Anthony Wilding

Anthony Wilding

Anthony Wilding
Full name	Anthony Frederick Wilding
Country (sports)	Australasia
Singles
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	W (1906, 1909)
Wimbledon	W (1910, 1911, 1912, 1913)
Doubles
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	W (1906)
Wimbledon	W (1907, 1908, 1909, 1914)

|- ! colspan="3" style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;background-color:#eeeeee;color:inherit;" class="adr" | Representing Australasia

|- ! colspan="3" style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;background-color:#eeeeee;color:inherit;" | Men's Tennis

|- | style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;color:inherit;" | || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | 1912 Stockholm || style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;" | Indoor singles |}

Anthony "Tony" Frederick Wilding (October 31, 1883 in Christchurch, New Zealand – May 9, 1915 near Neuve-Chapelle, Pas-de-Calais, France) was a champion tennis player and a soldier killed in action during World War I. He was the co-World No. 1 in 1911 and 1912 and the World No. 1 player in 1913. Pete Sampras was the first person to break his record across multiple Wimbledon wins in doubles, singles and mixed doubles.

Wilding was the son of Frederick and Julia Wilding. His father was a well-to-do lawyer in Christchurch, New Zealand. He was educated there at Mr Wilson's School in Cramner Square, then attended the Canterbury University College for six months before going to England in 1902 to enter Cambridge University, where he developed his tennis game as a member of the Cambridge University Lawn Tennis Club.

In 1905, Wilding made his first Davis Cup appearance as part of the Australasian team and the following year won the Australasian Championship singles and doubles championships. Finishing his education, he was called to the English Bar in 1906.

Between 1907 and 1909 he helped the Australasian team win the Davis Cup, and he won his second Australian Open in 1909, the same year he qualified as a Barrister and Solicitor at the Supreme Court of New Zealand. Focusing on his tennis game, he then won the Wimbledon singles title for four straight years between 1910 and 1913. In 1913 at Wimbledon Myers says that he played "the best game of his life", beating Maurice McLoughlin in three sets. In 1914 he narrowly missed winning his fifth in a row, losing in the 1914 finals to Norman Brookes. In addition, he won four doubles titles at Wimbledon. In 1914, he returned to Davis Cup play, leading the Australasian team to another championship.

He missed the 1908 Olympics in London because of administrative bungling, but at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm won a bronze medal in the men's indoor singles for Australasia.

He won a unique triple in 1913. Wilding was the winner of Wimbledon (the official World Grass Court Championship), the World Hard Court Championship (the official World Clay Court Championship) & the World Covered Court Championship (the official Indoor Court World Championship). These were all of the official World Championships events (Major tennis titles) as designated by the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF), at the time. (Note: The current 4 majors were only made officially so from 1924/1925).

At the outbreak of World War I, Tony Wilding joined the Royal Marines, serving as a Captain with the Armoured Car Division in the battlefields of France. He was killed in action on May 9, 1915 during the Battle of Aubers Ridge at Neuve-Chapelle, France. He had been dating and was about to marry Hollywood silent screen star Maxine Elliott.

Captain Tony Wilding was buried in the Rue-des-Berceaux Military Cemetery in Richebourg-L'Avoue, Pas-de-Calais, France. In 1978, he was named to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Wilding Park, the principal venue for tennis in Christchurch, New Zealand, is named in his honour.

He also played for the Canterbury cricket team in the early 1900s where he played two first-class matches. He was a keen motorcycle (with sidecar) rider with many long trips in Europe, New Zealand and America. In 1908 he won a gold medal in a reliability trial from Land's End to John o' Groats. Several "mighty rides" (Myers) in Europe in 1910 included London to Lake Geneva and back, some 3000 miles (4800 km), including 350 miles (560 km) from Evian to Paris in one day. He ventured into poorly roaded places like Hungary and Serbia.

