Ashley John Cooper AO (15 September 193622 May 2020) was an Australian tennis player who played between 1953 and 1968. He was ranked as the world's No. 1 amateur player during the years of 1957 and 1958. He was runner-up at Wimbledon in 1957, losing the final to Lew Hoad. He reached the 1957 U.S. Open final where he lost to Mal Anderson. Cooper was ranked amateur world number one in 1957 by Ned Potter, Lance Tingay, Adrian Quist and Yvon Petra.
Cooper played his best year in 1958, becoming one of only eleven men to win three of the four Grand Slam events in the same year. He successfully defended his Australian singles title after a straight-sets victory in the final against Malcolm Anderson. He followed up with a first singles title at the U.S. Championships, again defeating Anderson in the final. Cooper was ranked world number one amateur in 1958 by Ned Potter and Lance Tingay.
The right-handed Cooper played on the Australian Davis Cup team that won the cup in 1957, and were finalists in 1958.
Professional
In January 1959, Cooper turned professional after signing a contract with Jack Kramer for a $100,000 guarantee.
Cooper won his first professional match against Pancho Gonzales at Perth on grass in the Ampol world series of tournaments, and defeated Sedgman in the semifinal, but lost the final to Hoad. He finished third on the 1959 World Championship 4-man tour, behind Gonzales and Hoad. Cooper was 18–9 against Mal Anderson on the 4-man tour.
In the fall of 1959, he won the Slazenger Professional tournament at Eastbourne, England on grass, defeating Trabert in the semifinal and Hoad in the final in best-of-five set matches.
Cooper won a professional tour of Europe in 1960, the Grand Prix de Europe series. Cooper finished in first place ahead of (2) Gimeno (3) Segura (4) Anderson (5) Olmedo.
Cooper won the European Cup professional tour of Europe in 1962, with Gimeno again finishing in second place.
Cooper experienced severe nerve damage in his right arm and was forced to retire at the end of 1962.
After retiring as a player, Cooper went on to serve as a tennis player development administrator with Tennis Queensland, where he was based for nearly fifty years. He also sat on the board of directors for Tennis Australia.
Honours
Cooper was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1987 and the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1991. In the Queen's Birthday Honours List of 2007, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his service to tennis.
In 2009 Cooper was inducted into the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame.
Personal life
Cooper married Helen Wood, Miss Australia 1957, on 2 January 1959. An estimated crowd of five thousand unruly people surrounded St. Paul's Presbyterian Church in Brisbane to try to catch a glimpse of the couple.
Cooper died on 22 May 2020 at the age of 83 following a long illness.
Grand Slam finals
<small>Source: </small>
Singles: (4 titles, 2 runners-up)
{|class="sortable wikitable"
!Result
!Year
!style="width:170px"|Championship
!Surface
!style="width:135px"|Opponent
!style="width:160px" class="unsortable"|Score
|-
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win
| 1957
| style="background:#ffc;"|Australian Championships
| Grass
| Neale Fraser
| 6–3, 9–11, 6–4, 6–2
|-
| style="background:#ffa07a;"|Loss
| 1957
| style="background:#cfc;"|Wimbledon
| Grass
| Lew Hoad
| 2–6, 1–6, 2–6
|-
| style="background:#ffa07a;"|Loss
| 1957
| style="background:#ccf;"|U.S. Championships
| Grass
| Malcolm Anderson
| 8–10, 5–7, 4–6
|-
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win
| 1958
| style="background:#ffc;"|Australian Championships
| Grass
| Malcolm Anderson
| 7–5, 6–3, 6–4
|-
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win
| 1958
| style="background:#cfc;"|Wimbledon
| Grass
| Neale Fraser
| 3–6, 6–3, 6–4, 13–11
|-
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win
| 1958
| style="background:#ccf;"|U.S. Championships
| Grass
| Malcolm Anderson
| 6–2, 3–6, 4–6, 10–8, 8–6
|}
Doubles: (4 titles, 3 runners-up)
{|class="sortable wikitable"
!Result
!Year
