Roger Federer is on the verge of claiming his record sixth straight Wimbledon men’s singles title. It would mark the most consecutive titles in the Open era and would equal the all-time Wimbledon record set by one Willie Renshaw, who won six straight titles from 1881 to 1886. Renshaw, however, only had to play through the draw to win the title in 1881 and the subsequent years, only had to win one match - the Challenge Round - to win the title as the defending champion. Bud Collins, in his newly-released book THE BUD COLLINS HISTORY OF TENNIS profiles Renshaw, Federer’s new marked man!

Bjorn Borg said in 1981, “Yes, I know who Mr. Willie Renshaw was.” Few others did. Borg, who had won five straight Wimble­ dons, was trying to overtake that bygone luminary, but couldn’t make it. 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 brother (by 15 minutes) 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-Willie’s longest, toughest match. At match point, 6-7, 30-40 in the fourth Willie was a goner-he had dropped his racket. Staring at an open court and possibly the championship, Barlow, instead of putting the ball away, gave it a soft gallant tap, allowing Willie to recover, eventually saving the day to go after Ernest and the championship. You won’t see a Barlow blow today.

England’s Renshaw twins (Ernest was also right-handed) were rivals and accomplices. Willie stopped Ernest for the Wim­bledon title on three occasions, but five times between 1884 and 1889 they combined for the doubles championship, a record later topped by the Doherty brothers, Laurie and Reggie. 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 D. E. Woodhouse in his Wimbledon debut in 1880. He lost only twice after that, to nemesis Willoby 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 Jan. 3, 1861, in Leamington, Eng­land, and died Aug. 12, 1904, in Swanage, England.

MAJOR TITLES (12)-Wimbledon singles, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1889; Wimbledon doubles, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1888,1889. SINGLES RECORD IN THE MAJORS-Wimbledon (22-3).

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