Wilding's singles titles (at least 112)

Sources:

• Source : ANTHONY WILDING, A Sporting Life, Len and Shelley Richardson, Canterbury University Press, 2005
• On the Court and Off by Anthony F. Wilding (1912, Methuen, London)
• Captain Anthony Wilding by A. Wallis Myers (1916, Hodder and Stoughton, London)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface
Not counted.	1901	Canterbury, New Zealand
Not counted.	1901	Ashburton, New Zealand
Not counted.	1902	University of New Zealand, New Zealand
Not counted.	1903	Cambridge University (Freshmen's), New Zealand
1.	1904	(Amateur) Championships of Shropshire, Shrewsbury
2.	1904	Redhill
3.	1904	(Amateur) Championships of Scotland, Moffat	Grass
4.	1904	Carlisle (North Cumberland)
5.	1905	Hertfordshire and North Middlesex Championship at Lyonsdown Lawn Tennis Club in New Barnet
6.	1905	Redhill
7.	1905	Hamburg (Poseldorf Cup), Germany
8.	1905	Championship of Europe-Homburg	Clay
9.	1905	Le Touquet, France
10.	1906	Championship of Cannes-Cannes Beau Site, France
11.	1906	Championship of the Riviera-Menton, France
12.	1906	French Covered Court Championship-Paris, France
13.	1906	Lyon, France
14.	1906	Reading, Berkshire
15.	1906	Championships of Spain-Barcelona, Spain
16.	1906	Wiesbaden, Germany
17.	1906	Sheffield
18.	1906	Championship of Austria-Prague, Czechoslovakia
19.	1906	Prague*, Czechoslovakia
20.	1906	Epsom
21.	1906	Shrewsbury, Shropshire
Not counted **.	1906	Marienbad (Cup)
22.	1906	Marienbad
23.	1906	Carlsbad
24.	1906	Homburg
25.	1906	Baden-Baden, Germany
26.	1906	Eastbourne (South of England)
27.	1906	Queen's (Covered Court)	probably Wood
28.	1906	Australasian Championship-Christchurch, New Zealand	Grass
29.	1906 (ended on New Year's Day 1907)	New Zealand Championship-Christchurch	Grass
30.	1907	Nice, France	probably Clay
31.	1907	Paris (Covered Court), France	probably Wood
32.	1907	Lyon, France
33.	1907	Queen's (Covered Court)	probably Wood
Not counted **.	1907	Wiesbaden (Cup)
34.	1907	Wiesbaden
35.	1907	Prague, Czechoslovakia
36.	1907	Vienna, Austria
37.	1907	Swiss Championship-Lucerne, Switzerland
38.	1907	Budapest, Hungary
39.	1907	Sheffield
40.	1907	Beckenham, Kent
41.	1907 June 22	London Championships-Queen's	Grass
Not counted ***.	1907	Wimbledon (All England Plate)
42.	1907	Marienbad Cup
43.	1907	Franzenbad
44.	1907	Carlsbad
45.	1907 September	Baden-Baden
46.	1908	San Remo, Italy	probably Clay
47.	1908, March 15-22	Monte Carlo, Monaco	probably Clay
48.	1908	Nice, France	probably Clay
49.	1908	Championship of Cannes-Cannes Beau Site, France	probably Clay
50.	1908	Cannes (Métropole), France	probably Clay
51.	1908	Lyon, France
Not counted **.	1908	Wiesbaden (Cup), Germany
52.	1908	Wiesbaden, Germany
53.	1908	Lille, France
54.	1908	Bordeaux, France
55.	1908	Sheffield
56.	1908	Dieppe, France
57.	1908	Baden-Baden, Germany
58.	1908	Eastbourne (South of England)
59.	1908	New Zealand Championship-Nelson
60.	1909	Taranaki
61.	1909	Masterton
62.	1909	Otago
63.	1909	Simultaneously Championship of Australasia and Western Australia-Perth, Australia
64.	1909	Championship of Victoria-Melbourne, Australia
65.	1909	Championship of New Zealand-Auckland
66.	1910	Championship of South Africa-Johannesburg
67.	1910	Italian Riviera Championships-San Remo, Italy
68.	1910	Brussels (Leopold Club), Belgium
69.	1910	Lille, France
70.	1910	Brussels (International Singles), Belgium
71.	1910	London Championships-Queen's	Grass
72.	1910	Wimbledon	Grass
73.	1910	Ostend
74.	1910	The Hague
75.	1910	Évian-les-Bains, France
76.	1910	Paris, France
77.	1910	Sapicourt
78.	1910	Queen's (Covered Court)	probably Wood
79.	1911	San Remo, Italy	probably Clay
80.	1911, February 27 - March 5	Monte Carlo, Monaco	probably Clay
81.	1911	Championship of the Riviera-Menton, France	probably Clay
82.	1911	Nice, France	probably Clay
83.	1911	Cannes (Beau Site), France	probably Clay
84.	1911	Lyon, France
85.	1911	Beckenham (Kent)
86.	1911	Queen's	Grass
87.	1911	Wimbledon (Challenge Round)****	Grass
88.	1912, February 12-18	Monte Carlo, Monaco	probably Clay
89.	1912	Beckenham (Kent)	Grass
90.	1912	Queen's	Grass
91.	1912	Wimbledon (Challenge Round)****	Grass
92.	1912	Deauville, France	probably Clay
93.	1913, February 24 - March 3	Monte Carlo, Monaco	probably Clay
94.	1913	Menton (Riviera), France	probably Clay
95.	1913	Menton (Forme-Becharat Cup), France	probably Clay
96.	1913	Hard ***** Court Championship of the World-Paris, France	Clay
97.	1913	Grass Court Championship of the World-Wimbledon (Challenge Round)****	Grass
98.	1913	Deauville, France	probably Clay
99.	September 8, 1913	Le Touquet, France	probably Clay
100.	September 15, 1913	Montreux Autumn Meeting, Switzerland	probably Clay
101.	September 22, 1913	Montreux Palace Autumn Meeting, Switzerland	probably Clay
102.	October 18, 1913	Covered Court Championship of the World-Stockholm	probably Wood
103.	1914	Cannes (Beau Site) 1st meeting, France	probably Clay
104.	1914	Cannes (Carlton) 1st meeting, France	probably Clay
105.	1914	Bordighera, Italy ??	probably Clay
106.	1914	Beaulieu, France	probably Clay
107.	1914, February 23 - March 3	Monte Carlo, Monaco	probably Clay
108.	1914	Riviera Championship-Menton, France	probably Clay
109.	1914	Nice, France	probably Clay
110.	1914	Championships of Cannes-Cannes (Beau Site), France	probably Clay
111.	1914	Cannes (Carlton) 2nd meeting, France	probably Clay
112.	1914	Hard ***** Court Championship of the World-Paris, France	Clay

