HE has played Wimbledon 32 times, is the grand slam doubles champion, beaten the world’s number one once and is now the inspiration for more than 330,000 future tennis stars across the country.
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John Fitzgerald OAM dropped into Heritage Christian School in Port Macquarie on June 7 to donate tennis racquets to every kindergarten student as a part of the ANZ Tennis Hot Shots development program.
Fitzgerald arrived in the Hastings on a roadshow across the country rolling out the Tennis Australia School Partnership Program to encourage more children to pick up a racquet and learn tennis as part of their health and physical education curriculum.
Students were given the opportunity to ask the tennis great some tricky questions before being handed a new tennis racquet to kick start their own journey in the sport.
Fitzgerald started playing tennis when he was in kindergarten and hit the courts professionally at 18.
“I went up against Ken Rosewell in Brisbane and he gave me a real lesson,” Fitzgerald said.
He went on to win 30 titles in doubles and mixed doubles, seven grand slam championships, the Davis Cup twice and captained the Australian squad in its Davis Cup victory over Spain.