Harry Lee (15 June 1907 – 14 April 1998) was a British

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

player. He was a two time

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...

winner (1933-1934) and a semi finalist at the 1933

French Championships The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam tennis events eve ...

. Between 1927 and 1950, Lee won 12 career singles titles.

Career

In major tennis tournaments, he was a semi finalist at the 1933

, a quarter finalist at the 1934

Australian Championships The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events every year, held be ...

. He also reached the fourth round of Wimbledon Championships on four occasions as well as reaching the fourth round of the U.S. National Championships in 1930. Lee played his first tournament in 1927 at the

Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly called Wimbledon, is a tennis tournament organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Association annually in Wimbledon, London. It is chronologically the ...

where he reached the third round. In 1929 he won his first title at the Kent Championships at

Beckenham Beckenham () is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. Prior to 1965, it was part of Kent. It is situated north of Elmers End and Eden Park, east of Penge, south of Lower Sydenham and Bellingham, and west ...

on grass against

Charles Kingsley Charles Kingsley (12 June 1819 – 23 January 1875) was a broad church priest of the Church of England, a university professor, social reformer, historian, novelist and poet. He is particularly associated with Christian socialism, the workin ...

. In 1930, he won the singles title at the British Hard Court Championships after a four-sets victory in the final over Eric Peters, and the same year he won the Irish Championships at

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

against Pat Hughes, and the Beaulieu International Championship at the Hotel Bristol at

Beaulieu-sur-Mer Beaulieu-sur-Mer (; ; ; "Beautiful Place on the Sea"), commonly referred to simply as Beaulieu, is a seaside commune on the French Riviera between Nice and the Principality of Monaco. Located in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence- ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

against Bunny Austin. In 1931, Harry entered seven tournaments and won three titles including the Priory Club tournament against Keats Lester, the West Kensington Hard Courts against Japanese player Iwao Aoki and the South Croydon Hard Courts against another Japanese player Ryuki Miki. This year he was also a finalist at the St.George's Hill Open losing to Ryuki Miki. In 1932, he was a finalist at the Bermuda Championships at

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

and played on hard courts where he lost to

Fred Perry Frederick John Perry (18 May 1909 – 2 February 1995) was a British tennis and table tennis player and former World number 1 male tennis player rankings, world No. 1 from England who won 10 Majors, including eight Grand Slam (tennis), ...

. Lee was a semi finalist at the French championships in 1933, where he beat

Daniel Prenn Daniel Prenn (7 September 1904 – 3 September 1991) was a Russian-born German, Polish, and British tennis player. He was of Jewish origin. He was ranked the world No. 6 for 1932 by A. Wallis Myers. He was ranked world No. 8 in 1929 (Bill Tilde ...

and

Marcel Bernard Marcel Bernard (; 18 May 1914 – 29 April 1994) was a French tennis player. He is best remembered for having won the French Championships in 1946 (reaching the semifinals a further three times). Bernard initially intended to play only in the dou ...

before losing to

Henri Cochet Henri Jean Cochet (; 14 December 1901 – 1 April 1987) was a French tennis player. He was a world No. 1 ranked player, and a member of the famous " Four Musketeers" from France who dominated tennis in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Born in ...

. In 1933 and 1934, he was part of the

team, including

, Bunny Austin and Pat Hughes. They defeated the French team at Roland Garros in 1933 and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1934. In 1936, he won the inaugural Palace Hotel Covered Courts at

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignt ...

played indoors against

Frank Wilde Frank Herbert David Wilde (1 March 1911 – 6 February 1982) was a British tennis and table tennis player who played in the Davis Cup. He reached the final of the Wimbledon Championships on three occasions, twice in the men's doubles and once i ...

. In 1939 he won his last title at the

Exmouth Open The Exmouth Open, originally called the Exmouth Lawn Tennis Club Tournament or simply Exmouth Tournament, was a men's and women's grass court tennis tournament founded in 1880. From 1890 the event was known as the Exmouth Open Tennis Tournament. I ...

on grass against

Henry Billington Henry Billington (12 November 1908 – 29 November 1980) was a British amateur tennis player, and the maternal grandfather of former World No. 4 in singles, Tim Henman. His wife Susan Hemsted (who was often his partner in mixed doubles tournamen ...

. In 1950, Lee played his last event at the Bath tournament where he reached the final losing to

British Ceylon British Ceylon (; ), officially British Settlements and Territories in the Island of Ceylon with its Dependencies from 1802 to 1833, then the Island of Ceylon and its Territories and Dependencies from 1833 to 1931 and finally the Island of Cey ...

player Doug Scharenguivel. Between 1927 and 1950, Lee won 12 career titles, he died at his home at the age of 90 on April 14, 1998.

References

External links

* * * 1907 births 1998 deaths English male tennis players British male tennis players People from Teddington Tennis players from the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames 20th-century English sportsmen {{UK-tennis-bio-stub