Former Australian Tennis Great Hoad Dead at 59 : Obituary: Two-time Wimbledon singles champion fought long battle with leukemia.

The tributes flowed Monday for former Australian tennis great Lew Hoad, who died at the age of 59 on the day Pete Sampras emulated his feat of winning two consecutive Wimbledon titles.

Hoad, winner of 13 Grand Slam singles and doubles titles, died in Spain on Sunday after a long battle with leukemia.

His former Davis Cup teammate and 1960 Wimbledon singles champion Neale Fraser noted the irony in the timing of Hoad’s death.

“Perhaps it was his last hurrah--saying don’t forget me, I was one of the greatest,” Fraser said.

Hoad reportedly experienced respiratory problems at his tennis-camp home near Marbella on Saturday night and was taken to a hospital, where he died the next morning.

Many of his contemporaries and countrymen had been organizing a seniors tournament for this month at his Campo de Tenis to raise money for his treatment.

Paul McNamee, a former Australian Davis Cup player and 1980 and 1982 Wimbledon champion, said the tournament would still be played.

McNamee visited Hoad in Spain recently to organize the event.

“His spirits were very good right until the end,” he said.

Hoad was the first post-war player to win consecutive Wimbledon singles titles, in 1956 and 1957. He won doubles titles in 1953, 1955 and 1956.

“He was the first of the charismatic players we saw in the ‘50s,” Fraser said.

“He produced a brand of tennis that was exciting, different to everyone else and a joy to watch. It was great to know that he was part of the Australian tennis team.

“I played him many times and have no doubt he was the greatest player I ever played. He had everything, he was just a joy to play and to watch.

“I knew in January that he was ill, but it was sad to hear it happened suddenly.”

Said ITF President Brian Tobin: “Tennis has lost one of its true legends. Many of his contemporaries believe that, at his best, Lew was one of the greatest players ever to grace the game. He was a spectacular player, a great personality, a good guy and a friend to all who knew him.”

Hoad won the Australian, French and Wimbledon titles in 1956, missing the Grand Slam when countryman Ken Rosewall beat him in the U.S. Open.

He won six Grand Slam doubles titles with Rosewall, including Wimbledon in 1953 and ‘56, the 1955 Wimbledon title with another Australian, Rex Hartwig, the 1957 Australian title with Fraser, and the 1954 French mixed doubles with Maureen Connolly.

For the last 30 years, Hoad and his wife, Jenny, lived in Spain.