The Most Famous
TENNIS PLAYERS from New Zealand
This page contains a list of the greatest New Zealander Tennis Players. The pantheon dataset contains 1,569 Tennis Players, 5 of which were born in New Zealand. This makes New Zealand the birth place of the 43rd most number of Tennis Players behind Morocco, and Tunisia.
Top 7
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary New Zealander Tennis Players of all time. This list of famous New Zealander Tennis Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.
1. Anthony Wilding (1883 - 1915)
With an HPI of 48.72, Anthony Wilding is the most famous New Zealander Tennis Player. His biography has been translated into 27 different languages on wikipedia.
Anthony Frederick Wilding (31 October 1883 – 9 May 1915), also known as Tony Wilding, was a New Zealand world No. 1 tennis player and soldier who was killed in action during World War I. Considered the world's first tennis superstar, Wilding was the son of wealthy English immigrants to Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand and enjoyed the use of private tennis courts at their home. Wilding obtained a legal education at Trinity College, Cambridge and briefly joined his father's law firm. Wilding was a first-class cricketer and a keen motorcycle enthusiast. His tennis career started with him winning the Canterbury Championships aged 17. Wilding developed into a leading tennis player in the world during 1909–1914 and is considered to be a former world No. 1. He won 11 Grand Slam tournament titles, six in singles and five in doubles, and is the first and to date the only player from New Zealand to have won a Grand Slam singles title. In addition to Wimbledon, he also won three other ILTF World Championships (period 1912–1923): In singles, two World Hard Court Championships (WHCC) (1913–14) and one World Covered Court Championships (WCCC) (1913). With his eleven Grand Slam tournaments, two WHCC and one WCCC titles, he has a total of fourteen Major tournament titles (nine singles, five doubles). His sweep of the three ILTF World Championships in 1913 was accomplished on three different surfaces (grass, clay and wood) being the first time this has been achieved in Major tournaments. Wilding won the Davis Cup four times playing for Australasia, and won a bronze medal at the indoor singles tennis event of the 1912 Olympics, which made him the first and to date only singles player from New Zealand to win a medal in a tennis event in the Summer Olympics and the only New Zealand player to win a medal in any Olympic tennis event until Marcus Daniell and Michael Venus won the bronze medal in the men's doubles competition at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in July, 2021. He still holds several all time singles tennis records, namely 23 titles won in a single season (1906) and 114 career outdoor titles (shared with Rod Laver). In his ranking list of greatest tennis players compiled in 1950, Norman Brookes, winner of three Majors and president of the Lawn Tennis Association of Australia, put Wilding in fourth place. Shortly after the outbreak of World War I he enlisted and was killed on 9 May 1915 during the Battle of Aubers Ridge at Neuve-Chapelle, France. In 1978 Wilding was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
2. Onny Parun (b. 1947)
With an HPI of 42.22, Onny Parun is the 2nd most famous New Zealander Tennis Player. His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.
Onny Parun (born 15 April 1947) is a former tennis player of Croatian descent from New Zealand, who was among the world's top 20 for five years and who reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 1971 and 1972. He made the final of the Australian Open in 1973, losing to John Newcombe in four sets, and was a US Open quarterfinalist in 1973 and also a quarterfinalist at the French Open in 1975. He eventually went on to coach the Bhatti brothers. Parun and Australian Dick Crealy won the French Open doubles title in 1974. He also made the Masters in 1974, qualifying by finishing in the top eight on the grand prix table. Parun played Davis Cup from 1966 to 1982 and won a string of national titles, including the Benson and Hedges Open three times in four years. Parun became the second player from New Zealand to reach a Grand Slam Singles final, 62 years after Anthony Wilding had reached the 1913 Wimbledon final, and Parun became the second player from New Zealand to win a Grand Slam Doubles title, 61 years after Wilding had won the 1914 Wimbledon doubles title and was also the last player from New Zealand to reach the finals of a Grand Slam Doubles title before Michael Venus was successful in the 2017 French Open. Parun reached his career-high ATP singles ranking on 5 March 1975, when he became World No. 19. His brother, Tony Parun, also played professional tennis. In September 1974, he defeated Jimmy Connors in San Francisco to end the No. 1 world ranked player's run of 160 weeks atop the ATP rankings. In the 1982 Queen's Birthday Honours, Parun was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to tennis. Since retiring from competition, Parun has been a coach, and trades shares on the US share market. In 2023, his younger brother Melvin Joseph Parun was killed in the Loafers Lodge fire.
3. Chris Lewis (b. 1957)
With an HPI of 33.98, Chris Lewis is the 3rd most famous New Zealander Tennis Player. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.
