Richard James Fromberg

Born in Ulverstone, Richard was outstanding in a range of sports as a schoolboy, but tennis became his favourite. It was a wise choice because his talents were to take him all over the world, where he competed against the very best and more than held his own.

It was in 1985 that Tennis Australia first noticed this Tasmanian prodigy when Richard first won the Tasmanian Junior Boys Singles title. The following year he was awarded a four-year scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport. Here he honed his skills, worked hard and gained confidence as he prepared for the unforgiving world of professional tennis.

Richard took the now common pathway for promising young tennis players when he joined the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour. Through this he gained the experience and points needed to qualify for the major tournaments he then entered.

On that tough and often lonely tennis circuit, the young Tasmanian made his mark by winning six ATP Tour events and being runnerup in seven others. The wins came in Italy, Sweden, New Zealand, Romania, the United States and Austria.

With these good performances to his credit, the Australian selectors were impressed and he was selected to represent his country at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, one of the highlights of his career. Richard's tennis continued to improve and he played at each of the Grand Slams - the United States Open five times, the Australian Open twice and the French Open and Wimbledon once each. He reached the third round of these events on three occasions.

He was ranked in the world's top 100 for 11 years straight, which was an Australian record at that time. His highest ranking was number 24 in the world.

It was in representing his country that Richard really excelled. He took tremendous pride in wearing the national colours with his Davis Cup teammates. He was selected to represent Australia in 11 Davis Cup ties, including two finals. His record in singles was 10 wins and four losses and one win in his only doubles rubber. This is a wonderful record and one which Richard can look back on with a great degree of satisfaction.

When he retired in 2002, his experience and talents were utilised by the Australian Institute of Sport as a touring coach, helping with the development and nurturing of our young tennis players. Richard Fromberg achieved much as an elite sportsman and is an extremely worthy addition to our Tasmanian Sporting Hall of Fame.