Algernon Robert Fitzhardinge "Algy" Kingscote MC (3 December 1888 – 21 December 1964) was a British tennis player, who won the Men's Singles event at the Australasian Championships in 1919.^[4] Kingscote also competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris.^[5][6] He was born in Bangalore, India, in 1888.^[4]

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Algernon Kingscote

Kingscote in 1914
Full name	Algernon Robert Fitzhardinge Kingscote
Country (sports)	United Kingdom
Born	3 December 1888 Bangalore, India
Died	21 December 1964(1964-12-21) (aged 76) Woking, Surrey, Great Britain
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Singles
Career record	93–23 (80.2%)
Career titles	13[1]
Highest ranking	No. 3 (1920, A. Wallis Myers)[2]
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	W (1919)
Wimbledon	F (1919(AC))
French Open Senior	1R (1930)
Other tournaments
WHCC	QF (1914)
Olympic Games	4R (1924)
Doubles
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	SF (1919)[3]
Wimbledon	F (1920)
Other doubles tournaments
WHCC	F (1914)
Olympic Games	1R (1924)

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Algernon Kingscote learned playing tennis on the courts of the Château-d'Œx Club in Switzerland,^[4] where he won numerous championships.^[7] In his early years he trained with American teenager player R. Norris Williams.^[8] He was crowned Swiss champion in 1908^[4] and champion of Bengal in 1913.^[7] He held the Kent Championships title for four consecutive years between 1919 and 1922 and in total won the title six times.^[9] At Wimbledon 1919, Kingscote beat William Laurentz, Max Decugis and Pat O'Hara Wood before losing in the all comers final to Gerald Patterson.^[10] He won the singles title at the 1919 Australasian Championships, along with the first Anthony Wilding Memorial Medal, beating Eric Pockley of New South Wales in the final in straight sets.^[3][11] In the 1920 Wimbledon Championships he reached the doubles final alongside James Cecil Parke but eventually lost to the team of Garland–Williams.^[12] In 1921 Kingscote was a runner-up at the Monte-Carlo Championships losing to fellow countryman Gordon Lowe in four sets.^[13] He represented Great Britain in the Davis Cup seven times between 1919 and 1924 compiling a 9–8 win–loss record. In the 1922 Wimbledon Championships first round against Leslie Godfree they established the routine of saluting the Royal Box by bowing in front of it, a tradition that was in effect to 2003.^[14] He won the London Championships in 1924 beating Gordon Lowe in four sets in the final.^[15]

Algernon Kingscote was born on 3 December 1888 to Lieutenant-Colonel Howard Kingscote (b. 29 April 1845, d. 17 March 1917) and famous novelist Adeline Wolff known as Lucas Cleeve. He had two siblings, Henry Robert Fitzhardinge Kingscote (b. 1 October 1887) and Iris Adeline Harriett Augusta Kingscote (b. 5 August 1886, d. 8 June 1970).^[4] Like his father he joined the army in 1910 serving for the Royal Garrison Artillery.^[7] He was a Second Lieutenant when stationing at Plympton, Devon in 1911.^[4] He was engaged in World War I where he fought at the First Battle of the Aisne^[7] earning the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and the award of Military Cross.^[4] After the war he went back competing in tennis tournaments and was appointed the captain of the Great Britain Davis Cup team, while still serving in the army as a colonel.^[7] He married Marjorie Paton Hindley, daughter of Douglas C. P. Hindley, on 9 September 1919, and had two daughters Rachel and Marjorie and later a son David, who died on 5 September 1945 at age 20 at Burma, killed in action.^[4] At the age of 52 at the outbreak of World War II he was sent back to action again.^[4] He died on 21 December 1964 Woking, Surrey, Great Britain.^[4]