Edward Craig Biddle (October 24, 1879 – December 22, 1947) was an American male

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 c ...

player who was active in the second decade of the 20th century.

Biography

Craig was born into the

Biddle family The Biddle family of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is an Old Philadelphian family descended from English immigrants William Biddle (1630–1712) and Sarah Kempe (1634–1709), who arrived in the Province of New Jersey in 1681. Quakers, they had emi ...

, a prominent Philadelphia family, the youngest son of Edward Biddle and Emma Drexel Biddle. His mother was the daughter of the wealthy Philadelphia financier

Anthony Joseph Drexel Anthony Joseph Drexel Sr. (September 13, 1826 – June 30, 1893) was an American banker who played a major role in the rise of modern global finance after the American Civil War. As the dominant partner of Drexel & Co. of Philadelphia, he founde ...

(1826–1893). His elder brother was

Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle Sr. Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle Sr. (October 1, 1874 – May 27, 1948) was a millionaire whose fortune allowed him to pursue theatricals, self-published writing, athletics, and Christianity on a full-time basis. He was the man upon whom the book ''M ...

Biddle was educated in private schools and abroad. In 1901, after his 21st birthday, he inherited approximately $1 million from his maternal grandfather's estate (). In 1901, he married Laura Whelen of Philadelphia. Until World War I, the couple traveled extensively in Europe, socializing with European nobility and royalty. It was during this time that he began playing tennis frequently. Biddle and his wife had three children: Craig Jr., George Drexel Biddle, and Laura May Biddle (who married William Rhinelander Stewart, Jr., sister of Anita of Braganza). He and his wife separated in 1917, and she died in 1925. He married a second time to Josephine Peet Wilmerding in 1926 but they divorced in 1945. His third marriage was to Alica Laura Savard, who had been his nurse, as he suffered from severe arthritis. Later in his life he lived at Rocky Brook Farm,

Peace Dale, Rhode Island Peace Dale (also spelled Peacedale) is a village in the town of South Kingstown, Rhode Island. Together with the village of Wakefield, it is treated by the U.S. Census as a component of the census-designated place identified as Wakefield-Peacedale ...

Tennis career

In 1920, he reached the final of the mixed doubles competition at the U.S. National Championships (now US Open) together with Molla Bjurstedt Mallory. They lost the final to

Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman Hazel Virginia Hotchkiss Wightman, CBE (née Hotchkiss; December 20, 1886 – December 5, 1974) was an American tennis player and founder of the Wightman Cup, an annual team competition for British and American women. She dominated American wom ...

and Wallace F. Johnson in straight sets. His best singles performance in a Grand Slam tournament was reaching the quarterfinal of the U.S. National Championships in 1917, 1918 and 1921. In September 1913, Biddle reached the final of the Montreux Autumn Meeting in Switzerland but was defeated by

Anthony Wilding Anthony Frederick Wilding (31 October 1883 – 9 May 1915), also known as Tony Wilding, was a New Zealand world No. 1 tennis player and soldier who was killed in action during World War I. Considered the world's first tennis superstar, Wildin ...

in three straight sets. In March 1920 he was runner-up at the Florida Tennis Championships, losing in the final in straight sets to

Ichiya Kumagae was a Japanese tennis player and the first Japanese Olympic medalist. Biography Kumagae was born on 10 September 1890 in Ōmuta, Fukuoka Prefecture. He attended Keio University. In 1913, he, along with other members of the Keio University Ten ...

Grand Slam finals

Mixed doubles

Runners-up (1)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Biddle, Craig 1879 births 1947 deaths American male tennis players Tennis players from Philadelphia American socialites Craig Drexel family American people of English descent American people of Austrian descent 20th-century American people