Paul McNamee

Paul McNamee (born 12 November 1954) is an Australian former doubles world No. 1 tennis player and prominent sports administrator.

Junior career In his hometown, McNamee won the boys' singles tournament at the 1973 Australian Open.

Professional career McNamee is the only player to switch a grip as a professional, changing from a one-handed backhand to two-handed in 1979. He won two singles and twenty-three doubles titles during his professional career. A right-hander, he reached his highest singles ATP-ranking on 12 May 1986 when he became the world No. 24. McNamee reached his highest doubles ATP-ranking on 8 June 1981 when he became the world No. 1. McNamee won 24 men's doubles titles including four Grand Slam doubles titles in his career. He won the 1979 Australian Open and the 1980 and 1982 Wimbledon Championships with Peter McNamara and the 1983 Australian Open with Mark Edmondson. He won the mixed-doubles title in Wimbledon with Martina Navratilova in 1985.

When John McEnroe won Wimbledon in 1984, McNamee was the only player to take a set off McEnroe throughout the entire championship when he won the third set of their first-round match.

McNamee was also a member of the Australian Davis Cup Team which won the Davis Cup in 1983 and 1986.

In 1987, McNamee became Melbourne's last officially crowned King of Moomba. A Moomba Monarch was subsequently selected. (However, male Monarchs were popularly, but unofficially, still called King of Moomba).

Sports administrator McNamee played a key role in the founding of the Hopman Cup international tennis tournament in 1988. He served as tournament director of the Hopman Cup and CEO of the Australian Open until 2006.

From 2006 to 2008 he was the tournament director for Golf Australia of the Australian Golf Open. He also served as the CEO of the Melbourne Football Club from March to July 2008.

In late 2008, it was revealed that McNamee has joined the push for Australia to field a cycling team at the Tour de France – with support from Cadel Evans as a consultant for Australian Road Cycling, a Melbourne-based consortium.

Career finals Singles (2 titles, 5 runner-ups)

Doubles (23 titles, 15 runner-ups) ResultW/L DateTournamentSurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss 1. 1977 Santiago, Chile Clay Henry Bunis Patricio Cornejo Jaime Fillol 7–5, 1–6, 1–6Win 1. 1979 Nice, France Clay Peter McNamara Pavel Složil Tomáš Šmíd 6–1, 3–6, 6–2Win 2. 1979 Cairo, Egypt Clay Peter McNamara Anand Amritraj Vijay Amritraj 7–5, 6–4Win 3. 1979 Palermo, Italy Clay Peter McNamara Ismail El Shafei John Feaver 7–5, 7–6Win 4. 1979 Sydney Outdoor, Australia Grass Peter McNamara Steve Docherty Christopher Lewis 7–6, 6–3Win 5. 1979 Australian Open, Melbourne Grass Peter McNamara Cliff Letcher Paul Kronk 7–6, 6–2Win 6 Feb 1980 San Juan, U.S. Hard Paul Kronk Robert Trogolo Mark Turpin 7–6, 6–3Win 7. 1980 Palm Harbor, U.S. Hard Paul Kronk Steve Docherty John James 6–4, 7–5Win 8. 1980 Houston, U.S. Clay Peter McNamara Marty Riessen Sherwood Stewart 6–4, 6–4Loss 2. 1980 Forest Hills WCT, U.S. Clay Peter McNamara Peter Fleming John McEnroe 2–6, 7–5, 2–6Loss 3. 1980 London/Queen's Club, UK Grass Sherwood Stewart Rod Frawley Geoff Masters 2–6, 6–4, 9–11Win 9. 1980 Wimbledon, London Grass Peter McNamara Robert Lutz Stan Smith 7–6, 6–3, 6–7, 6–4Win 10. 1980 Stockholm, Sweden Carpet Heinz Günthardt Robert Lutz Stan Smith 6–7, 6–3, 6–2Loss 4. 1980 Bologna, Italy Carpet Steve Denton Balázs Taróczy Butch Walts 6–2, 3–6, 0–6Loss 5. 1980 Johannesburg, South Africa Hard Heinz Günthardt Robert Lutz Stan Smith 7–6, 3–6, 4–6Win 11. 1980 Sydney Outdoor, Australia Grass Peter McNamara Vitas Gerulaitis Brian Gottfried 6–2, 6–4Loss 6. 1980 Australian Open, Melbourne Grass Peter McNamara Mark Edmondson Kim Warwick 5–7, 4–6Win 12. 1981 Masters Doubles WCT, London Carpet Peter McNamara Victor Amaya Hank Pfister 6–3, 2–6, 3–6, 6–3, 6–2Loss 7. 1981 Hamburg, West Germany Clay Peter McNamara Hans Gildemeister Andrés Gómez 4–6, 6–3, 4–6Win 13. 1981 Stuttgart Outdoor, West Germany Clay Peter McNamara Mark Edmondson Mike Estep 2–6, 6–4, 7–6Win 14. 1981 Sydney Outdoor, Australia Grass Peter McNamara Hank Pfister John Sadri 6–7, 7–6, 7–6Loss 8. 1982 Nice, France Clay Balázs Taróczy Henri Leconte Yannick Noah 7–5, 4–6, 3–6Win 15. 1982 Monte Carlo, Monaco Clay Peter McNamara Mark Edmondson Sherwood Stewart 6–7, 7–6, 6–3Win 16. 1982 Bournemouth, UK Clay Buster Mottram Henri Leconte Ilie Năstase 3–6, 7–6, 6–3Win 17. 1982 Wimbledon, London Grass Peter McNamara Peter Fleming John McEnroe 6–3, 6–2Win 18. 1983 Memphis, U.S. Carpet Peter McNamara Tim Gullikson Tom Gullikson 6–3, 5–7, 6–4Win 19. 1983 London/Queen's Club, UK Grass Brian Gottfried Kevin Curren Steve Denton 6–4, 6–3Loss 9. 1983 Washington D.C., U.S. Clay Ferdi Taygan Mark Dickson Cássio Motta 2–6, 6–1, 4–6Win 20. 1983 Brisbane, Australia Carpet Pat Cash Mark Edmondson Kim Warwick 7–6, 7–6Win 21. 1983 Australian Open, Melbourne Grass Mark Edmondson Steve Denton Sherwood Stewart 6–3, 7–6Win 22. 1984 Houston, U.S. Clay Pat Cash David Dowlen Nduka Odizor 7–5, 4–6, 6–3Win 23. 1984 Aix-en-Provence, France Clay Pat Cash Chris Lewis Wally Masur 4–6, 6–3, 6–4Win 24. 1984 London/Queen's Club, UK Grass Pat Cash Bernard Mitton Butch Walts 6–4, 6–3Loss 10. 1984 Wimbledon, London Grass Pat Cash Peter Fleming John McEnroe 2–6, 7–5, 2–6, 6–3, 3–6Loss 11. 1984 Hong Kong Hard Mark Edmondson Ken Flach Robert Seguso 7–6, 3–6, 5–7Loss 12. 1985 Rotterdam, Netherlands Carpet Vitas Gerulaitis Pavel Složil Tomáš Šmíd 4–6, 4–6Loss 13. 1985 Boston, U.S. Clay Peter McNamara Libor Pimek Slobodan Živojinović 6–2, 4–6, 6–7Loss 14. 1986 Fort Myers, U.S. Hard Peter Doohan Andrés Gómez Ivan Lendl 5–7, 4–6Loss 15. 1986 Sydney Indoor, Australia Hard (i) Peter McNamara Boris Becker John Fitzgerald 4–6, 6–7