SPORTING GREATS
Tennis: Hewitt & McMillan
Only two South Africans are in the International Tennis Hall of Fame, and it was no surprise when both were named to it in 1992 because they are one of the greatest doubles pairings in the history of the game: Bob Hewitt and Frew McMillan.
Together the two won 57 career titles, a mark they shared with John McEnroe and Peter Fleming and for many years the record for a doubles team until Mark Woodeforde and Todd Woodbridge broke it in 2001.
McMillan was known for his trademark white cap and his double-handed play, both on the forehand and backhand. He began playing with Hewitt in 1966 after Hewitt became available to play for South Africa, having moved from Australia after marrying a South African. Only in their forty-fifth match did they lose for the first time.
McMillan described their play as “touch and thrust” and said that they understood each other’s thinking from the first time they played together. He was the quiet one, while Hewitt was from time to time prone
to outbursts of temper, but they worked extremely well together.
Hewitt and McMillan won the Wimbledon doubles title three times, at a time when doubles received much greater coverage than it enjoys today, when the players were well known and among the real characters of the game. They won their first Wimbledon title in 1967, and they did it in style. They didn’t drop a single set on their way to the title, and McMillan didn’t drop a single service game throughout the tournament.
In 1972 the pair won again, defeating Stan Smith and Erik van Dillen 6-2, 6-2, 9-7 in the final. Six years later, in 1978, Peter Fleming and John McEnroe discovered that experience was a difficult combination to overcome as the South Africans crushed them 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 to claim their third Wimbledon crown.
In 1972 Hewitt and McMillan claimed a second Grand Slam title in the same year with victory in Paris in the French Open. 1977 brought them the US Open title. This meant that Hewitt – who
had won the Australian Open doubles title in 1963 and 1964 with Fred Stolle, before he teamed up with McMillan – could lay claim to all four Grand Slam doubles titles.
The South African stars were also excellent mixed doubles players and claimed further Grand Slam titles in the event. McMillan teamed with Betty Stove to win at Wimbledon in 1978 and 1981, the pair also taking the US Open title in 1977 and 1978. Hewitt won the Wimbledon title in 1977 and 1979 with Greer Stevens, the French Open with Billie Jean King in 1970 and Wendy Turnbull in 1979, the Australian Open with Jan Lehane in 1979 and the US Open with Stevens in the same year.
Hewitt and McMillan were also instrumental in helping South Africa to its only Davis Cup success in 1974.
Both Hewitt and McMillan went on to successful careers as television broadcasters, testament to the regard that they are held in through their achievements on the tennis courts of the world.
Brad Morgan
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