Rodney Wilfred Heath (15 June 1884 – 26 October 1936) was an Australian

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.

Personal

Heath was the second son of F. W. Heath who was the official timekeeper at the Victorian Racing Club and Victorian Amateur Turf Club. Rodney's brother C. V. Heath won the South Australian men's singles title in 1902. In June 1915 Heath left Australia to join the

Royal Flying Corps The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...

in England. He was promoted to the rank of major two years later. In 1916 Heath was injured when he crash-landed his plane after flying into a snowstorm en route from England to France.

Tennis career

Heath was the Men's Singles champion at the inaugural Australasian Championships in 1905 defeating Albert Curtis in four sets. He won again it five years later, in 1910, after a victory in the final against Horace Rice in three straight sets. In 1911 he played in the Davis Cup challenge round in New Zealand against the United States and defeated William Larned in four sets. In 1919 he reached the final of the Wimbledon Men's Doubles tournament with Randolph Lycett.

Death

On 26 October 1936, 9 months before his 53rd birthday, Heath was found dead in the bedroom of his sister's home in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is said that Heath died from melanoma in his stomach.

Grand Slam finals

Singles

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

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Heath, Rodney Australasian Championships (tennis) champions Australian male tennis players Place of birth missing 1884 births 1936 deaths Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's singles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles Australian aviators Tennis players from Melbourne Australian military personnel of World War I Military personnel from Melbourne Royal Flying Corps personnel