Australian tennis player, twelve-time Grand Slam winner in men's singles, doubles and mixed doubles; three-time Davis Cup winner with the Australian national team (from 1953 to 1956).
In his autobiography, written in 1979, renowned tennis promoter Jack Kramer listed Howd as one of the strongest players of all time, along with such greats as Don Budge, Bill Tilden and Pancho Gonzalez.[2]
For five years, starting in 1952, the Australian consistently entered the top ten among amateur tennis players, reaching the first line of the ranking in 1956. In 1957, he turned professional.
In 1980 Lew Howd was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in New Port.
After finishing his sports career, Howd moved to Spain and, together with his wife, kept a hotel with tennis courts in Fuengirola near Malaga. Sean Connery, Kirk Douglas and Charlton Heston visited him.
Lew Hoad was battling leukemia and awaiting a bone marrow transplant when, in a weakened state, he suddenly died of a heart attack.
