 | |
| Full name | Ernest Frederick Parker |
|---|---|
| Country (sports) | Australia |
| Born | (1883-11-05)5 November 1883 Perth, Western Australia |
| Died | 2 May 1918(1918-05-02) (aged 34) Caëstre, France |
| Turned pro | 1903 (amateur tour) |
| Retired | 1918 (due to death) |
| Plays | Right-handed (one-handed backhand) |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 46-21 (68.6%)[1] |
| Career titles | 8[1] |
| Grand Slam singles results | |
| Australian Open | W (1913) |
| Doubles | |
| Grand Slam doubles results | |
| Australian Open | W (1909,1913) |
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| Cricket information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1905/06–1909/10 | Western Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source:Cricinfo,17 December 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ernest Frederick Parker (5 November 1883 – 2 May 1918) was an Australiantennis player andcricketer.
Ernie Parker was educated atPerth High School andSt Peter's College, Adelaide, before joining his father's law firm in Perth.[2]
Parker is best remembered for winning the1913 Australasian Championships men's singles title. The tournament is now known as the Australian Open.[3] In the final againstHarry Parker, he made many successful forays to the net and won in four sets.[4] He also reached the final in1909 and won the 1909 (partnering J. Keane) and 1913 (partneringAlf Hedeman) doubles titles.[5]
He won theWestern Australian Championships six times: 1903, 1904, 1907, 1908, 1911 and 1912. In 1905 he won the Maerenbad Cup in Marienbad Brandenberg, Germany, on clay, beatingKurt von Wessely.[6]
Parker's play was described as "quick, wristy, and always looking for a 'winner'". Slightly built, he was noted for his exceptional net play, but hisserve was his weakness, described as "merely a means of putting the ball into play".[2][7]
Parker was able to excel at both tennis and cricket because at the time tennis was mostly a winter game in Perth.[8] He played cricket for East Perth (Perth Cricket Club) and Wanderers in theWestern Australian Grade Cricket competition. An elegant batsman, he was the first player to score adouble-century in senior Perth cricket, and set a long-standing record of 19 centuries in the competition.[8]
He representedWestern Australia infirst-class cricket between 1905 and 1910 in the years before Western Australia joined theSheffield Shield competition. He was the first player to score a first-class century for Western Australia, when he made 116 in his second match. He also made 117 in only 82 minutes againstVictoria in 1910.[8] He was included in two trial matches to select theAustralian team to tour England in 1909, but without success.[2]
Despite failing eyesight, which had affected his later sporting career, Parker enlisted in the Australian army inWorld War I. Agunner in the 102Howitzer Battery, 2nd Brigade, he was killed by an enemy shell on 2 May 1918 inCaëstre, France.[2][9][10]
A biography,Ernest Parker: Not a Love Story, byMax Bonnell and Andrew Sproul, was published byThe Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians in 2024.[11]
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Opponent | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 1909 | Australasian Championships | Grass |  Anthony Wilding | 1–6, 5–7, 2–6 |
| Win | 1913 | Australasian Championships | Grass | Harry Parker | 2–6, 6–1, 6–2, 6–3 |
| Result | Year | Championship | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 1909 | Australasian Championships | Grass |  J. P. Keane | Tom CrooksAnthony Wilding | 1–6, 6–1, 6–1, 9–7 |
| Win | 1913 | Australasian Championships | Grass | Alf Hedeman | Harry ParkerRoy Taylor | 8–6, 4–6, 6–4, 6–4 |
