I don’t write about myself that much. But this year I’m making some exceptions. The AC “A” Board announced that I’ll be inducted into the Austin College Hall of Honor in the summer of 2025. My sport is tennis, and Legends Weekend 2025 is igniting a bunch of Marc tennis stories. Here’s one:
Wimbledon 2025 kicks off Monday in London. Many folks are familiar with the longest singles match in Wimbledon history, back in 2010 when John Isner defeated Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in the fifth set of a match which lasted over 8 hours. But this story is about the longest doubles match in Wimbledon history.
I first picked up a racquet in 1980, right after Bjorn Borg defeated John McEnroe in a 1980 Wimbledon final that many consider to be the greatest match of all time. In 1981, McEnroe got his revenge at Wimbledon by defeating Borg in the final. It was Johnny Mac’s first ever Wimbledon title. But it would not be his last.
By 1981, I was regularly playing tournaments all around the Houston area. I harbored tennis dreams of one day achieving a state ranking and maybe cracking the Top 100 in the State of Texas. Those dreams would come true in 1986 and 1988 respectively. But tennis back in 1981 was mainly two things: (1) learning how to master the sport, and (2) watching Richey Reneberg.
Richey Reneberg was the top ranked junior in Texas in every division from 1976 (age 10) to 1984 (age 18). He was a Houston native and future graduate of Westchester High School (since merged with Stratford HS). For me in 1981, tennis was playing with my peers and watching the elites like Reneberg. At Houston tournaments in the early 1980s, many of us would bow out early and then spend time as fans watching Reneberg roll to a title.
That was the case in 1983 at Lee LeClear Tennis Center in Southwest Houston. Lee LeClear remains a special place for me, as I finally achieved a state ranking there in 1986. But in 1983, I watched Reneberg play some exceptional tennis there just before his departure for the collegiate ranks at SMU. That same year I watched McEnroe win yet another Wimbledon title during his domination of the sport.
Reneberg was an All-American at SMU in the late 1980s, holding the #1 ranking in NCAA tennis. It was inevitable that Reneberg would give a professional career a go in the early 1990s as McEnroe’s star was slowly fading. John McEnroe won seven Wimbledon titles (3 singles & 4 doubles) between 1979 and 1984. But his best days looked to be well behind him by 1992.
But Johnny Mac still had fight left in him. In 1992, McEnroe teamed up with Michael Stich and went on an incredible Wimbledon doubles run. Six straight victories, including a win over the #1 seeded team in the tournament, put McEnroe/Stich into the doubles final. Waiting for them in the finals was another team enjoying an outstanding run: Jim Grabb and his Texan partner Richey Reneberg. Their match was an instant classic.
After four long sets, the two teams battled forever through a final, tiebreaker-free fifth set. Both sides refused to yield. The inevitable break of service finally came at 17-17. With Reneberg serving at break point, McEnroe hit a perfect lob over the Texan to go up 18-17. At the ripe old tennis age of 33, McEnroe then served for his eighth and final Wimbledon title.
McEnroe willed their way to 40-30, earning one championship point. As he prepared to serve, the Wimbledon announcer quietly mentioned that “I would think that this next point means as much to McEnroe as any other point he has played in that long, illustrious, turbulent career.” McEnroe’s first serve was true, Reneberg failed to return, and the match was over: 5-7, 7-6, 3-6, 7-6, 19-17.
The match was at that time was the longest in Wimbledon doubles history, in terms of both number of games (83) and total time played (5 hours, 1 minute). The title was also McEnroe’s last, ending an incredible 15 years that started with his 1977 run as an 18-year-old amateur. Reneberg and Grabb followed their Wimbledon final appearance by winning the 1992 US Open just a few months later.
Next month, I’ll be inducted into the Austin College Hall of Honor for tennis. The 1992 Wimbledon Championships were an important one for me. Andre Agassi, who I will be quoting in my Hall of Honor speech, won the men’s singles title. Steffi Graf, future spouse of Andre and one of the game’s greats, won the women’s singles title. 1992 was also the year I graduated from Austin College and hung up the racquet.
But Wimbledon 1992 for me is really about the nice little Marc bookend provided by the doubles final. My tennis life began in 1980, when John McEnroe was at the top of his game at Wimbledon and Richey Reneberg was the Houston kid I would watch while dreaming of big goals in the sport. And it ended in 1992 on my way out of Sherman, when that Houston kid whose game I knew well battled an aging Wimbledon legend in the longest doubles match in Wimbledon history.
Enjoy Wimbledon everyone.
https://www.texastennismuseum.org/reneberg
