The Men’s Doubles tournament at the 1986 Wimbledon Championships was held from 23 June to 6 July 1986 on the outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis Club in the district of Wimbledon in London, England.
Swiss Heinz Gunthardt and Austrian Balazs Taroczy were the defending champions coming int the tournament….but lost in the first round to Sammy Giammalva and Greg Holmes….whereas the two double teams to reach the finals wer # 7 seed Joakim Nyström and Mats Wilander of Sweden…..Gary Donnelly and Peter Fleming of the USA….who were seeded # 12 coming into the competition…..as the Swedes would beat the Americans 7 – 6 (7 – 4), 6 – 3, 6 – 3 to win the mens doubles title.
Joakim “Jocke” Nyström is a former top ten ranked tennis player from Sweden….who won 13 singles titles during his professional career. The right-hander reached his highest singles ranking on the ATP Tour in March 1986….the same year that he and Mats Wilander ranked World No. 4 in doubles.
Mats Wilander is a former World No. 1 tennis player from Sweden….who from 1982 to 1988 won seven Grand Slam singles titles….including three at the French Open….three at the Australian Open….and one at the US Open….plus, he won one Grand Slam men’s doubles title (at Wimbledon….as seen in this video herewith.
In 1988, Wilander won three of the four Grand Slam singles events and finished that year ranked World No. 1. Although he never won the singles title at Wimbledon, Wilander twice won the Australian Open when that tournament was still played on grass courts. This makes Wilander one of only six men….along with Jimmy Connors, Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic to have won Grand Slam singles titles on grass courts, hard courts, and clay courts….as he and Rafael Nadal are the only men in tennis history to have won at least two Grand Slam singles titles on each of the three surfaces…. with 2 Australian when it was played on grass prior to 1988…..plus 1 Australian and 1 US on hard court…..and 3 French on clay.
Wilander won his fourth Grand Slam singles title at the age of 20, the youngest man in history to have achieved that feat. He won 33 singles titles and seven doubles titles during his career….as he and Nystrom were a driving force behind Sweden’s run of seven consecutive Davis Cup finals in the 1980s. In 2002, Wilander was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
