Kings of Queen's Club: How Murray & more reigned on the London grass
The Cinch Championships has crowned many legends of the game as champions throughout the storied history of the ATP 500 event. But a select few superstars rise above the rest in the London tournament’s record book.
In 2016, Andy Murray became the first player to win five titles at The Queen’s Club, breaking a tie with an elite group of players that also includes Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt, Boris Becker and John McEnroe. All five of those men, whose success at the London event is explored below, are former No. 1s in the PIF ATP Rankings.
[ATP APP]Andy Murray (Singles titles: 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015-16)
Home favourite Murray became the first British man since Henry Austin in 1938 to win the Queen’s Club singles title when he claimed his maiden trophy at the event in 2009.
“It’s been a great week for me,” Murray said after a 7-5, 6-4 final victory against James Blake. “This is some of the best tennis I’ve ever played in my life. I was quite nervous because people were telling me no Briton had won here for quite a while, but when I had my chances I managed to take them. The only thing left for me is to win a Grand Slam.”
Murray would go on to win three Grand Slams, including two Wimbledons, but his title count at Queen’s Club rose even higher. A perfect 5-0 in finals at the event, Murray thrice came back from a set down to win the trophy, fighting back against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (2011), Marin Cilic (2013) and Milos Raonic (2016).
In 2019, Murray added a doubles trophy to his haul by teaming with Feliciano Lopez to win the tandem event in a Match Tie-break. Lopez swept both the singles and doubles titles that year.
Andy Roddick (Singles titles: 2003-05, 2007)
Carrying on the legacy of great American champions at The Queen’s Club into the 21st century, Roddick followed in the footsteps of Stan Smith, Jimmy Connors, McEnroe and Pete Sampras by winning his first title at the event in 2003.
With firepower rarely seen even in today’s modern game, Roddick dominated the London event in the mid-2000s, winning four titles in five years — a stretch during which he also reached two Wimbledon finals along with a semi-final and a quarter-final.
“Over the years I’ve had a lot of success at the Queen’s Club. It has real tradition and I love the whole month in London,” Roddick said in 2011. “Queen’s has the best grass courts in the world, they play perfectly and so the [event] is a great way to prepare for Wimbledon.”
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Andy Roddick claims the third of his four Queen’s Club titles in 2005. Photo Credit: Ian Walton/Getty Images.
Lleyton Hewitt (Singles titles: 2000-2002, 2006)
Hewitt and Roddick owned the 2000s at the Queen’s Club. No other man claimed a singles crown from 2000-08, when the two former World No. 1s won four apiece. Hewitt’s three-peat from 2000 to 2002 was notable not just for the sustained and dominant success, but for the legendary opponents he beat in each final.
The Aussie won his first title with a 6-4, 6-4 decision against grass-court legend Pete Sampras. In 2001, he beat British icon Tim Henman in straight sets. He lost just one set that week, to none other than Sampras in a comeback semi-final win. Competing as the No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings in 2002, Hewitt again lost only one set en route to the trophy, beating Henman from a set down in the final.
Hewitt made it a perfect 3-0 against Henman on his way to the 2006 title, one round after he advanced past Rafael Nadal via retirement after the pair split sets in the quarter-finals. A straight-sets win against Blake earned the Aussie his fourth crown, two years before a quarter-final defeat to Novak Djokovic brought his Queen’s Club career to a close. Hewitt’s 2006 title was his first tour-level triumph in more than a year.
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Lleyton Hewitt in 2006 en route to his fourth Queen’s Club crown. Photo Credit: Christopher Lee/Getty Images.
Boris Becker (Singles titles: 1985, 1987-88, 1996)
The late 1980s in West London belonged to Becker. The German arrived at the Queen’s Club in 1985 aged just 17 and was seeded 11th. With expectations low on the red-headed debutant, Becker blew through the field to win his first tour-level title and become the youngest champion in tournament history. Becker dropped just one set en route to the title before he backed up his success at Wimbledon, where he became the youngest man to win a major.
After falling in the quarter-final stage in 1986, Becker ruled at Queen’s Club again in 1987 and 1988. The German defeated Jimmy Connors in the final in 1987 and beat Stefan Edberg in the title match in 1988. Becker would go on to add a final Queen’s Club title to his CV in 1996, when he once again overcame Edberg in the final.
Having finished a four-time champion with a 35-6 record at the Queen’s Club, Becker remains one of the most dominant forces to have graced the lawns of the London event.
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The 17-year-old Boris Becker lifts his maiden tour-level title on the Queen’s Club grass in 1985. Photo Credit: AllsportUK /Allsport.
John McEnroe (Singles titles: 1979-81, 1984)
From 1978-1984, the Queen’s Club lawns were McEnroe’s playground. The American lifted the singles trophy four times in the period and won the doubles with Peter Rennert in 1982.
On his debut at the event in 1978, McEnroe advanced to the title match before he went one step better in 1979, lifting the trophy. McEnroe went on to complete the Queen’s-Wimbledon double that year. Further dominance followed in 1980 and 1981, when McEnroe won 24 consecutive sets at the tournament to clinch further crowns.
He won his fourth and final title in 1984, having reached the final in 1982 and 1983. His final Queen’s Club triumph came in the middle of the most successful season of the American’s illustrious career, during which he won 13 tour-level titles.
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Four-time champion John McEnroe in action during his 1984 title run at the Queen’s Club. Photo Credit: Adrian Murrell /Allsport.