player – Tennisarchives.com

General First nameAlgernon Robert Fitzhardinge (Algie)
LastnameKingscote
GenderMale
CountryEngland
Date of birth1888-12-03
Place of birthBangalore, India
Date of death1964-12-21
Place of deathWoking, England

About

From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algernon_Kingscote

Tennis career

Algernon Kingscote learned how to play tennis on the courts of the Château-d'Œx Club in Switzerland, where he won numerous championships. In his early years he trained with the American player Richard Norris Williams. Kingscote was crowned Swiss champion in 1908 and champion of Bengal in 1913. He held the Kent Championships singles title for four consecutive years between 1919 and 1922 and won the title six times in total. He won the singles title at the 1919 Australasian Championships, beating Eric Pockley of New South Wales in straight sets. For this feat Kingscote received the first Anthony Wilding Memorial Medal

At the Wimbledon Championships in 1920, Kingscote reached the All-Comers’ Final in the men’s doubles event alongside James Cecil Parke. They were beaten there by the American Charles Garland and Richard N. Williams. In 1921, Kingscote was a runner-up at the Monte-Carlo Championships losing to fellow countryman Gordon Lowe in four sets. Algernon Kingscote represented Great Britain in the Davis Cup seven times between 1919 and 1924, compiling a 9-8 win-loss record.

In the first round of the men’s singles event at the Wimbledon Championships in 1922, held at the new Church Road grounds, Kingscote and Leslie Godfree established the practice of saluting the Royal Box by bowing in front of it, a tradition that remained in force until 2003. In 1924, Kingscote won the Queen’s Club Championships, defeating Gordon Lowe in four sets in the final.

Playing style

In 1920, the American lawn tennis player Dean Mathey described Kingscote’s playing style as “well rounded”. This was at a time when Kingscote was considered the best British male player. He favoured volleying and had good ground strokes. His service was fair, but his game lacked speed and strength. The following year the world’s best male player, Bill Tilden, agreed with Mathey that Kingscote’s game was well rounded, but that he lacked speed.

Tilden described Kingscote’s hitting as well-paced, his service as fast and sliced, well placed, paced, twisted and cleverly disguised, and his style as a defensive one, which relied mostly on his half-volley baseline returns.
Tilden described Kingscote’s court positioning and good volleying skills as a compensation for the Englishman’s rather short appearance. Kingscote adapted to the combination of a net attack and a baseline game, which Tilden praised as a key factor in a successful tennis style. Kingscote’s favourite shot was the cross court forehand shot. His backhand was steady, accurate and deceptive.

Personal life

Algernon Kingscote was the son of Lieutenant-Colonel Howard Kingscote and the famous novelist Adeline Wolff, whose pen name was Lucas Cleeve. Algernon had two siblings, Henry and Iris. Like his father before him, Algernon joined the army, in 1910, and served with the Royal Garrison Artillery. He was a second lieutenant when stationed at Plympton, Devon, in 1911.

During World War One, Algernon Kingscote fought at the First Battle of the Aisne, and achieved the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He was also awarded the Military Cross. After the war he went back to competing in lawn tennis tournaments and was appointed the captain of the Great Britain Davis Cup team while still serving as a colonel in the army.

In the summer of 1919, Algernon Kingscote married Marjorie Paton Hindley. They had three children together: two daughters, Rachel and Marjorie, and one son, David.

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