Malcolm Anderson, born on March 3, 1935 in Theodore, Queensland, Australia was a recognized Australian tennis star during the middle 1950s to the early 1970s. Malcolm, also called Mal, started playing tennis at the young age of eight years old. However, it wasn’t until eight years later that he took the sport seriously. When he did though, he made quite a big impression that rocked the history of Australian tennis.
Mal was not only a big hit in tennis during his professional career. As an amateur, Mal achieved the World number 2 ranking twice. When he turned pro, his two best seasons statistics-wise ever recorded was in 1957 and in 1958. In the year 1957, Mal’s career highlight was in winning the US National Singles Championship as an unseeded player. In the same year, he was able to reach the semi-finals of the Australian National Singles Championship as well as winning the French National Doubles Championship together with Ashley Cooper.
In the year 1958, Mal’s season highlights included that of becoming a finalist at the Forest Hills and Kooyong. A year later in 1959, Anderson won Wembley. It wasn’t until the year 1972 that Mal appeared in another major final. He was at the age of 36 when he played in the Australian Open and became a finalist. In 1973, he won the doubles title at Kooyong, partnering with John Newcombe.
Mal was also very active in the Australian Davis Cup. He was in the team for the years 1954, 1957, 1958 and 1973. Throughout his professional career, Mal acquired numerous titles in both the singles circuit and the doubles circuit, not to mention his Grand Slam victories. For his remarkable performance, he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in the year 2000.
