Nadal’s NZ Predecessor

Christchurch-born and educated Anthony Wilding was a world tennis champion from 1911-1914, and up until this week held a 90-year undefeated consecutive record for winning four titles in Monte Carlo. Overall, Wilding was a five-time winner at the Monaco tournament before dying in the trenches of WW1, 15 months after securing his final victory. Spanish sensation Rafael Nadal has became the first man since Wilding to claim those four titles, beating the current world number one, Roger Federer at the Masters Series Monte Carlo. Wilding won two Australian Open titles, the second in 1909, and the same year qualified as a Barrister and Solicitor at the Supreme Court of New Zealand. He then won the Wimbledon singles title for four straight years between 1910 and 1913. Wilding was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1978.