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The greatest Wimbledon champion of all time?
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-13930153Wimbledon champion of champions
29 June 2011
He has won more Wimbledon singles titles than Martina Navratilova, Pete Sampras, Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe combined, and yet you have probably never heard of him.
That is because 89-year-old Professor Bernard Neal from Cheltenham is not a tennis player but a croquet player, and his wins at Wimbledon have been in the croquet club championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.
Between 1963 and 2002 he lifted the trophy a staggering 37 times, only failing to do so on three occasions - in 1964, 1974 and in 2001, and he has won once more since then.
"It's not a very great achievement," he said modestly. "These were the club championships for members only, and not many members of the All England Club play croquet at all."
[...]
29 June 2011
He has won more Wimbledon singles titles than Martina Navratilova, Pete Sampras, Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe combined, and yet you have probably never heard of him.
That is because 89-year-old Professor Bernard Neal from Cheltenham is not a tennis player but a croquet player, and his wins at Wimbledon have been in the croquet club championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.
Between 1963 and 2002 he lifted the trophy a staggering 37 times, only failing to do so on three occasions - in 1964, 1974 and in 2001, and he has won once more since then.
"It's not a very great achievement," he said modestly. "These were the club championships for members only, and not many members of the All England Club play croquet at all."
[...]
The above is from 2011; Prof. Bernard has since passed away.
https://worldcroquet.org/bernard-neal-dies-at-93/
to QI
5 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Inquiring minds want to know.
Just a little croquet reference there, Niagara.
I was only curious when we might see sl8's astronomy topics, I really enjoyed them. I thought that they were out of this world!
I have a croquet set in the garage that I picked up for practically nothing at an estate sale. No one will play a match with me.
Oh, that's polo. Never mind!
