John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to talk about the loss of two friends—two great tennis players: Mervyn Rose and Peter Doohan. Mervyn Rose was a great champion during the fifties. He won the Australian Championships and the French Championships, and he represented Australia in the Davis Cup in 1951, over Frank Sedgman and Ken McGregor, and in 1957, over Lew Hoad and Ken Rosewall. He played in that golden era when the great players of Australia, Frank Sedgman, Ken McGregor, Lew Hoad and Mal Anderson—the others didn't pay me to mention their names!—were all household names. He did so with a great character and a great sense of humour, and we miss Merv greatly. He also had a way with the ladies. He coached Margaret Court, Billie Jean King and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.

Peter Doohan we lost far before his time, to motor neurone disease. Peter Doohan came to notoriety in 1987, when he played the great Boris Becker, who had won Wimbledon in 1985 and 1986 at 17 and 18 years of age—and the man from Newcastle took him apart in four sets on court No. 1. I was there to see it. We celebrate their lives and their times and regret their passing.

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