Henry Austin
Encyclopedia
Henry Wilfred "Bunny" Austin (26 August 1906 – 26 August 2000) was an English tennis
player.
Austin was the last male tennis player from the United Kingdom to reach the final of the Gentlemen's Singles at Wimbledon, a feat he achieved in 1938 (having also been losing finalist in 1932). He was also a finalist at the 1937 French Championships and a championship winner at Queen's Club
. Along with Fred Perry
, he was a vital part of the British team that won the Davis Cup
in three consecutive years (from 1933-35). He is also remembered as the first tennis player to wear shorts.
Austin was brought up in South Norwood
, London. The nickname Bunny came from a comic strip, Pip, Squeak and Wilfred
. Encouraged by his father, who was determined that he become a sportsman, he joined Norhurst Tennis Club aged six.
he reached the semi-finals of the men's doubles at Wimbledon in 1926. By the 1930s he was ranked in the world's top ten players. In his first Wimbledon men's singles final in 1932 he was beaten by Ellsworth Vines
of the United States in three sets.
In 1932 he decided that the traditional tennis attire, cricket flannels, weighed him down too much. He bought a pair of shorts to use at Forest Hills and subsequently became the first player to wear them at Wimbledon.
In the years 1933-6, he and Fred Perry
helped win the Davis Cup
for Britain.
Austin also pioneered the design of the modern tennis racquet by inventing the Streamline – a racquet with a shaft that splits into three segments – allowing for aerodynamic movement. The design was manufactured by Hazells and at the time was mocked in the press for looking like a snow shoe. After Austin's retirement, the design was virtually forgotten until the reintroduction of the split shaft in the late 1960s.
In his Wimbledon career Austin reached the quarter-finals or better ten times. In 1938 he played Don Budge
in the final, but won only four games. The next year he was seeded first but lost in an early round. It was the last time he played at Wimbledon.
in 1931, and together they were one of the celebrity couples of the age. Austin played tennis with Charlie Chaplin
, was a friend of Daphne du Maurier
, Ronald Colman
and Harold Lloyd
, and met both Queen Mary
and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Austin and his wife worked for the cause of the Oxford Group
. According to Austin's friend Peter Ustinov
, Austin was "disgracefully ostracised by the All-England Club because he was a conscientious objector
". In fact, he served as a private in the US Army Air Force, 1943-45. A voting member of the Membership Committee of the All-England Club had been removed from the Cambridge tennis team during Austin's captaincy, and used the excuse of Austin's alleged proselytism
for the Oxford Group as an excuse for denying him reinstatement in the All-England Club after a lapse of dues payment. His membership of the club was restored in 1984, the year the obstructing member died.
It was only during Austin's tenure in the Air Force did he discover that he suffered from Gilbert's Syndrome
, which explained his occasional and sudden fatigue on the court.
Austin's autobiography, written with his wife, A Mixed Double, was published in 1969.
After a serious fall in 1995 Austin moved to a nursing home at Coulsdon
, Surrey
. He died in 2000 on his 94th birthday. Just a few months earlier, he had joined other past Wimbledon champions and finalists on Wimbledon's Centre Court for a millennium-year parade of champions.
Austin was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame
at Newport, Rhode Island
, in 1997.
Wimbledon Championships
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
player.
Austin was the last male tennis player from the United Kingdom to reach the final of the Gentlemen's Singles at Wimbledon, a feat he achieved in 1938 (having also been losing finalist in 1932). He was also a finalist at the 1937 French Championships and a championship winner at Queen's Club
Queen's Club
The Queen's Club is a private sporting club in West Kensington, London, England. Founded in 1886, the Queen's Club was the world's first multipurpose sports complex and named after Queen Victoria, its first patron...
. Along with Fred Perry
Fred Perry
Frederick John Perry was a championship-winning English tennis and table tennis player who won 10 Majors including eight Grand Slams and two Pro Slams. Perry won three consecutive Wimbledon Championships between 1934 and 1936 and was World No. 1 four years in a row...
, he was a vital part of the British team that won the Davis Cup
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested between teams of players from competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Britain and the United States. By...
in three consecutive years (from 1933-35). He is also remembered as the first tennis player to wear shorts.
Austin was brought up in South Norwood
South Norwood
South Norwood is an urban town and in south London, England, in the London Borough of Croydon. It is a suburban development 7.8 miles south-east of Charing Cross. South Norwood is an electoral with a resident population in 2001 of just over 14,000...
, London. The nickname Bunny came from a comic strip, Pip, Squeak and Wilfred
Pip, Squeak and Wilfred
Pip, Squeak and Wilfred was a long-running British newspaper strip cartoon published in the Daily Mirror from 1919 to 1956, as well as the Sunday Pictorial in the early years. It was conceived by Bertram Lamb, who took the role of Uncle Dick, signing himself in an early book, and was drawn until...
. Encouraged by his father, who was determined that he become a sportsman, he joined Norhurst Tennis Club aged six.
Tennis career
While still an undergraduate at Cambridge UniversityUniversity of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
he reached the semi-finals of the men's doubles at Wimbledon in 1926. By the 1930s he was ranked in the world's top ten players. In his first Wimbledon men's singles final in 1932 he was beaten by Ellsworth Vines
Ellsworth Vines
Henry Ellsworth Vines, Jr. was an American tennis champion of the 1930s, the World No. 1 player or the co-No. 1 for four years in 1932, 1935, 1936 and 1937.-Biography:...
of the United States in three sets.
In 1932 he decided that the traditional tennis attire, cricket flannels, weighed him down too much. He bought a pair of shorts to use at Forest Hills and subsequently became the first player to wear them at Wimbledon.
