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

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 cov ...

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 "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

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 The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. ...

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 Horace Rice (5 September 1872 – 18 January 1950) was an Australian tennis player. The left-handed Rice, who played in knickerbockers and long black socks, won the Men's Singles title at the 1907 Australasian Championships, beating Harry ...

in three straight sets. In 1911 he played in the

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 organi ...

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 Randolph Lycett (27 August 1886 – 9 February 1935) was a British tennis player. Lycett is primarily known for his success in doubles, winning 5 men's doubles and 3 mixed doubles slams. He was also the runner-up at the 1922 Wimbledon men's si ...

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/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

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

Grand Slam finals

Singles

Doubles: 5 (3 titles, 2 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