On the court, there was no mistaking which player was Frew Donald McMillan. He was the one wearing his trademark white driving cap and hitting blistering ground strokes off both sides with two hands. While major singles championships eluded him, major doubles championships did not. He won ten, five each in men’s and mixed doubles competition. While it’s not entirely accurate to suggest McMillan couldn’t play singles – he did win indoors at Munich in 1974 and in Nuremberg in 1976 and played in five career finals – doubles was undoubtedly his specialty as he copped championships five straight times. He won 63 doubles titles gallivanting around the globe and was a career finalist in 40 others.
With 63 doubles titles on his resume, McMillan is part of an elite group of men who have won more than 60 doubles titles, including fellow John McEnroe, Todd Woodbridge, and Mark Woodforde. That list expands to include other notables Tom Okker, Bob Bryan, Mike Bryan, and Daniel Nestor.
McMillan won three Wimbledon Gentlemen Doubles titles all in straight sets from 1967 to 1978. He earned his first in 1967 over Aussies Roy Emerson and Ken Fletcher, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4, and did so in exceedingly impressive fashion – never losing a set and McMillan never lost a service game. He won a second title in 1972 over the American duo of Stan Smith and Erik Van Dillen, 6-2, 6-2, 9-7 and the last in 1978 over the powerful partnership of McEnroe and Peter Fleming, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2. McMillan captured the French Open in 1972, dropping his only set in five championship in defeating Chile’s Patricio Cornejo and Jaime Filol, 6-3, 8-6, 3-6, 6-1. The 1977 US Open victory was achieved with remarkable ease, 6-4, 6-0 over American Brian Gottfried and Mexico’s Raul Ramirez.
McMillan enjoyed considerable success in mixed doubles competition, appearing in 11 major finals and earning five championships (1966 French, 1978 and 1981 Wimbledon, 1977 and 1978 US Open). He won all but one mixed doubles championship alongside Betty Stöve (US Open in 1977, 1978; Wimbledon in 1978, 1981). He captured the 1966 French Championships with compatriot Annette Van Zyl. His final major victory in 1981 at Wimbledon with Stöve came over the brother-sister team of Tracy and John Austin, 4-6, 7-6, 6-3.
McMillan was a staple on the South African Davis Cup team from 1965-69 and 1973-1978. He posted a 23-5 record in doubles and helped lead the team to the 1974 finals by defeating Italy in the Inter-Zonal Semifinal. South Africa was awarded the Davis Cup after India refused to travel to South Africa in protest of the South African government’s apartheid policies.
McMillan took his considerable playing talents into the television booth as a critically acclaimed tennis commentator for Eurosport and on BBC Radio 5 during Wimbledon.
