1897: The Doherty Brothers

The Doherty brothers, Reggie and Laurie, captured nine of 10 Wimbledon singles titles between them from 1897 to 1906, becoming the first great international stars of tennis, albeit without the attendant blast of publicity and the inflow of wealth.

Because he was the taller of the two at 6’1”, Reggie was known as “Big Do” and at 5’9”, Laurie was “Little Do”. It was Big Do, poor health notwithstanding, who made the first Wimbledon impact, winning the men’s singles in four successive years from 1897-1900.

The most memorable of these wins came in the 1898 final against Laurie, 6-1 in the fifth set, an epic tie despite the fact that they disliked having to play each other, much as the Williams sisters do nowadays. In 1902 Laurie reimposed the Doherty hegemony with the first of his five straight singles wins, and so brilliant were the brothers in nine Wimbledon years from 1897 to 1905 that they won the doubles crown on eight occasions.

Their dominance in both singles and doubles also ensured Britain won the Davis Cup four years in a row from 1903 to 1906.