This was published 7 years ago
What I know about women...
John Newcombe, Tennis legend, 72
By Robyn Doreian
I didn't know either of my grandmothers. My dad, George, and mum, Lilian, married late: he was 44 and she was 31. It was Dad's second marriage. It was unusual not to have had those relationships.
Mum met Dad on a tennis court. They were both on holidays. Prior to that, she had spent her 20s looking after her semi-invalid mother.
John Newcombe, Tennis legend, 72.Credit: SBS
I find it easy to converse with women, and Mum is probably one of the reasons. I'd come home from school in North Sydney and we'd sit and have a cup of tea and chat. She was my best mate.
Mum recognised a fire in my belly early on, and helped direct that energy in a positive direction. She would give me advice, and I would pretend I wasn't listening, but within 24 hours I'd have taken it on board.
Dad was a dentist. He was a terrific father, except when he was drilling my teeth. Back then, he used a pedal drill and it hurt. He was passionate about all sports and played tennis socially. He was very competitive. I beat him when I was 10, and we never played again
Dad was diagnosed with Parkinson's when I was in my early 20s. For several years, Mum tried to look after him at home. Then my sisters, Roslyn and Sue, and I intervened and said she had to put him in a nursing home.
When Dad died, Mum told me not to rush back from my tennis ranch in Texas, and so I didn't. I wasn't able to grieve properly, and I carried that around for 10 years. Then when I did start talking about it, I had this amazing cry for around 20 minutes. After that, I was sort of over it.
It had been tough for Mum, so in 1970 my wife Angie and I took her to Wimbledon. She travelled with us for four months. It was an incredible experience for her – not only to be at Wimbledon, but also to see me win the singles and doubles that year.
It was different when Mum died. The lessons for grieving were there, and I was grateful to have learnt them.
I was 19 when I met Angie [Angelika] in Hamburg. The Australian tennis team was there to play a tournament. At that time, Angie was the No. 2 junior player in Germany.
I asked her to an evening boat party. Afterwards, when I got back to the hotel, I woke my roommate and told him I'd just been out with the girl I was going to marry.
I suspect Angie's childhood left her with inbuilt insecurity. The Americans in West Germany had imprisoned her father after World War II. He later went to Hamburg.
When Angie was four and her brother was nine, their mother led them out of the bombed town of Magdeburg, which was in East Germany. They managed to escape across the guarded border – she must have been terrified. Once they'd settled in Hamburg, a man knocked on their door. Angie opened it. At five, she met her father.
Angie was 20 when we married in Sydney. We started having kids two years later. In the early years, we travelled to tournaments with a nanny for our son Clint and daughter Tanya, but it got more difficult once our third child, Gigi, arrived.
Angie sacrificed a lot to look after them. She had discovered herself as a mother and a wife, but her own personal development had taken a back seat. This happens to a lot of women who get married young, and it's only when they reach their 30s that they start to wonder who they are. I was very aware of that.
What helped Angie was discovering her creative side via ceramics. She had a pottery shed adjoining our house. She exhibited her work, and I couldn't have been more supportive. We have just celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary with a fantastic trip to Italy.
I've met some amazing people through tennis, like Ethel Kennedy [widow of Robert]. I played in the Robert F. Kennedy Pro Celebrity Tennis Tournaments she set up for charity. Within a week of playing, I'd get a wonderful handwritten letter thanking me. I have a really nice friendship with Ethel. She is a really nice woman and is very easy to talk to.
I used to get a lot of attention from women and sometimes I wonder where my life would have headed if I hadn't married early. Getting married to Angie settled me down, as did having a family by the time I was 23.
If I'd married someone who had no understanding or love of sport, it would have been difficult. Angie always felt comfortable in those surroundings and it's played an unbelievable part in my life and career.
I'm not the type of person who would stay in a marriage where I wasn't happy, or if the other person wasn't either. Life is too short to deal with unhappiness. I've been very lucky. Angie is my rock. She is the love of my life.
John Newcombe features in Who Do You Think You Are? on Tuesday at 7.30pm on SBS.