REAPERS GRAND SLAM
Tennis player Ashley Cooper has died aged 83. A former World Number One, Cooper won four Grand Slam titles in the 1950s, second in number only to Marion Trabert in that decade. In 1958, Ashley Cooper won The Australian Open, The US Open and Wimbledon. His Grand Slam bid was only ended in the French Open Semifinals by Luis Ayala in 5 sets. Ayala didn’t even win the final! He won the Davis Cup with Australia in 1957. His career was prematurely ended by going professional in 1959, in an era when the big prizes in tennis were still organised as being for amateurs only. In comparison in 2020, the British number 9 Brydan Klein has earned nearly one million dollars for his efforts, and who ever heard of that guy? Cooper was a unique hit for Gone in the Land Down Under.
Ashley Cooper
15 September 1936 – 22 May 2020
unique