


Fred Stolle, a popular Hall of Fame Australian tennis player who won 19 Grand Slam titles, including two singles championships, during a golden age for his countrymen internationally, died on March 5 at his home in Palm Desert, Calif. He was 86.
His granddaughter Sydney Bose said the cause was cardiac arrest.
Stolle had his greatest success in the 1960s when he and other Australian players, like Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Roy Emerson and John Newcombe, dominated the sport in the pre-open era before professionals were allowed to join amateurs in 1968 to play in major tournaments.
Stolle was on the strong Australian squad that won the Davis Cup, the international men’s team event, from 1964 to 1966.
But Stolle also lost three consecutive Wimbledon singles finals, twice to Emerson, from 1963 to 1965. Stolle once said that Emerson was a better athlete than he was and a “bit quicker around the net.”
Stolle won his first singles title at the 1965 French Championships (now the French Open), where he rebounded from losing an error-filled first set, 3-6, to overcome a fellow Aussie, Tony Roche, 6-0, 6-2 and 6-3 in the next three games.