Theodore Michel Mavrogordato (31 July 1883 – 24 August 1941) was a
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 ...
player from Great Britain who was active during the first decades of the 20th century.
Career
Mavrogordato represented
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
in the 1904 and 1905 Oxford v. Cambridge matches.
He played his first Wimbledon singles' competition in 1904 and lost in the first round to Frederick Payn. In 1907 he reached the final of the
All England Plate
The All England Plate, also referred to as the Wimbledon Plate, was a tennis competition held at the Wimbledon Championships
The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is ...
but was beaten by
George Hillyard
George Whiteside Hillyard (6 February 1864 – 24 March 1943) was a male tennis player from the United Kingdom. Under his supervision as secretary of the All England Club from 1907 to 1925, the Wimbledon Championships moved to its current site ...
in two straight sets. His best achievement in the Wimbledon singles event was reaching the semi-final of the All-Comers tournament on three occasions. The first time was in 1909 when he lost in four sets to
Major Ritchie. His second semi-final appearance came in 1914 and this time he lost in straight sets to German
Otto Froitzheim
Otto Froitzheim (; 24 April 1884 – 27 October 1962) was a German tennis player. He won the singles and doubles titles at the World Hard Court Championships in 1912. He also won an Olympic Silver medal in singles in 1908 and was a finalist a ...
.
His last semi-final came in 1920, eleven years after the first, after defeating two–time U.S Championship winner
R. Norris Williams
Richard "Dick" Norris Williams II (January 29, 1891 – June 2, 1968), generally known as R. Norris Williams, was an American tennis player and RMS Titanic, RMS ''Titanic'' survivor.
Biography
Williams was born in Geneva, Switzerland, the son ...
in the quarterfinal. This time Japanese
Zenzo Shimizu
, also spelt Zenzo Shimidzu, was a Japanese tennis player.
Shimizu graduated from the Tokyo Higher Commerce School (now Hitotsubashi University). In 1912 he started to work for Mitsui & Co. He married the daughter of Sohōka. He resided in Ca ...
proved too strong.
[ Over the following years he would make regular appearances at Wimbledon until his final participation in 1928.
He participated in the 1912 Olympic Games in ]Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
and played in the indoor tournament. In the mixed doubles event he reached the second round with his partner, and future wife, Mabel Parton. In the singles and men's doubles event he lost in the first round.
Mavrogodato played for the British Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...
team in 1914 and won all his singles matches in the quarter- and semi-final. In the final against Australasia he only played the doubles match together with his partner James Cecil Parke
James Cecil Parke (26 July 1881 – 27 February 1946) was an Irish rugby union player, tennis player, golfer, solicitor and World War I veteran. He became an Olympic silver medallist, Davis Cup champion, Wimbledon Mixed Doubles winner and Aust ...
which they lost 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 individual to do so) and the Austral ...
and 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 1919, after World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, he played in the semi-final against South Africa and won his single match against Louis Raymond. He lost his second match, a dead rubber, against George Dodd.
Between 1905 and 1913 he won five titles at the Welsh Covered Court Championships. In 1909 Mavrogordato won the Scottish Championships. In 1912 he reached the final of the Northern Championships in Liverpool which he lost to J.C. Parke. In 1914 he won the doubles title at the British Covered Court Championships
The British Covered Court Championships (BCCC) was an indoor tennis event held from 1885 through 1971 and played in London, England. The dates of the tournament fluctuated between October and March.
History
For its first five years the tournament ...
. Together with P.M. Davson they beat P. Hicks and W. Ingram in the final. Seven years later, in 1921, he again won the doubles title, this time partnering with P.M. Davson. In October 1919 he won the singles title of the London Covered Court Championships defeating Ritchie in the final.
During World War I Mavrogordato served in the Army Service Corps and was ranked a captain and later a major. From 1928 until his death in 1941 he was chairman of the All England Lawn Tennis Ground Company.
Playing style
In his book ''The Art of Lawn Tennis'', Bill Tilden describes Mavrogordato's playing style: "His game is steadiness personified. He shoves his service in the court at the end of a prodigious swing that ends in a poke. It goes where he wishes it. His ground strokes are fine, in splendid form, very accurate and remarkably fast for so little effort. Mavro is not large enough to hit hard, but owing to his remarkable footwork, he covers a very large territory in a remarkably short space of time. His racquet work is a delight to a student of orthodox form. His volleying is accurate, steady, well placed but defensive. He has no speed or punch to his volley. His overhead is steady to the point of being unique. He is so small that it seems as if anyone could lob over his head, but his speed of foot is so great that he invariably gets his racquet on it and puts it back deep. Mavro turns defence into attack by putting the ball back in play so often that his opponent gets tired hitting it and takes unnecessary chances. His accuracy is so great that it makes up for his lack of speed. His judgment is sound but not brilliant. He is a hard-working, conscientious player who deserves his success."
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mavrogordato, Theodore
1883 births
1941 deaths
English male tennis players
English people of Greek descent
Olympic tennis players of Great Britain
Tennis players at the 1912 Summer Olympics
Tennis people from Greater London
British male tennis players
British Army personnel of World War I
Royal Army Service Corps officers