In the years 1933-6, he and Fred Perry
Fred Perry
Frederick John Perry was a championship-winning English tennis and table tennis player who won 10 Majors including eight Grand Slams and two Pro Slams. Perry won three consecutive Wimbledon Championships between 1934 and 1936 and was World No. 1 four years in a row...
helped win the Davis Cup
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested between teams of players from competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Britain and the United States. By...
for Britain.
Austin also pioneered the design of the modern tennis racquet by inventing the Streamline – a racquet with a shaft that splits into three segments – allowing for aerodynamic movement. The design was manufactured by Hazells and at the time was mocked in the press for looking like a snow shoe. After Austin's retirement, the design was virtually forgotten until the reintroduction of the split shaft in the late 1960s.
In his Wimbledon career Austin reached the quarter-finals or better ten times. In 1938 he played Don Budge
Don Budge
John Donald Budge was an American tennis champion who was a World No. 1 player for five years, first as an amateur and then as a professional...
in the final, but won only four games. The next year he was seeded first but lost in an early round. It was the last time he played at Wimbledon.
Personal
He married the actress Phyllis KonstamPhyllis Konstam
Phyllis Konstam was an English film actress. She appeared in 11 films between 1928 and 1964, including four films directed by Alfred Hitchcock.She was born in London and died in Somerset from a heart attack....
in 1931, and together they were one of the celebrity couples of the age. Austin played tennis with Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
, was a friend of Daphne du Maurier
Daphne du Maurier
Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning DBE was a British author and playwright.Many of her works have been adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca and Jamaica Inn and the short stories "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now". The first three were directed by Alfred Hitchcock.Her elder sister was...
, Ronald Colman
Ronald Colman
Ronald Charles Colman was an English actor.-Early years:He was born in Richmond, Surrey, England, the second son and fourth child of Charles Colman and his wife Marjory Read Fraser. His siblings included Eric, Edith, and Marjorie. He was educated at boarding school in Littlehampton, where he...
and Harold Lloyd
Harold Lloyd
Harold Clayton Lloyd, Sr. was an American film actor and producer, most famous for his silent comedies....
, and met both Queen Mary
Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V....
and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Austin and his wife worked for the cause of the Oxford Group
Oxford Group
The Oxford Group was a Christian movement that had a following in Europe, China, Africa, Australia, Scandinavia and America in the 1920s and 30s. It was initiated by an American Lutheran pastor, Frank Buchman, who was of Swiss descent...
. According to Austin's friend Peter Ustinov
Peter Ustinov
Peter Alexander Ustinov CBE was an English actor, writer and dramatist. He was also renowned as a filmmaker, theatre and opera director, stage designer, author, screenwriter, comedian, humourist, newspaper and magazine columnist, radio broadcaster and television presenter...
, Austin was "disgracefully ostracised by the All-England Club because he was a conscientious objector
Conscientious objector
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, and/or religion....
". In fact, he served as a private in the US Army Air Force, 1943-45. A voting member of the Membership Committee of the All-England Club had been removed from the Cambridge tennis team during Austin's captaincy, and used the excuse of Austin's alleged proselytism
Proselytism
Proselytizing is the act of attempting to convert people to another opinion and, particularly, another religion. The word proselytize is derived ultimately from the Greek language prefix προσ- and the verb ἔρχομαι in the form of προσήλυτος...
for the Oxford Group as an excuse for denying him reinstatement in the All-England Club after a lapse of dues payment. His membership of the club was restored in 1984, the year the obstructing member died.
It was only during Austin's tenure in the Air Force did he discover that he suffered from Gilbert's Syndrome
Gilbert's syndrome
Gilbert's syndrome , often shortened to GS, also called Gilbert-Meulengracht syndrome, is the most common hereditary cause of increased bilirubin and is found in up to 5% of the population...
, which explained his occasional and sudden fatigue on the court.
Austin's autobiography, written with his wife, A Mixed Double, was published in 1969.
After a serious fall in 1995 Austin moved to a nursing home at Coulsdon
Coulsdon
Coulsdon is a town on the southernmost boundary of the London Borough of Croydon. It is surrounded by the Metropolitan Green Belt of the Farthing Down, Coulsdon Common and Kenley Common...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
. He died in 2000 on his 94th birthday. Just a few months earlier, he had joined other past Wimbledon champions and finalists on Wimbledon's Centre Court for a millennium-year parade of champions.
Austin was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame
International Tennis Hall of Fame
The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. The hall of fame and honors players and contributors to the sport of tennis and includes a museum, grass tennis courts, an indoor tennis facility, and a court tennis facility.-History:The hall of fame and...
at Newport, Rhode Island
Newport, Rhode Island
Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...
, in 1997.
Grand Slam record
French Championships- Singles finalist: 1937
- Mixed Doubles finalist: 1931
Wimbledon Championships
- Singles finalist: 1932, 1938
- Mixed Doubles finalist: 1934
Runner-ups (3)
| Year | Championship | Opponent in Final | Score in Final |
| 1932 | Wimbledon Championships | Ellsworth Vines Ellsworth Vines Henry Ellsworth Vines, Jr. was an American tennis champion of the 1930s, the World No. 1 player or the co-No. 1 for four years in 1932, 1935, 1936 and 1937.-Biography:... |
4–6, 2–6, 0–6 |
| 1937 | French Championships | Henner Henkel Henner Henkel Henner Henkel was a German tennis player.He was the second German to win the singles title at the French Championships in 1937. The same year, he and Gottfried von Cramm also won the Roland Garros doubles title.Henkel was killed in action at Battle of Stalingrad.- External links :* *... |
1–6, 4–6, 3–6 |
| 1938 | Wimbledon Championships | Don Budge Don Budge John Donald Budge was an American tennis champion who was a World No. 1 player for five years, first as an amateur and then as a professional... |
1–6, 0–6, 3–6 |