1. Harold Segerson Mahony was a Scottish-born Irish tennis player who is best known for winning the singles title at the Wimbledon Championships in 1896.
19 Facts About Harold Mahony
1. 2.
Harold Mahony's career lasted from 1888 until his death in 1905.
3.
Harold Mahony was the last Scottish born man to win Wimbledon until the victory of Andy Murray at the 2013 championships.
4.
Harold Mahony remains the most recent Irish singles champion at the All England Club.
5.
Harold Mahony was born either at 21 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh or at Dromore Castle, in County Kerry, Ireland to Richard John Harold Mahony, an Irish barrister and prominent landowner.
6.
Harold Mahony trained on a specially built tennis court at Dromore.
7.
Harold Mahony made his Wimbledon debut in 1890 exiting in the first round.
8.
Harold Mahony spent some time in America in the mid-1890s, before returning to the United Kingdom and finally taking the Wimbledon crown in 1896.
9.
Under the challenger system Harold Mahony was entitled to defend the Wimbledon title in 1897 but this time he was beaten in the Challenge Round in three straight sets by Reginald Doherty.
10.
Harold Mahony was the last Scottish-born player to win a grand slam until Andy Murray won the US Open in 2012 and win Wimbledon until Murray won it in 2013.
11.
Harold Mahony was recognised as the third and last Irishman to win the Wimbledon singles.
12.
Harold Mahony won the singles title at the British Covered Court Championships, played at the Queen's Club in London, in 1893 and successfully defended his title the following year.
13.
In 1895 Harold Mahony forfeited the defence of his title due to illness.
14.
That same year Harold Mahony, who was a regular competitor in Germany and spoke fluent German, won the singles title at the German Championships.
15.
Harold Mahony won the Kent Championships in 1899, defeating Wilberforce Eaves in the final, and in 1904, defeating Brame Hillyard in the final.
16.
Harold Mahony was a member of the 1903 British Isles Davis Cup team that won the against the United States at the Longwood Cricket Club in Boston but did not play in the event.
17.
Harold Mahony was 1.91m tall and possessed a formidable backhand.
18.
Harold Mahony's forehand was less notable: his fellow player, George Hillyard, wrote that he "never did acquire the right method of hitting the ball on the forehand".
19.
Harold Mahony was killed on 27 June 1905, aged 38, in a bicycling accident while descending a steep hill near Caragh Lake in County Kerry.