Brad Drewett (19 July 1958 – 3 May 2013) was a retired tennis player from Australia and former top 40 singles and top 20 doubles player. He was the 1975 and 1977 Australian Open Junior champion and the youngest player at age 17 to win the title since Ken Rosewall and John Newcombe. He was also the third-youngest Australian Open quarter-finalist in his first Grand Slam at 17 years and five months in 1975 behind Boris Becker, 17 yrs, 4 days in 1984 & Goran Ivanisevic, 17 yrs, 4 months in 1989.

Drewett won two career singles titles, reached the quarter-finals of the 1976 Australian Open and attained a career-high singles ranking of World No. 34 in March 1984.

Drewett died on 3 of May 2013 after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease in January 2013.

 

Juniors

Drewett won the Australian Open Boys' Singles title in 1975 and 1977 (in January).

Junior Grand Slam results:

Australian Open: W (1975, 1977 - Jan) French Open: - Wimbledon: SF (1975, 1976) US Open: -

 

Pro tour

During his professional career, he won 2 singles titles (Cairo 1982 and South Orange 1983) and 7 doubles titles and reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open singles in 1976. He was a finalist on four other occasions: Adelaide 1981, Cleveland 1985, Newport 1988 and Seoul 1989. He also achieved a career-high doubles ranking of World No. 18, reaching the semi-finals in doubles (partnering Martin Davis) at the Australian Open in 1988 and 1989. Brad was also a member of the Australian Davis Cup team in 1981 and 1985. Earned a career-high $120,193 in 1988 and broke the top 50 for the first time in 1984. He retired in 1990.

 

Post-retirement

Brad has worked as a commentator for Channel 9 and Channel 10 in Australia. Brad Drewett began serving as ATP Executive Chairman & President on 1 January 2012. He was appointed for three years, replacing Adam Helfant. Brad had previously served as the ATP's Chief Executive Officer for the International Group since January 2006 and oversaw the ATP's operations in the Middle East, Asia and Pacific regions. Prior to that, Brad led the region as Managing Director from 2003 to 2005 and was Executive Vice President from 1999 to 2003. He has previously served as an elected ATP Player Council representative and from 1993 until 1999, as an elected ATP Player Board Representative.

 Since 2001, Brad has been the Tournament Director of the ATP World Tour's season-ending event, the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. As well as overseeing the event when held in Sydney and Houston, Brad negotiated a multi-year deal with the Shanghai Administration of Sport and Shanghai Ba-shi Industrial Company to stage theTennis Masters Cup in Shanghai from 2005 to 2008.

 

Illness

Brad announced to enter a transition period as ATP Executive Chairman and President due to illness, since he has been diagnosed withMotor Neurone Disease (also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease) on January 14, 2013, writing,“It has been a privilege to serve as Executive Chairman and President of the ATP, an organization that I’ve been a part of for more than 35 years since I became a professional tennis player. I hold the ATP very close to my heart, and it’s with sadness that I make the decision to enter this transition period due to my ill-health.” ATP Board of Directors begins the search process for his successor in the near future.

WTA released a statement which read:

"The thoughts and prayers of the WTA family are with Brad, his family and the entire ATP community at this very difficult time," said Stacey Allaster, WTA Chairman & CEO. "We know he will fight this terrible disease every step of the way, and have our full support for whatever he needs."

Drewett died on the 3rd of May 2013.