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he reached the last eight of the French,
Wimbledon and the US Champion-
ships, coming closest to a semi-final at
Forest Hills but failed to convert a
match point when two sets up against
the unseeded Frank Froehling, losing
9-7 in the decider.
He loyally turned out for his county,
Middlesex too, winning 15 out of 15 at
County Week with Barrett, an impress-
ive feat, though Barrett said he believed
Wilson’s natural artistry led him to
neglect his physical development.
“Our Middlesex county captain Hed-
ley Baxter encouraged us all to train
hard,” he said, “but when we discussed
this Bobby said, ‘I don’t believe in train-
ing’. He was a wonderful player but per-
haps a little bit soft in that way. I think
he might have had even more success if
he’d been a bit harder and tougher.
People always used to say, that if his tal-
ent and Billy Knight’s gutsiness were
combined, you’d get a world beater.”
Such was the extent to which Wil-
son’s mother had been the driving force
throughout his early life — he always
had to know where Jessie was sitting
during matches so he could keep glan-
cing at her — his Davis Cup team-
mates would tease him for being a
“mummy’s boy”. She cherished a long-bans after brushes with the Lawn Ten-
nis Association officialdom, whose
high-handed attitudes he detested, he
played in a record 34 Davis Cup ties,
winning 40 of his 61 rubbers, including
25 doubles matches. In 1963 the side
won the Europe Zone, beating Sweden
in the final before losing to the US.
Wilson’s patriotism, silky touch play
and all-court game made him an inspi-
rational team member and he part-
nered Sangster, Knight and MikeDavies, with whom he reached the
Wimbledon doubles final in 1960. The
pair were narrowly edged out by Rafael
Osuna and Dennis Ralston.
Wilson reached seven grand-slam
quarter-finals, including four at Wim-
bledon, and beat numerous big names
en route, often in gripping five-setters.
His biggest Wimbledon scalp was Nea-
le Fraser, the world No 1, in 1961, which
he considered his greatest match, al-
though he fell to Chuck McKinley, the
eighth seed, in the next round. In 1963He was banned several
times after brushes with
the sport’s officialdom
Obituaries
‘Galloping nun’ who taught
Princess Anne to ride
Sister Cherrie Hatton Hall
Page 52
Bobby Wilson
Instinctive and elegant British tennis star who played a record 26 consecutive times at Wimbledon and did not believe in training
DOUGLAS MILLER/GETTY IMAGES; ALAMYWilson playing at Wimbledon in 1967. Left, after beating Neale Fraser, the world No 1, there in 1961
In the summer of 1958 British tennis
fans had, at last, a homegrown hero to
cheer at Wimbledon. The spectators in
No 1 Court by turns sucked their teeth
and roared as Bobby Wilson, a 22-year-
old unseeded Londoner, played in his
first grand-slam quarter-final. Could he
be the new Fred Perry? Everyone was
thinking it.
His opponent that day was the top
seed, Ashley Cooper. The super-fit
Australian had looked on course for a
routine victory over the slightly built,
studious-looking Briton when he
cantered through the first two sets.
Then the underdog staged a miracu-
lous fightback, playing with exquisite
freedom and fluency, to level at two sets
all. Even the Queen had arrived from
Centre Court to watch Britain’s great
white hope. At five-all there seemed
nothing between the players, but a bril-
liant display of attacking tennis gave
Wilson break point. The crowd held its
breath as Cooper caned down a big
serve. Wilson picked his spot and
launched an untouchable return that
looked like a winner but he was incred-
ulous and crestfallen when it was called
fractionally wide.
Cooper, a flinty competitor, dug in,
eventually winning his serve, then
broke Wilson’s in unflappable style to
book his place in the semi-final. He
went on to win the championship.
Wilson was convinced this close call
had cost him a huge win and in later
years invariably reminded Cooper of
his “lucky escape”, insisting good-na-
turedly that this alone had given the fa-
vourite the title.
Robert Keith Wilson was born in
1935 in Hendon, northwest London, the
only child of John, a food buyer at Fort-
num & Mason, and
his wife, Jessie. The
couple were great
tennis enthusiasts
and played most
nights at the nearby
Finchley Manor
club. As soon as
Bobby could walk,
Jessie was hitting
balls to the little boy
and although she
had no coaching ex-
perience, he quickly
developed beauti-
fully grooved
strokes, particularly
a powerful serve and
overhead. Encour-
aged by his family
and local coach,
Bobby began entering
junior tournaments and showed a pre-
cocious grasp of tactics, soon beating
much older boys. In his early teens, he
was scouted for the national junior
squad, part of a richly talented cohort of
young players including Tony Pickard,
Mike Sangster and Billy Knight.
