Horace Rice

Horace Rice
Rice in 1913
Country (sports) Australia
Born(1872-09-05)5 September 1872
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Died18 January 1950(1950-01-18) (aged 77)[1]
Roseville, New South Wales, Australia
PlaysLeft-handed (one-handed backhand)
Singles
Career record284–129 (68.7%)[2]
Career titles26[2]
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenW (1907)
Wimbledon2R (1913)
Doubles
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian OpenW (1910, 1915)
Wimbledon2R (1913)
Mixed doubles
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian OpenW (1923)
Team competitions
Davis CupQF (1913)
McLoughlin and Rice during the quarter-finals of the 1913 International Lawn Tennis Challenge

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 Parker in the final.[3] Parker, with his "ever varying placing strokes kept his opponent flying about from side to side of the court and from the net to base line. This, however, had little effect upon Rice, whose staying powers were remarkable, and whose returns almost always were sure and accurate".[4] He was also runner-up at the Australasian championships 3 times (in 1910, 1911 and 1915). He reached the semi finals in 1920 aged 47 and faced Ron Thomas. Rice was 2 sets to 1 down, 5-2 down and faced two match points on Thomas' serve, before staging a comeback to force a fifth set, before eventually losing.[5] He reached the semi finals again in 1923 aged 50 but on a hot day lost in four sets to Bert St. John.[6] He won the Men's Doubles title at the 1915 Championships, partnering Clarence Todd.

  1. ^ db4tennis
  2. ^ a b Garcia, Gabriel. "Horace Rice: Career match record". thetennisbase.com. Madrid: Tennismem SL. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  3. ^ "Horrie Rice". Grand Slam Tennis Archive. Archived from the original on 3 October 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  4. ^ "Lawn tennis Australasian Championship". The Brisbane Telegraph. 26 August 1907. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  5. ^ "Lawn tennis carnival". The Register (Adelaide). 20 March 1920. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  6. ^ "Queenslandes score". The Brisbane Courier. 18 August 1923. Retrieved 16 October 2024.