Hope Crisp

Hope Crisp (6 February 1884 – 25 March 1950), was an English tennis player. With Agnes Tuckey he was the first winner of the Wimbledon mixed doubles in 1913.

Educated at Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet,he went up to St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he captained theUniversity of Cambridge tennis team.

1913

In the 1913 Wimbledon Championships, he won with Agnes Tuckey the first mixed doubles final at Wimbledon in an unusual fashion -one of their opponents Ethel Thomson Larcombe was struck in the eye by her partner's miss-hit smash and unable to continue the match. The incident occurred when the second set was 5–3 for Crisp and Tuckey, the first having been won by the opposing pair ofJames Cecil Parke and Mrs Larcombe. In the 1914 Wimbledon Championships Crisp and Tuckey were the losing semi-finalists.

1915

During the First World War, he received a commission in The Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment. In April 1915 while attached to the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, he was wounded at Hill 60 near Ypres and his right leg was amputated.

1919

However, with a prosthesis, he returned to Wimbledon to play in the 1919 Championships with Mrs Perrett, losing in the second round after a bye in the first. The Times wrote; "It was interesting to see how he managed. He is a strong volleyer and naturally half volleys many balls which a two-legged player would drive. The artificial leg is the right; accordingly service is fairly easy and when there is no hurry, he walks with a fair speed, approaching a run. Other times, he hops. His cheerful temperament makes the game a real pleasure to himself and others."

1923

After the war, Captain Hope Crisp was employed as a Regional Awards Officer for the Ministry of Pensions; for this work he received an award of the OBE in 1923.

Mixed doubles (1 title)