“Bobby was a completely natural
player with beautiful shots,” remem-
bered John Barrett, the British inter-
national, who was later Wilson’s Davis
Cup captain. “I first noticed him on an
outside court at Wimbledon, hitting
with Dan Maskell. I walked past and
saw this young boy playing wonderfully
and I said ‘Good God, who’s that?’ I’d
never seen him before and he had a
superb flowing style, hitting the ball so
elegantly one
moment then
leaping up for
smashes and
crashing the
ball away the
next. I thought
‘Woo, what a
talent!’ ”
Wilson soon
justified the
high hopes,
winning the
British junior champion-
ships at the age of 15. He was accepted
for the Wimbledon men’s singles a year
later and won his first round in straight
sets before being rapidly dismissed by
Jaroslav Drobny, the second seed. Days
later he proved himself one of the
world’s top young players, thrashing
Trevor Fancutt, the much-fancied
South African, to win the junior event.
At his school, Christ’s College Finc-
hley, Bobby excelled at sport and en-
joyed the CCF, later doing National
Service in the RAF. Although he was a
bright boy, his studies were of only pass-
ing interest because he was itching to
begin his tennis career and in 1955 he
proudly made his debut in Britain’s
Davis Cup side. Despite several briefW
dsho d
e
m
le
s
c
b
n
‘W
tju
h
w
British junioheld ambition that he would marry her
great friend’s daughter, Christine Tru-
man, the wunderkind and Wimbledon
finalist who won the French champion-
ships aged 18. Jessie even placed a photo
of her on the sideboard, but to no avail.
When Wilson got engaged to
Elizabeth Evans, a girlfriend from the
tennis club, Jessie was implacably
opposed to the match and eventually
Elizabeth returned his engagement
ring in Highgate woods, admitting: “I
can’t compete with your mother.”
The friendship with the Trumans
endured, and years later Christine
Janes, by then a well-known tennis
pundit though still Jessie’s blue-eyed
girl, sent the elderly matriarch an All
England Christmas card depicting that
year’s champions, Steffi Graf and Boris
Becker. “She wrote me a lovely letter
back,” recalled Janes, “saying she was
delighted to see the children doing so
well. Priceless!”
Wilson eventually retired from ten-nis in 1977 after playing at a record 26
Wimbledon tournaments in a row. In
his final match, a mixed doubles against
Mary Carillo and John McEnroe, he
and Jackie Fayter lost 9-7 in the third
set. He bowed out without fanfare and
was disappointed that the LTA never
sought his expertise in developing the
next generation.
He worked as a training officer for
the Manpower Services Commission
and later became the respected head
coach at the Chandos Club in north
London, coaching there until last year.
He was particularly proud of his mag-
nificent collection of Davis Cup medals
with the bars denoting the different ties
played each year.
Wilson had met his former fiancée
Elizabeth again in the late Seventies
and eventually proposed once more,
charmingly proffering her original en-
gagement ring. They married in 1981
and he was like a second father to her
two daughters by her first marriage,
Sarah and Emma, and a perceptive
mentor to their four children. His firm
guidance and kindly “little talks”
helped to turn one rebellious step-
grandson into a polite, hardworking
young man. Wilson became a commit-
ted Christian in later life, serving as
churchwarden at St Andrew’s, Totte-
ridge. An enthusiastic member of the
Royal Horticultural Society and the
National Trust, he particularly loved
gardening, visiting historic houses and
caring for his beloved cats. A quiet,
genuine man, tennis remained his life,
but he was clear-eyed about his limita-
tions as a player.
“My weaknesses were that I probably
played too many touch shots and that I
lacked the killer instinct,” he once ad-
mitted. “I enjoyed playing more than I
enjoyed winning. I played tennis for the
fascination of it. I played instinctively.”Bobby Wilson, tennis player, was born
on November 22, 1935. He died of
complications from Parkinson’s disease
on September 21, 2020, aged 84‘I enjoyed playing more
than winning. I played
for the fascination of it’