Lena Rice
Lena Rice (born June 21, 1866 at New Inn , County Tipperary , † June 21, 1907 there ; actually Helena Bertha Grace Rice ) was an Irish tennis player and Wimbledon winner in 1890.
Life
Rice was born in the Marlhill house in 1866 as the second youngest of eight children to Spring Rice and his wife Anna Gorde. Her father died two years after she was born. At a young age Lena played tennis with her sister Annie, a little later at the Lawn Tennis Club in Cahir .
Rice only took part in tennis tournaments in 1889 and 1890. In May 1889 she took part in the Irish Championships , in which she was eliminated in the semifinals against Blanche Bingley . In the doubles competition she reached the final at the side of Bingley, and in mixed she won the tournament with Willoughby Hamilton . At the Wimbledon Championships in the same year she only lost the final, again against Bingley. A year later she won the final against May Jacks at Wimbledon in the absence of the pregnant Bingley . She is the only Irish tennis player who could win the Wimbledon Championships.
After her victory, she did not appear in any tournament. After her mother died in 1891, she may have had to take care of the household and therefore ran out of time to play tennis.
In 1907 she died of tuberculosis on her 41st birthday .
literature
- Eileen Bell: Lena Rice of New Inn - The only Irish Ladies Wimbledon Champion. In: County Tipperary Historical Society (Ed.): Tipperary Historical Journal. 1988, ISSN 0791-0665 ( online (PDF; 821 kB) ( Memento from July 18, 2006 in the Internet Archive ))
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Rice, Lena |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Irish tennis player |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 21, 1866 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New Inn , County Tipperary , Ireland |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 21, 1907 |
| Place of death | New Inn , County Tipperary , Ireland |