Meet the player who won the first seven US Open championships before deciding to retire from tennis just a year later

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Winning one Grand Slam title is difficult enough, but winning multiple is certainly a fantastic achievement.

A long list of players across the men’s and women’s games have, of course, managed to achieve such a feat over the years.

But there are a select few who have taken such success to another level by achieving successive Grand Slam wins.

The likes of Rafael Nadal at the French Open and Bjorn Borg and Roger Federer at Wimbledon come to mind.

Remarkably, Federer also dominated the US Open at the same time, although his five successive titles from 2004-08 still fall short of the all-time record.

Richard Sears wins first seven US Open Championships

It is American Richard Sears who hugely impressively won the US National Men’s Singles Championships in its first seven years from 1881-1887.

Hosted by Newport Casino, the very first tournament consisted of 25 players, with the event accompanied by a string quartet.

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Remarkably, Bostonian Sears also won six US National Men’s Doubles Championships, securing success from 1882-1887.

He then retired undefeated in 1888, with the Harvard-educated American one of only three men to have won seven US National/US Open Championships, alongside William Larned and Bill Tilden.

Who was 13-time major champion Richard Sears?

Sears does, however, boast the stunning feat of winning his titles consecutively, while his 13 total titles are behind only Tilden.

Unsurprisingly, the competition’s first-ever champion was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1955.

Born in Boston in 1861, the right-hander reached a career-high ranking of US number one and world number five.

He achieved plenty of success thanks to his attacking serve and volley approach, using the technique before his opponents fully understood such a strategy was possible.

Sears then served as United States National Lawn Tennis Association (USNLTA) President in 1887 and 1888, with his death coming in 1943. His grandson meanwhile was the Massachusetts politician John W. Sears.

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A handful of current stars of the ATP and WTA tours are now doing their best to follow in the footsteps of Sears by winning consecutive titles.

Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka are chasing third successive Wimbledon and Australian Open titles respectively, with Iga Swiatek already on that number at the French Open.