William Charles Renshaw “Willie”
Born: January 03, 1861
Died: August 12, 1904
Hometown: Leamington, United Kingdom
Citizenship: United Kingdom
Handed: Right
Inducted: 1983
Grand Slam Record
Wimbledon Singles 1881-86, 89
Singles finalist 1890
Doubles 1880-81, 84-86, 88-89
Bjorn Borg said in 1981. “Yes. I know who Mr. Willie Renshaw was.” Few others did. Borg, who had won five straight Wimbledons, was trying to overtake that bygone luminary, but couldn’t make it. Nobody has. Not only did William Charles Renshaw, a forceful right-handed aggressor, win an unequaled six straight Wimbledons from 1881, wresting the title from John Hartley, 6-0, 6-2, 6-1, but he added a record seventh title in 1889, defeating older (by 15 minutes) brother, Ernest Renshaw, in the title round, 6-4, 6-1, 3-6, 6-0.
In the all-comers final against Harry Barlow, Willie made an all-time recovery. He ducked six match points in the fourth set, trailing 5-2, and came back from 0-5 in the fifth to win, 3-6, 5-7, 8-6, 10-8, 8-6.
England’s Renshaw twins (Ernest was also right-handed) were rivals and accomplices. Thrice Willie stopped Ernest for the Wimbledon title, but seven times between 1880 and 1889 they combined for the doubles championship a record later topped by one by the Doherty brothers, Laurie and Reggie. Willie’s 14 titles at the Big W are the male record. The offense-minded Renshaws played doubles as never before, rushing the net and volleying more frequently and effectively than their predecessors, helped by the lowering of the net to its present three feet in 1882.
Willie, noted particularly for his serve and overhead smash, was a third-round loser to O.E. Woodhouse in his Wimbledon debut, 1880. He lost only twice after that, to nemesis Willoughby Hamilton in the 1888 quarters, and again in the 1890 challenge round, 6-8, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1. He won 22 of 25 Wimbledon matches in singles, and had a 14-match streak from 1881 to the 1888 defeat by Hamilton, having declined to defend in 1887 because of an elbow injury. That mark wasn’t broken until after the challenge round system was abandoned and Fred Perry recorded a 15th straight match win in the first round of his 1936 title.
The Renshaws seemed to be the first to take the game really seriously playing a full English summer schedule, and then competing on the Riviera during the winter, building a court at Cannes in 1880. Willie was born January 3, 1861, in Leamington, England, and died August 12 1904, in Swanage, England. He entered the Hall of Fame in 1983.
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