Win Wimbledon once and you instantly make some tennis history. Lift the pineapple-topped trophy for two straight summers and that carries even more weight. How about three titles in a row? That’s when you cross over from tennis champion to mythological figure at the All England Club.
With Carlos Alcaraz through to the final of the gentlemen’s singles on Sunday, when he will be attempting to do what Pete Sampras once called a Wimbledon “three-peat”, we have taken a look at the other men in the Open era who have landed three or more titles in a row here. As well as those who won two consecutive titles but then couldn’t complete their Centre Court hat-tricks.
Bjorn Borg
You hear a lot about Bjorn Borg’s Viking cool. How it looked as though his heart rate and his emotions were as flat on Centre Court as they would have been during practice or when eating breakfast. But you don’t win five Wimbledon titles in a row – from 1976-80 – with emotional control alone. Maybe more should be made about Borg’s actual game, and how exceptionally he played on the grass.
Borg, who was watching from the Royal Box as Alcaraz defeated Taylor Fritz in Friday’s semi-final, won the first of his titles by beating Ilie Nastase in the 1976 final, before defeating Jimmy Connors in 1977 and 1978. Victory over Roscoe Tanner took Borg to a fourth straight Wimbledon success and then he added a fifth in 1980 with a five-set victory over John McEnroe, despite losing the fourth set in an 18-16 tie-break.
Pete Sampras
Getting slam-dunked by Pete Sampras on Centre Court was almost a privilege. The Californian was never more explosive, or more compelling to watch, than when he was doing a slam-dunk smash. Playing on Centre Court gave him a buzz that he couldn’t get anywhere else in tennis. After beating Jim Courier in 1993 and Goran Ivanisevic the following year, Sampras defeated Boris Becker in the 1995 final.
That was a big, big moment for him, he said, as he was proud of what he called his “three-peat”. Sampras is the only man to have twice won three or more Wimbledon titles in a row, as he also did it from 1997-2000, beating Cedric Pioline, Ivanisevic, Andre Agassi and Pat Rafter in the finals.
Roger Federer
The other day, Mirra Andreeva didn’t dare look at the Royal Box in case she spotted Roger Federer (main picture) watching her ladies’ singles match. But then she gave in, glanced over and she appeared to lose her focus for a few minutes. Having the Swiss watch her play was a dreamy day for the teenager. The tennis that Federer played on Centre Court – particularly from 2003-07, when he won five Wimbledon titles without interruption – is still moving people.
Federer’s first title came from beating Mark Philippoussis before he won two finals against Andy Roddick and a couple against Rafael Nadal. In all, Federer won a record eight titles at the All England Club, but after those five in a row, his final three were all in isolation, with wins in 2009, 2012 and 2017.
Novak Djokovic
There’s an asterisk against Novak Djokovic’s streak but only because of a global pandemic which meant that Wimbledon wasn’t played in 2020. In 2018, the Serbian beat Kevin Anderson for the title, and the following summer he had one of the most memorable days of his career as he saved a couple of Championship points to defeat Federer. Post-pandemic, Djokovic got the better of Matteo Berrettini in 2021 and in 2022 he defeated Nick Kyrgios.
When two didn’t become three
Boris Becker
Boris Becker was 17 when he won his first Wimbledon title in 1985, and 18 when he took his second a year later. But in 1987, at the age of 19, he went out in the second round to Australian Peter Doohan (who became known as the ‘Becker Wrecker’). It was one of the great Wimbledon shocks and the German teenager was just about the only person inside the All England Club that day who was able to keep any sense of proportion: “I lost a tennis match. I didn’t lose a war. Nobody died.”
Rod Laver
After winning titles in 1968 and 1969, it was thought that Rod Laver would go on to be champion again in 1970, but it wasn’t to be as he lost in the fourth round to Britain’s Roger Taylor (who has written in his new book about how he auditioned for the role of James Bond).
John Newcombe
John Newcombe, the champion in 1970 and 1971, had ambitions of becoming the first man in the Open era to win three Wimbledon titles in a row but he was ineligible to step on the grass in 1972 because he had signed up for World Championship Tennis. The Australian was devastated.
John McEnroe
John McEnroe was only 26 at the time but he felt old on court in the quarter-finals in 1985 when he lost to South Africa’s Kevin Curren. The New Yorker had been the champion in 1983 and 1984.
Novak Djokovic
One of the biggest of all Wimbledon surprises was Djokovic’s third round defeat by Sam Querrey in 2016. After winning the title in 2014 and 2015, he hadn’t expected to go out in the third round (he had just completed the Career Grand Slam, by winning Roland-Garros for the first time, which was possibly a factor in how his match played out on the grass).