A former Wimbledon champion only took up the sport in his 20s and balanced his tennis career with his work as a vicar.John Hartley won the event twice in a row in 1879 and 1880 as part of a run of three consecutive finals.Hartley balanced his commitments as a vicar with a stunning tennis career in the 1800sGettyIn doing so, he became the first player to retain the Wimbledon title.He had already been the first multiple time champion, with his maiden triumph coming in just the third edition of the tournament.However, tennis was not Hartley’s primary passion, having not taken up the sport until into his adult life.Instead, he spent 45 years as the vicar of Burneston in Yorkshire between 1874 and 1919.Hartley held the role during all three of his Wimbledon final appearances and is the only clergyman ever to win the event.Having been ordained as a priest by the bishop of Winchester in 1873, he took up tennis after moving to Burneston the following year.By 1879, though, he had reached the first of his three finals, beating Vere St. Ledger Goold 6-2, 6-4, 6-2.Hartley had not planned to make it to the tournament’s finale and had to return to Yorkshire midway through his run to the final.He only return to London for the showpiece match after delivering a a sermon the day before back in Burneston.Reflecting on his abilities in 2018, tennis writer Richard Hillway told The Yorkshire Post: “John Hartley was a defensive-type player who got every ball back, keeping it in play until the other fellow missed.Shutterstock EditorialHartley beat Goold in the 1879 final before claiming his second title a year later[/caption]“The great thing about John in 1879 was that he wasn’t prepared to play beyond the (middle) weekend of the tournament.“And so he had to take a train back to Yorkshire to give a sermon on the Sunday, then catch an early train the next morning to London to play his final match, which was on the Monday.“He got there by the 2pm start, beat St Leger Goold who had just won the Irish Championship, and as a result became the third man ever to win the Wimbledon title.”Meanwhile, Goold’s life away from the court was a stark contrast to that of Hartley.The Irishman faded from the top of the sport following his defeat in the 1879 final and would be sentenced to life in prison in 1907.Goold was convicted of the murder of Emma Liven in Monte Carlo and handed a life sentence on Devil’s Island, French Guiana. He would die just two years into his sentence aged 55 in 1909.As for Hartley, he made a winning return to Wimbledon a year after beating Goold.This time he battled to a four-set victory over Herbert Lawford 6-3, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.Recognising the achievement, Hillway added: “He’s part of the Wimbledon fabric.“It took something special to win a title here, even then. To come back again the following year and win it a second time, the first person ever to do that, just shows you what a player he was.”Having become the first multiple time champion and first player to lift the Wimbledon trophy in successive years, Hartley was unable to repeat the feat in 1881.GettyHartley is the only clergyman to lift the Wimbledon trophy and the first player to do so twice[/caption]However, he would once again reach the final only to be blighted by illness during his clash with William Renshaw.The seven-time champion’s 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 victory came in just 37 minutes, making it the shortest Wimbledon men’s singles final ever.Hartley would take a break from appearing the following year before his final Championships in 1883.He would retire from tennis in 1888 before passing away aged 86 in 1935.