Isidore Frederick (I.F.) Hellmuth (1854–1944) was the first champion of what became the Canadian National Tennis Championship, now known as the Canadian Open or the

Rogers Cup The Canadian Open (french: Tournoi de tennis du Canada), also known as the Canada Masters, and currently branded as the National Bank Open presented by Rogers for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tennis tournament held in Ontario and Quebec. T ...

. He was also a three-time runner-up as well as one-time doubles champion.

Life and career

Born in

Sherbrooke Sherbrooke ( ; ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François and Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territory equivalent to a regional coun ...

, Quebec in 1854, he was the son of

Isaac Hellmuth Isaac Hellmuth (December 14, 1819 – 28 May 1901), second Anglican Bishop of the Diocese of Huron, was the founder of Huron University College and the University of Western Ontario, one of Canada's leading universities. He was also founder of H ...

, who became Bishop of Huron. After an early education at London, Ontario, he studied at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

and trained for the English bar at the Inner Temple. Returning to Canada, he became a barrister at Toronto. He was a Life Bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada. In 1880, he married Harriet Emily Gamble (b. 1847), granddaughter of

Henry John Boulton Henry John Boulton, (1790 – June 18, 1870) was a lawyer and political figure in Upper Canada and the Province of Canada, as well as Chief Justice of Newfoundland. Boulton began his legal career under the tutelage of John Beverly Robi ...

. One of his junior partners, John Meredith (who was to die in WWI), son of Sir William Ralph Meredith, married his daughter, Miriam (b:16 Feb 1881). Their daughter Diana (b. Feb 1910) was married to Marcel Provost (who was also killed in WWII in France in 1945http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=sharonmh&id=I18314 ) then Edward Curtis. In 1874, Hellmuth may have built a court at 148 Front Street, which was the future site of the

Toronto Lawn Tennis Club The Toronto Lawn Tennis Club is a private social and athletic club in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1876, it has a long history of tennis competition. It is located at 44 Price Street, in the affluent Rosedale neighbourhood of Toronto. ...

that was founded in 1876. Though not an original member, Hellmuth joined the club soon after returning to Canada around 1879. He was runner-up at an unofficial United States national tennis championship in 1880, before winning the inaugural tournament played in 1881 at the

, by defeating W.H. Young, also of Canada, 6–2, 6–2. The following year, Hellmuth lost the final to compatriot Harry D. Gamble, 2–6, 3–6, 2–6. After a two-year hiatus, Hellmuth lost in consecutive finals in 1885 and 1886, the first to American J.S. Clark 3–6, 6–3, 1–6, 2–6 and the second to his compatriot and childhood friend, C.S. Hyman, in the first of his four consecutive championships, 4–6, 4–6, 6–1, 6–4, 4–6. That year Hellmuth and Hyman also teamed to capture the doubles title. Hellmuth also founded the London Lawn Tennis Club in 1881. He was an inaugural inductee into the Tennis Canada Hall of Fame, in 1991. He died in 1944, at his home, Allandale House, Toronto.

Sources

Tennis Canada Hall of Fame inductee profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hellmuth, Isidore Frederick 1845 births 1944 deaths 19th-century Canadian people (post-Confederation) 19th-century male tennis players Canadian male tennis players Tennis players from Toronto Sportspeople from Sherbrooke Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Canadian people of Polish-Jewish descent