Sydney Howard Smith (3 February 1872 – 27 March 1947) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

and

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players p ...

player.

Career

Sydney Smith was the first All England Badminton Men's Singles champion in 1900. He reached his first Wimbledon singles final in 1899, beating

Herbert Roper Barrett Herbert Roper Barrett, KC (24 November 1873 – 27 July 1943) was a tennis player from Great Britain. Biography Barrett was born on 24 November 1873 in Upton, Essex. At the London Olympics in 1908 Barrett won a gold medal in the men's indo ...

in an epic five set semi final before losing the all comers final to Arthur Gore in four sets. In 1900 Smith beat Gore in the all comers final at Wimbledon, before losing to

Reginald Doherty Reginald "Reggie" or "R. F." Frank Doherty (14 October 1872 – 29 December 1910) was a British tennis player and the older brother of tennis player Laurence Doherty. He was known in the tennis world as "R.F." rather than "Reggie".

in the challenge round in four sets. In 1905, Smith beat

Holcombe Ward Holcombe Ward (November 23, 1878 – January 23, 1967) was an American tennis player who was active during the last years of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th. He won the U.S. National Championships singles title in 1904 and add ...

Wilberforce Eaves Wilberforce Vaughan Eaves MBE (10 December 1867 – 10 February 1920) was an Australian-born tennis player from the United Kingdom. At the 1908 London Olympics he won a bronze medal in the Men's Singles tournament. Biography Eaves was born i ...

William Larned William Augustus Larned (December 30, 1872 – December 16, 1926) was an American tennis player who was active at the beginning of the 20th century. He won seven singles titles at the U.S. National Championships. Biography Larned was born ...

and Major Ritchie before losing the all comers final in five sets to

Norman Brookes Sir Norman Everard Brookes (14 November 187728 September 1968) was an Australian tennis player. During his career he won three Grand Slam singles titles; Wimbledon in 1907 and 1914 (the first non-British individual to do so) and the Austral ...

. Smith and partner

Frank Riseley Frank Lorymer Riseley (6 July 1877 – 6 February 1959) was a British tennis player. He was a three time Wimbledon singles finalist (1903, 1904, 1906), two time Wimbledon doubles champion (1902, 1906) and won ten career singles titles. Career R ...

won the Gentlemen's Doubles title at Wimbledon in 1902 and 1906. He was a member of the British Davis Cup team in 1905 and 1906. His other career highlights included winning the

Welsh Championships The Welsh Championships (Welsh: Pencampwriaethau Cymru) its original name until 1970 was also known as the Championship of Wales (1951), the Welsh Open (Welsh: Cymraeg Agored) (1947–50) the Greenshields Welsh Championships and Greenshields Wel ...

singles title ten times (1896–1906), the Northern Lawn Tennis Championships singles title seven consecutive times (1899–1905) and the Sussex Championships six times (1899–1902, 1904–1905), the Burton-on-Trent Open three times (1897–1899). The Mixed Doubles Trophy, a silver challenge cup and cover presented to the winners of the mixed doubles at Wimbledon, was gifted to the All England Club by Smith's family.

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 runner-up

Doubles: 5 (2 titles, 3 runners-up)

References

External links

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Biography

All England Champions 1899-2007
19th-century English people 19th-century male tennis players English male badminton players English male tennis players People from Stroud 1872 births 1947 deaths Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles Tennis people from Gloucestershire British male tennis players Wimbledon champions (pre-Open Era) {{England-badminton-bio-stub