rosewall (1971-72) and the other is Newcombe (1973, 1975). According to the latter, the crowd support was a factor then as it is today for the likes of Alex de Minaur.

“I had a lot of people cheering for me throughout Australia. I don't think there were many people anywhere in Australia that weren't listening to it on the radio or watching on TV,” Newcombe said. “It was a sellout crowd that a couple of thousands of people couldn't get in 'til the end of the match. It was a fantastic atmosphere. It was a thrill to be out there and playing.”

At the 1973 Australian Open, Newcombe lost just one set en route to the title. Triumphing two years later was not as easy.

Newcombe needed to battle through three five-setters just to make the final. In the quarter-finals he eliminated Geoff Masters 10-8 in the fifth set before clawing past Tony Roche 11-9 in the decider.

“I’d been to places in the couple of days leading to the final physically that I'd never been before because I wasn't thinking I was going to play the tournament, and only decided to play it 10 days before,” Newcombe said. “I wasn't as fit as I normally would be. I was traveling on reserves a lot of the time. So I was pretty proud of myself, of the physical effort that I went through. But there were times when I was having an inner-body experience where you're absolutely exhausted, you don't think you can go on, but you want it badly, so you go on.”

Waiting in the championship match was Jimmy Connors, who was World No. 1 at the time.

“I knew I could beat him. I also knew that he was good enough to beat me,” Newcombe said. “I wasn't worrying about losing. I was just worried about playing as well as I could play, and I thought if I did that, I could probably come out winning.”

Throughout his career, Connors became known for riling up crowds and using their passion to his advantage. “This is what they paid for. This is what they want,” the lefty famously said during a match at the US Open one year.

“Jimmy was actually a good boy during the match,” Newcombe recalled of their final Down Under. “I think he realised the sellout crowd there was, and he was trying to be the nice guy, to make them like him.”

It was not enough. Newcombe emerged victorious 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6, hitting two backhand winners off Connors’ serve in the fourth-set tie-break. “He was hating me for that years later,” Newcombe said.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of his win, the Australian Open is featuring Newcombe on the official 2025 match coin.

“On the coin here it's a running forehand, and I'm so glad that that was put on there, because a lot of times pictures [were] taken with my backhand, because, of course, the racquet's closer to the body,” Newcombe said. “So this is really good to see, because it was a weapon that I had, one of my major weapons, the forehand.”