Herbert Roper Barrett


Herbert Roper Barrett, KC was a tennis player from Great Britain.

Biography

Barrett was born on 24 November 1873 in Upton, Essex.
At the London Olympics in 1908 Barrett won a gold medal in the men's indoor doubles event with Arthur Gore. They also won the doubles in Wimbledon in 1909. In 1912 and 1913 he won the Wimbledon doubles title with Charles Dixon.
He played his first Wimbledon singles' competition in 1898, reaching the second round in which he lost to eventual finalist Laurence Doherty. In 1908 he reached the All comers final, beating Anthony Wilding and Major Ritchie before losing in five sets to Arthur Gore. In 1909 he beat James Cecil Parke and Friedrich Rahe before losing to Ritchie in the all comers final. He achieved his best Wimbledon singles result in 1911 when he beat Parke and Gordon Lowe before winning the All-Comers final against compatriot Charles P. Dixon. In the Challenge Round against Anthony Wilding from New Zealand, Roper Barrett had to retire at the start of the fifth set. Over the following years he would make regular appearances at Wimbledon until his final participation in 1921.
He participated in the first Davis Cup in 1900 and was the non-playing captain of the winning British Davis Cup team in 1933.
His most successful tournament wins were at the Suffolk Championships at Saxmundham which he won 17 times between 1898 and 1921, he reached 18 finals there and won the tournament 14 consecutive times between 1904 and 1921 all three values are all-time records at a single tournament. And he won the Essex Championships 13 times starting in 1897 to 1898, 1899, 1901 to 1906), 1908 to 1910 and ending in 1912.
He died on 27 July 1943.

Grand Slam finals

Singles (2 runner-ups)

ResultYearChampionshipSurfaceOpponentScore
Loss1908Wimbledon ChampionshipsGrass Arthur Gore3–6, 2–6, 6–4, 6–3, 4–6
Loss1911Wimbledon ChampionshipsGrass Anthony Wilding4–6, 6–4, 6–2, 2–6 ret.

Doubles (3 titles, 3 runner-ups)