Meet the American player who won seven consecutive ATP Finals titles alongside John McEnroe

The ATP Finals were first held in 1970 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in Japan.

American Stan Smith won the first edition, beating Romania’s Ilie Nastase to the singles crown.

Smith also won the doubles event, combining with Arthur Ashe to beat Jan Kodes and Rod Laver, and Željko Franulović and Ken Rosewall.

Since 1970, a variety of high-profile players have won the ATP Finals doubles title, including Bob and Mike Bryan, and Daniel Nestor.

However, none have been as successful as John McEnroe and Peter Fleming.

Meet Peter Fleming

Peter Fleming, a former world number one in doubles, won seven consecutive ATP Finals doubles titles alongside John McEnroe between 1978 and 1984.

Fleming and McEnroe won all seven of their final appearances, losing only two sets across the seven matches.

The legendary duo contested their first final against Wojciech Fibak and Tom Okker. They defeated the Polish-Dutch duo 6–4, 6–2, 6–4.

During their seven-year stint, Fleming and McEnroe combined to defeat the likes of Pete McNamara, Paul McNamee, Kevin Curren, Steve Denton, Pavel Slozil, Tomas Smid and Ferdi Taygan.

Fleming and McEnroe defeated Mark Edmondson and Sherwood Stewart in their last final in 1984, winning 6-3, 6-1.

“The best doubles partnership in the world is McEnroe and anyone,” Fleming once said, as reported by ATP Tour.com.

Fleming also won seven Grand Slam doubles titles across Wimbledon and the US Open between 1979 and 1984.

Peter Fleming and John McEnroe’s record in ATP Finals doubles finals

Peter Fleming’s excellent singles career

Fleming was far from a one-trick pony, putting together an admirable singles career on the ATP circuit.

The former world number eight won three career titles and reached the 1980 Wimbledon quarter-finals.

Fleming also reached the third round at the Australian Open [1983] and the US Open [1978].

Fleming achieved his best results at Roland Garros in 1977 and 1980, reaching the second round on both occasions.

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