page_title: Anthony Wilding
section_title: Riviera circuit and Wimbledon semifinal
hierarchical_section_title: Anthony Wilding / Tennis career / Riviera circuit and Wimbledon semifinal
caption_attribution_description: Portrait of tennis champion Anthony Frederick Wilding. He stands in his tennis whites holding his tennis racquet. Taken by an unknown photographer circa 1910.
context_page_description: Anthony Frederick Wilding was a New Zealand world No. 1 tennis player and soldier who was killed in action during World War I. Considered the world's first tennis superstar, Wilding was the son of wealthy English immigrants to Christchurch, New Zealand and enjoyed the use of private tennis courts at their home. He 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. He 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 only player from New Zealand to have won a Grand Slam singles title. He also won seven ILTF World Championships; Wimbledon four times, the World Hard Court Championships twice and the World Covered Court Championships once.
context_section_description: Starting in February 1906 Wilding toured during almost the entire year across continental Europe and England, sometimes travelling by train but most often on his beloved motorcycle. For the first time he played the Riviera circuit and won tournaments in cities throughout Europe including Cannes, Paris, Lyon, Barcelona, Wiesbaden, Reading, Prague, Bad Homburg and Vienna. At some of the tournaments in England and Europe he was accompanied by his father with whom he played in various doubles competitions. Together they won the doubles title at the Sheffield and Hallamshire tournament in June 1906. Wilding's run at the 1906 Wimbledon Championships ended, as it had done the previous year, with a straight-sets defeat against the veteran Arthur Gore, this time in the semifinal. After winning the singles title at the London Covered Courts Championships in October, beating George Caridia in the final, he travelled by boat to New Zealand and in late December in his native Christchurch won the singles title at the  Australasian Championships, defeating Francis Fisher in the final, and doubles title, partnering compatriot Rodney Heath. A week later he also won the New Zealand Championship against Harry Parker in the final. At the 1907 Wimbledon Championships Wilding had the misfortune to be drawn in the same section as tournament favorite and eventual champion Norman Brookes who defeated him in their second-round match in five sets. Reluctant to return to New Zealand to practise law, as he originally intended, Wilding instead decided to play a circuit of European tournaments. During the 1907–08 winter, when tennis activity was at a low, he generated income as an English teacher and tennis trainer for aristocratic families in Bohemia and Hungary. In March 1908 he partnered Major Ritchie to win the doubles title at the South of France tournament against multiple Wimbledon champions Lawrence and Reginald Doherty. Wilding won the 1908 Victorian Championships singles title after defeating Fred Alexander. 
  Between 1907 and 1909 he helped the Australasian team win three consecutive Davis Cups, the first against the British Isles at Wimbledon and the last two against the United States. He won his second Australasian Championships in 1909, with his remorseless drives proving too much for Ernie Parker to handle in the final.   The same year he qualified as a Barrister and Solicitor at the Supreme Court of New Zealand. Focusing on his tennis game, he won the Wimbledon singles title for four straight years between 1910 and 1913. He was the last player to win four successive championships until 1979; when Bjorn Borg won his fourth successive championship. He attained the first of three No. 1 rankings in 1911. In 1910 and 1912 he defeated Arthur Gore in the final, both times in four sets. In 1911 his opponent Herbert Roper Barrett retired in the final at two sets all. In 1913 at Wimbledon tennis player and author A. Wallis Myers says that he played "the best game of his life", beating American Maurice McLoughlin, the 1912 U.S. National Championships winner, in three straight sets. In 1914 he narrowly missed winning his fifth title in a row, losing in the final to Norman Brookes. In addition, he won four men's doubles titles at Wimbledon, in 1907 and 1914 with Norman Brookes and in 1908 and 1910 partnering with Major Ritchie.
  He missed the 1908 Olympics in London because of an administrative error in which the Australasia Olympic committee forgot to officially nominate any tennis players, but at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm won a bronze medal in the men's indoor singles for Australasia.
  During the 1911 Riviera season Wilding defeated Max Decugis in the final of three tournaments in Monte Carlo, Menton and Nice.
caption: Anthony Wilding dressed in tennis attire, circa 1912
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