 Anthony Wilding, c. 1912 | |||||||||||||||
| Full name | Anthony Frederick Wilding | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country (sports) | New Zealand | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 31 October 1883 Christchurch, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||
| Died | 9 May 1915 (aged 31) Aubers Ridge, Neuve-Chapelle, France | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||||||||||||||
| Plays | Right-handed (one-handed backhand) | ||||||||||||||
| Int. Tennis HoF | 1978 (member page) | ||||||||||||||
| Singles | |||||||||||||||
| Career record | 636–57 (91.7%)[1] | ||||||||||||||
| Career titles | 123[1] | ||||||||||||||
| Highest ranking | No. 1 (1911, ITHF) | ||||||||||||||
| Grand Slam singles results | |||||||||||||||
| Australian Open | W (1906, 1909) | ||||||||||||||
| Wimbledon | W (1910, 1911, 1912, 1913[a]) | ||||||||||||||
| Other tournaments | |||||||||||||||
| WHCC | W (1913, 1914) | ||||||||||||||
| WCCC | W (1913) | ||||||||||||||
| Doubles | |||||||||||||||
| Grand Slam doubles results | |||||||||||||||
| Australian Open | W (1906) | ||||||||||||||
| Wimbledon | W (1907, 1908, 1910, 1914) | ||||||||||||||
| Grand Slam mixed doubles results | |||||||||||||||
| Wimbledon | F (1914) | ||||||||||||||
| Team competitions | |||||||||||||||
| Davis Cup | W (1907, 1908, 1909, 1914) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||
Anthony Frederick Wilding (31 October 1883 – 9 May 1915), also known as Tony Wilding, was a New Zealand world No. 1 tennis player and soldier who was killed in action during World War I.[2] Considered the world's first tennis superstar,[3] Wilding was the son of wealthy English immigrants to Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand and enjoyed the use of private tennis courts at their home. Wilding obtained a legal education at Trinity College, Cambridge and briefly joined his father's law firm. Wilding was a first-class cricketer and a keen motorcycle enthusiast. His tennis career started with him winning the Canterbury Championships aged 17.
Wilding developed into a leading tennis player in the world during 1909–1914 and is considered to be a former world No. 1. He won 11 Grand Slam tournament titles, six in singles and five in doubles, and is the first and to date the only player from New Zealand to have won a Grand Slam singles title.[b] In addition to Wimbledon, he also won three other ILTF World Championships (period 1912–1923): In singles, two World Hard Court Championships (WHCC) (1913–14) and one World Covered Court Championships (WCCC) (1913). With his eleven Grand Slam tournaments, two WHCC and one WCCC titles, he has a total of fourteen Major tournament titles (nine singles, five doubles). His sweep of the three ILTF World Championships in 1913 was accomplished on three different surfaces (grass, clay and wood) being the first time this has been achieved in Major tournaments.[4]
Wilding won the Davis Cup four times playing for Australasia, and won a bronze medal at the indoor singles tennis event of the 1912 Olympics,[5] which made him the first and to date only singles player from New Zealand to win a medal in a tennis event in the Summer Olympics and the only New Zealand player to win a medal in any Olympic tennis event until Marcus Daniell and Michael Venus won the bronze medal in the men's doubles competition at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in July, 2021.[6] He still holds several all time singles tennis records, namely 23 titles won in a single season (1906) and 114 career outdoor titles (shared with Rod Laver). In his ranking list of greatest tennis players compiled in 1950, Norman Brookes, winner of three Majors and president of the Lawn Tennis Association of Australia, put Wilding in fourth place. Shortly after the outbreak of World War I he enlisted and was killed on 9 May 1915 during the Battle of Aubers Ridge at Neuve-Chapelle, France. In 1978 Wilding was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
- ^ a b "Anthony Wilding: Career match record". thetennisbase.com. Tennis Base. Archived from the original on 4 January 2023. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
- ^ "Olympians Who Were Killed or Missing in Action or Died as a Result of War". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
- ^ Katwala, Sunder (24 June 2013). "It's time to remember Tony Wilding, the first tennis superstar". The New Statesman. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
- ^ "International Tennis Hall of Fame". www.tennisfame.com. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
- ^ "Anthony Wilding". Olympedia. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
- ^ "Mektic and Pavic win all-Croatian final to take doubles gold". SportsDesk. 30 July 2021. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
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