The Vault - Anthony Wilding: First 'son of NZ' left record hard to match

Anthony Wilding

This article was published in the Herald on July 1, 1983. At that time, New Zealand's Chris Lewis was on his dream run at Wimbledon, which culminated in him making the final against John McEnroe. Lewis lost the final in straight sets.

Chris Lewis tilts at the pinnacle of tennis, the Wimbledon singles title, and the sporting pundits hold their collective breath.

After all, no New Zealander since the legendary Anthony Wilding has won the coveted crown, let alone made the centre court for the final.

Even if young Chris, the Mt Albert Grammar old boy, could do it, he would still have a long way to go to match Christchurch-born Wilding.

Not once, but four times, Wilding won Wimbledon, and was only narrowly defeated by Davis Cup teammate Norman Brookes in the 1914 final.

Those were the days of a challenge round for Wimbledon, the holder not having to appear till the preliminary matches were completed and an opponent found for him.

It was a system that lasted till 1922. Modified seeding was introduced in 1924, full seeding in 1927, the championships becoming open in 1968.

Wilding made five bids for the championship before succeeding. Both in 1905 and 1906 his backhand let him down although in the latter year he reached the semi-finals and made a big impression.

In 1907, Wilding's path to the final was barred by Brookes. He had beaten a good man in American Beals Wrights, but the Australian pipped him in a five setter.

In 1908, Wilding was beaten, badly, by Englishman Roper Barrett in the fifth round. He was away in New Zealand the following year but in 1910 he arrived in England fresh from winning the South African singles in Johannesburg and with an earlier victory over Brookes in Melbourne. This was it.

He first accounted for old rival Roper Barrett, then the German champion, Froitzheim, in three quick sets and a victory over JC Parke (England) put him into the final of the challenge round.

He faced another old opponent, Beals Wright, losing the first two sets before coming back in classical manner to win the next three and go for the championship against AW Gore (England).

In an excellent biography, Captain Anthony Wilding, by Englishman A Wallis Myers, the writer describes the centre court struggle:

"Despite an early 1-4 first set setback, Wilding fought back to take the opener 6-4 and then a very close second 7-5.

"Rain interrupted the third when he was leading 4-2 and Gore recovered to win 6-4. But Wilding prevailed in the fourth to take it 6-2 and the title was his.

"In a few hours time a cable bearing the news reached Christchurch and his parents. It was a great day there and in New Zealand generally. Even the Prime Minister wired his congratulations.

"You may think the fuss exaggerated but Wilding was the first son of New Zealand to win high fame at Wimbledon and the pride of the Dominion in its children is not measured in ordinary terms."

For three more great years Wilding held the title, beating Roper Barrett in 1911, Gore again (aged 44) in 1912 and, perhaps his greatest victory, the first of the new breed of Americans, Maurice McLoughlin, in 1913. Brookes took the title away from him in 1914.

Wilding came from a sporting background in Canterbury, his father, English-born Frederick Wilding KC, deciding to send his son to England to qualify for Cambridge and study law. This was at the age of 19.

He succeeded at his studies and even returned to New Zealand to qualify for the bar although, subsequently, he qualified first in England.

Then on to tennis, the Davis Cup and Wimbledon, winning the title at the age of 26.

Wilding had appeared in the Davis Cup before he teamed with Brookes to beat British Isles, as it was then called in 1907.

They defended the cup successfully in 1908 and 1909, but there was no contest in 1910.

Because of business ties, Wilding was unavailable for cup ties in 1911-12-13, but he teamed with Brookes to regain it from the United States in 1914.

He was killed in action in France on May 9, 1915, and is buried at Neuve Chapelle.

After his death, Norman Brookes wrote of him:

"Without doubt one of the finest specimens of manhood physically, he was blessed as well with an ability and steadfastness of character that helped him to reach the highest pinnacle in the lawn tennis world and his cheery, bright nature made him beloved by all followers of the game.

"As a tennis player he was perhaps seen to best advantage on the hard courts of the continent; but take him year in, year out on any kind of court, he was easily No 1 in the tennis world. Perhaps not so brilliant and spectacular as Maurice McLoughlin, nor as subtle as Roper Barrett, he however possessed that superb correctness in all his stroke production that marked him out as a master player.

"Tennis followers the world over will mourn his loss and more especially we in Australia. I shed a tear in memory of the many happy days we spent together in the struggle for the Davis Cup."