• * It seems to be a different tournament from the previous one held in the same city
• ** It is not clear if it was a different tournament from the following one in the list
• *** The All England Plate was a tournament played by the losers of the first two rounds of the Wimbledon Men's Singles tournament (in 1907 Wilding lost in five sets in the 2nd round to the future winner Norman Everard Brookes)
• **** Up until 1921, the winners of the previous year's competition (except in the Ladies Doubles and Mixed Doubles) were automatically granted byes into the final round (then known as the challenge round). This led to many winners retaining their titles for successive years, as they were able to rest while their opponent competed from the start of the competition. From 1922, the title holders played through from the start of the championships. In 1912 at Wimbledon he had offered to "play through" instead of standing out to meet the All Comers' winner, though his offer was not accepted.
• ***** "Hard Court" in the Commonwealth countries (UK, Australia, ...) means "Clay Court"

Grand Slam titles

• Singles:
  • Australian Open: 1906, 1909
  • Wimbledon: 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913
• Doubles:
  • Australian Open: 1906
  • Wimbledon: 1907, 1908, 1910, 1914

other Major titles

• Singles:
  • World Hardcourt Championships (Clay): 1913, 1914
  • Championship of Europe (Clay): 1905
  • Covered Court Championship of the World (Indoor Wood): 1913

Davis Cup

• Winning team: 1907, 1908, 1909, 1914

See also

• Tennis male players statistics

External links

• http://www.wildingfoundation.com
• Anthony Wilding Official fansite at www.anthonywilding.com
• Biography at New Zealand Olympic Committee website

• International Tennis Hall of Fame