!style="width:170px"|Championship
!Surface
!style="width:135px"|Partner
!style="width:135px"|Opponents
!style="width:150px" class="unsortable"|Score
|-
| style="background:#ffa07a;"|Loss || 1956 || style="background:#ebc2af;"|French Championships || Clay || Lew Hoad || Don Candy<br /> Robert Perry || 5–7, 3–6, 3–6
|-
| style="background:#ffa07a;"|Loss || 1957 || style="background:#ffc;"|Australian Championships || Grass || Malcolm Anderson || Lew Hoad<br /> Neale Fraser || 3–6, 6–8, 4–6
|-
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win || 1957 || style="background:#ebc2af;"|French Championships || Clay || Malcolm Anderson || Don Candy<br /> Mervyn Rose || 6–3, 6–0, 6–3
|-
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win || 1957 || style="background:#ccf;"|U.S. Championships || Grass || Neale Fraser || Gardnar Mulloy<br /> Budge Patty || 4–6, 6–3, 9–7, 6–3
|-
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win || 1958 || style="background:#ffc;"|Australian Championships || Grass || Neale Fraser || Roy Emerson<br /> Robert Mark || 7–5, 6–8, 3–6, 6–3, 7–5
|-
| style="background:#ffa07a;"|Loss || 1958 || style="background:#cfc;"|Wimbledon || Grass || Neale Fraser || Sven Davidson<br /> Ulf Schmidt || 4–6, 4–6, 6–8
|-
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win || 1958 || style="background:#ebc2af;"|French Championships || Clay || Neale Fraser || Robert Howe<br /> Abe Segal || 3–6, 8–6, 6–3, 7–5
|}
Performance timeline
<small>Source of Grand Slam results:</small>
Singles
{|class="wikitable nowrap" style=text-align:center
! !!colspan=2|1954 !!1955 !!1956 !!1957 !!1958 !!1959 !!1960 !!1961 !!1962 !!1963 !!1964 !!1965 !!1966 !!1967 !!1968 !! SR !! W–L !! Win %
|- bgcolor=efefef
| align=left colspan=17 |Grand Slam tournaments || 4 / 20 || 69–15 || 82.1
|-
|align=left bgcolor=#efefef|Australian Open
| bgcolor=ffebcd colspan=2|QF
| bgcolor=ffebcd|QF
| bgcolor=ffebcd|QF
| bgcolor=lime|W
| bgcolor=lime|W
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| bgcolor=#efefef| 2 / 5
| bgcolor=#efefef| 16–3
| bgcolor=#efefef| 84.2
|-
|align=left bgcolor=#efefef|French Open
| bgcolor=afeeee colspan=2|2R
| A
| bgcolor=yellow|SF
| bgcolor=yellow|SF
| bgcolor=yellow|SF
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| bgcolor=afeeee|2R
| bgcolor=#efefef| 0 / 5
| bgcolor=#efefef| 14–4
| bgcolor=#efefef| 77.8
|-
|align=left bgcolor=#efefef|Wimbledon
| bgcolor=afeeee colspan=2|4R
| bgcolor=afeeee|1R
| bgcolor=afeeee|4R
| bgcolor=thistle|F
| bgcolor=lime|W
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| bgcolor=#efefef| 1 / 5
| bgcolor=#efefef| 19–4
| bgcolor=#efefef| 82.6
|-
|align=left bgcolor=#efefef|US Open
| bgcolor=afeeee colspan=2|2R
| bgcolor=afeeee|3R
| bgcolor=ffebcd|QF
| bgcolor=thistle|F
| bgcolor=lime|W
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| bgcolor=#efefef| 1 / 5
| bgcolor=#efefef| 20–4
| bgcolor=#efefef| 83.3
|- bgcolor=efefef
| align=left colspan=17 |Pro Slam tournaments || 0 / 10 || 10–10 || 50.0
|-
|style="text-align:left;" bgcolor=efefef |U.S. Pro
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| bgcolor=yellow |SF
| bgcolor=yellow |SF
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| rowspan=3|
| bgcolor=efefef |0 / 2
| bgcolor=efefef |1–2
| bgcolor=efefef |33.3
|-
|style="text-align:left;" bgcolor=efefef|French Pro
| style=color:#767676 colspan=2|NH
| style=color:#767676|NH
| A
| style=color:#767676|NH
| A
| bgcolor=ffebcd |QF
| bgcolor=ffebcd |QF
| bgcolor=ffebcd |QF
| bgcolor=yellow |SF
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| bgcolor=efefef |0 / 4
| bgcolor=efefef |5–4
| bgcolor=efefef |55.6
|-
|style="text-align:left;" bgcolor=efefef|Wembley Pro
| style=color:#767676 colspan=2|NH
| style=color:#767676|NH
| A
| A
| A
| bgcolor=ffebcd |QF
| bgcolor=ffebcd |QF
| bgcolor=ffebcd |QF
| bgcolor=ffebcd |QF
| A
| A
| A
| A
| A
| bgcolor=efefef |0 / 4
| bgcolor=efefef |4–4
| bgcolor=efefef |50.0
|- style="background:#efefef;"
| style=text-align:left|Win–loss
| colspan=2|7–4
| 4–3
| 14–4
| 21–3
| 23–1
| 3–3
| 2–3
| 2–2
| 3–2
| 0–0
| 0–0
| 0–0
| 0–0
| 0–0
| 0–0
| 4 / 30
| 79–25
| 76.0
|}