Before there was Mike and Bob Bryan, record-setting American doubles champions, there was the record-setting tandem of Americans Fred Alexander and Harold Hackett. No doubles duo in history had a greater stretch of greatness at the U.S. National Championships than Alexander and Hackett, the latter being a skillful and ideal compliment to his partner. Starting in 1905, Harold Humphrey Hackett played in a record seven consecutive U.S. National Men’s Doubles Championship finals, winning a record four straight from 1907-10. In each case, the opponents were a different combination of players to crack, but Hackett’s doubles prowess yielded the same result: each of his and Alexander’s four victories were accomplished in straight sets.
The Yale-educated Hackett and Princeton-schooled Alexander were as formidable a doubles team as any in history. The only time Hackett played with a different partner than Alexander came when he captained the 1913 United States Davis Cup team. For that important match, that ultimately ended a nine-year winning drought for the U.S., Hackett joined forces with Maurice McLoughlin to win the deciding match on Britain’s home soil at Wimbledon over Herbert Roper Barrett and Charles Dixon, 5-7, 6-1, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4. In singles, Hackett was ranked in the Top 10 in 1902 and 1906. He later became a central figure on the United States National Lawn Tennis Association (USNLTA) Davis Cup Committee.
