SYDNEY— Australian tennis great John Newcombe expects to attend Wimbledon next month after recovering from an operation for skin cancer.

The 65-year-old Newcombe had a growth removed from the right side of his nose after his doctor discovered the cancer had spread under the skin.

"It's just a small little white thing you can hardly see it," Newcombe told Australia's Channel 10 television network.

"It's a cancerous growth so he (the doctor) had to cut ... and I finished up having to have 64 stitches."

Newcombe won seven grand slam singles titles and reached the world's No. 1 ranking.