Edith Austin


Edith Lucy Austin Greville was an English female tennis player who was active from the 1890s until around 1920. She was married to fellow player George Greville.
Austin was born in Wales to Rev. Edward and Elizabeth Austin. They moved to Broadhempston, Devon, where her father was the vicar, and Rendlesham, Suffolk, where her father was the rector.
Between 1893 and 1919, she participated 16 times in the single event of the Wimbledon Championships and achieved her best result in 1894 and 1896 when she reached the final of the all-comers tournament. In 1894 she lost to Blanche Hillyard in straight sets, winning just two games and Hillyard became champions as the title holder Lottie Dod did not defend her title. In 1896 she lost the all-comers final in three sets to Alice Pickering. In her last two Wimbledon appearances in 1913 and 1919 she also played in the doubles and mixed doubles events.
She won the singles title at the Kent Championships on six occasions.
In 1894, she defeated May Arbuthnot in a three-set final to win the singles title of the British Covered Court Championships, played on wood courts at the Queen's Club in London. Arbuthnot failed to convert two matchpoints. The following year, 1895, she lost her title in the challenge round to Charlotte Cooper. From 1896 to 1899 she won four consecutive titles, defeating Cooper twice in the final. In 1894, 1899 and 1901 she won the Queen's Club Championships grass court tournament.
In 1896 she was a runner-up at the South of England Championships in Eastbourne, losing the final to Blanche Bingley-Hillyard in three sets.
In 1899, she married fellow tennis player Turketil George Pearson Greville, son of Rear Admiral John Stapleton Greville, descended from the Earls of Warwick.