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. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

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 ...

and

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

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 ind ...

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 Major Josiah George Ritchie (18 October 1870 – 28 February 1955) was a tennis player from Great Britain. Major was his first name, not a military title. He was born in Westminster, educated at Brighton College and died in Ashford, Middlesex. ...

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 born individual to do so) and the Au ...

. Smith and partner Frank Riseley won the Gentlemen's Doubles title at

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

in 1902 and 1906. He was a member of the British

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 ...

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 Green Shield Welsh Championships and Green Shield W ...

singles title ten times (1896–1906), the

Midland Counties Championships The Midland Counties Championships also known as the Midland International was a grass court tennis tournament held at Edgbaston Cricket and Lawn Tennis Club, Edgbaston Edgbaston () is a suburb of Birmingham, West Midlands (county), West Mi ...

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is a suburb of Birmingham, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It lies immediately south-west of Birmingham city centre, and was historically in Warwickshire. The Ward (electoral subdivision), wards of Edgbaston and Nort ...

nine times from (1896–1898, 1900–1905), the

Northern Championships Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

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

* * *
Biography

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