Christopher John Lewis (born 9 March 1957) is a New Zealand former professional tennis player. Lewis reached the 1983 Wimbledon singles final as an unseeded player. He won three singles titles and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 19 in April 1984. He also won eight doubles titles during his 12 years on the tour. Lewis was coached by Harry Hopman and Tony Roche. Lewis is the third (and as of 2021 the most recent) man from New Zealand to reach a major singles final, after Anthony Wilding (several times) and Onny Parun at the 1973 Australian Open.
4. Michael Venus (b. 1987)
With an HPI of 28.77, Michael Venus is the 4th most famous New Zealander Tennis Player. His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.
Michael Venus (born 16 October 1987) is a New Zealand professional tennis player. He has a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 6, achieved on 29 August 2022. Venus won the 2017 French Open men's doubles partnering Ryan Harrison, and followed with a runner-up finish in the 2017 US Open mixed doubles partnering Chan Hao-ching. Venus and Harrison qualified for the year-end championships ATP Finals, where they reached the semifinals. In 2018 Venus made the men's doubles final at Wimbledon with Raven Klaasen, losing to Mike Bryan and Jack Sock, and was a semifinalist in the mixed doubles there as well with Katarina Srebotnik. He and Klaasen qualified for the ATP Finals, but won only one round-robin match. They also qualified in 2019, finishing runners-up. In the meantime Venus and Chan Hao-ching again finished runners-up in the US Open mixed doubles. Venus and John Peers qualified for the 2020 ATP Finals, but lost close contests in all three of their round-robin matches. Venus won a bronze medal in the men's doubles at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics alongside Marcus Daniell.
5. Ben McLachlan (b. 1992)
With an HPI of 24.27, Ben McLachlan is the 5th most famous New Zealander Tennis Player. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
Ben McLachlan ( mə-KLOKH-lən; マクラクラン 勉, Makurakuran Ben; born 10 May 1992) is a Japanese former professional tennis player who previously represented New Zealand. He is a doubles specialist with a career-high ATP ranking of world No. 18, achieved in November 2018. McLachlan has won seven doubles titles on the ATP Tour, including three at ATP 500 level. He reached his first Grand Slam semifinal at the 2018 Australian Open alongside Jan-Lennard Struff, and has reached four further major quarterfinals in men's and mixed doubles. McLachlan has represented Japan in the Davis Cup since 2017, and also competed at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, reaching the quarterfinals in both men's and mixed doubles.
6. Erin Routliffe (b. 1995)
With an HPI of 21.52, Erin Routliffe is the 6th most famous New Zealander Tennis Player. Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
Erin Hope Routliffe (born 11 April 1995) is a New Zealand professional tennis player who previously represented Canada. She became world No. 1 in doubles on 15 July 2024. Routliffe won a major doubles title at the 2023 US Open partnering Gabriela Dabrowski. She became the second New Zealand woman to win a major in the Open Era, after Judy Connor won the women's doubles title at the 1979 Australian Open. Routliffe was a two-time NCAA doubles champion with Maya Jansen for the 2014 and 2015 seasons. She had a career-high junior rank of No. 17 achieved on 21 January 2013. She studied at the University of Alabama, and she was part of its tennis team from September 2013 until her graduation in May 2017, majoring in public relations. Her win in the 2018 Hardee's Pro Classic in Dothan, Alabama allowed her to break into the top 200 in the doubles rankings for the first time, while her win two weeks later in Charleston, South Carolina pushed her into the top 150. Her runner-up finish in Washington in 2018, took her into the top 100. Her first WTA doubles title came three years later at the 32nd Palermo Ladies Open in July 2021.
7. Marcus Daniell (b. 1989)
With an HPI of 21.41, Marcus Daniell is the 7th most famous New Zealander Tennis Player. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.
Marcus Daniell (born 9 November 1989) is a New Zealand professional tennis player. He reached his career-high ATP doubles ranking of world No. 34 on 29 January 2018 after reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. He won a bronze medal in the men's doubles at the 2020 Summer Olympics, alongside Michael Venus. Daniell is a philanthropist and an advocate for effective altruism through his work as the founder of High Impact Athletes and as a member of Giving What We Can.
People
Pantheon has 7 people classified as New Zealander tennis players born between 1883 and 1995. Of these 7, 6 (85.71%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living New Zealander tennis players include Onny Parun, Chris Lewis, and Michael Venus. The most famous deceased New Zealander tennis players include Anthony Wilding. As of April 2024, 2 new New Zealander tennis players have been added to Pantheon including Ben McLachlan, and Erin Routliffe.
Living New Zealander Tennis Players
Go to all Rankings
Onny Parun
1947 - Present
HPI: 42.22
Chris Lewis
1957 - Present
HPI: 33.98
Michael Venus
1987 - Present
HPI: 28.77
Ben McLachlan
1992 - Present
HPI: 24.27
Erin Routliffe
1995 - Present
HPI: 21.52
Marcus Daniell
1989 - Present
HPI: 21.41
