MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Fred Stolle, a winner of two Grand Slam singles titles and 17 major doubles trophies, has died, Tennis Australia said Thursday. He was 86.
Stolle was an “iconic figure” in tennis as a player and later as a commentator for Australia's Nine Network and U.S. broadcasters, Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley said. Tiley did not provide a cause of death.
The 1.91-meter (6-foot-3) Stolle was part of Australia's successful era in the 1960s as tennis progressed from an amateur to professional sport.
Nicknamed “Fiery Fred” or “Fiery” for short, he lost the first five Grand Slam singles finals he reached — four of them to fellow Australian Roy Emerson. He also fell in consecutive Wimbledon finals in 1963, 1964 and 1965.
He broke through on his least favorite surface, on clay at the 1965 French Championships, beating Tony Roche in the final.
“I lost a bunch of those to Emmo but against anybody else I felt comfortable," Stolle told the Tennis Channel. “The French was not the one I was supposed to win, but it was exciting for me.”
At the 1966 U.S. Championships in Forest Hills, he beat John Newcombe in another all-Australian final, becoming only the second unseeded champion. Newcombe was also unseeded. Stolle beat three seeds to reach the final. Afterward, he held the No. 1 ranking and turned pro.
He won 10 men's doubles titles at Grand Slams from 1962-69, four each with Bob Hewitt and Emerson and two with Ken Rosewall. He's one of the few to win all four doubles majors.
Stolle also won seven mixed doubles majors, his partners including Margaret Court, Lesley Turner Bowrey and Ann Haydon Jones.
He won the Davis Cup in 1964, 1965 and 1966. His most notable win was in 1964 in Cleveland where, with Australia 2-1 down, he beat American Dennis Ralston 7-5, 6-3, 3-6, 9-11, 6-4. The following year, he launched Australia's defense in Sydney by overcoming Spain's Manolo Santana 10-12, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-5.
Stolle coached American Vitas Gerulaitis to the 1977 Australian Open title, and would continue playing singles on tour until 1982.
“His legacy is one of excellence, dedication, and a profound love for tennis," Tiley said. "His impact on the sport will be remembered and cherished by all who had the privilege to witness his contributions.
“A star member of Australia’s Davis Cup team, Fred made significant contributions to the sport following his decorated career, as a coach and astute commentator."
Rod Laver, an Australian who won 11 major titles including the calendar-year Grand Slams in 1962 and 1969, posted a tribute to Stolle on X.
“As I wrote in my book on the Golden Era of Aussie tennis, Fred Stolle was too nice a guy to hold a grudge. He won many Grand Slams and was in the finals of many more. It took the best to beat the best,” Laver posted. “We never tired of reliving the past as we travelled the world looking into the future with an enduring love of the sport.”
Stolle was born in Sydney but lived in the United States after his playing career.
Tennis Australia said Stolle is survived by his wife, Pat, his son Sandon — a U.S. Open doubles winner — and daughters Monique and Nadine.
AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
FILE - Australian tennis ace Fred Stolle holds the trophy he won in the final of the men's singles of the French tournament at Roland Garros stadium in Paris, May 29, 1965. (AP Photo/Pierre Godot, File)
FILE - Former tennis champion Fred Stolle, of Australia, waves after receiving a symbolic trophy, just 50 years after winning the French Open tennis tournament, at the Roland Garros stadium, Saturday, May 30, 2015 in Paris. (AP Photo/David Vincent, File)
SAN FRANCISCO & JACKSONVILLE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 12, 2026--
Abridge, the leading enterprise-grade AI for clinical conversations, is collaborating with Availity, the nation’s largest real-time health information network, to launch a first-of-its kind prior authorization experience. The engagement uses cutting-edge technology grounded in the clinician-patient conversation to facilitate a more efficient process between clinicians and health plans in medical necessity review.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260112960386/en/
Rather than creating parallel AI systems across healthcare stakeholders, Abridge and Availity are working together to ensure shared clinical context at the point of conversation powers administrative processes, such as prior authorization review and submission, improving outcomes for patients and the teams delivering care.
This collaboration unites two trusted and scaled organizations: combining Abridge’s enterprise-grade AI platform, serving over 200 health systems and projected to support over 80 million patient-clinician conversations in 2026, with Availity’s next-generation, FHIR-native Intelligent Utilization Management solution, which helps payers and providers digitize and operationalize coverage requirements within administrative workflows.
Availity’s FHIR-native APIs enable fast, scalable, and secure connectivity of payer information across the entire healthcare ecosystem. With Abridge’s Contextual Reasoning Engine technology, clinicians can gain visibility into relevant clinical information during the conversation to support documentation aligned with prior authorization requirements.
“At Availity, we’ve invested in building AI-powered, FHIR-native APIs designed to bring clinical policy logic directly into provider workflows,” said Russ Thomas, CEO of Availity. “By embedding our technology at the point of conversation, we’re enabling faster, more transparent utilization management decisions rooted in clinical context. We’re excited to collaborate with Abridge and to demonstrate what’s possible when payer intelligence meets real-time provider workflows.”
The development of real-time prior authorization is just a component of a broader revenue cycle collaboration that is focused on applying real-time conversational intelligence across the patient, provider, and payer experiences. The companies intend to support integration by collaborating on workflow alignment between their respective platforms in the following areas:
“Abridge and Availity are each bringing national scale, deep trust, and a track record of solving important challenges across the care and claims experience to this partnership,” said Dr. Shiv Rao, CEO and Co-Founder of Abridge. “We’re building real-time bridges between patients, providers, and payers, unlocking shared understanding, focused at the point of conversation.”
About Availity
Availity empowers payers and providers to deliver transformative patient experiences by enabling the seamless exchange of clinical, administrative, and financial information. As the nation's largest real-time health information network, Availity develops intelligent, automated, and interoperable solutions that foster collaboration and shared value across the healthcare ecosystem. With connections to over 95% of payers, more than 3 million providers, and over 2,000 trading partners, Availity provides mission-critical connectivity to drive the future of healthcare innovation. For more information, including an online demonstration, please visit www.availity.com or call 1.800.AVAILITY (282.4548). Follow us on LinkedIn.
About Abridge
Abridge was founded in 2018 to power deeper understanding in healthcare. Abridge is now trusted by more than 200 of the largest and most complex health systems in the U.S. The enterprise-grade AI platform transforms medical conversations into clinically useful and billable documentation at the point of care, reducing administrative burden and clinician burnout while improving patient experience. With deep EHR integration, support for 28+ languages, and 50+ specialties, Abridge is used across a wide range of care settings, including outpatient, emergency department, and inpatient.
Abridge’s enterprise-grade AI platform is purpose-built for healthcare. Supported by Linked Evidence, Abridge is the only solution that maps AI-generated summaries to source data, helping clinicians quickly trust and verify the output. As a pioneer in generative AI for healthcare, Abridge is setting the industry standard for the responsible deployment of AI across health systems.
Abridge was awarded Best in KLAS 2025 for Ambient AI in addition to other accolades, including Forbes 2025 AI 50 List, TIME Best Inventions of 2024, and Fortune’s 2024 AI 50 Innovators.
Abridge and Availity Collaborate to Redefine Payer-Provider Synergy at the Point of Conversation
Abridge and Availity Collaborate to Redefine Payer-Provider Synergy at the Point of Conversation
