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For the English footballer, see Ernie Parker (footballer).

Ernest Frederick Parker (5 November 1883 – 2 May 1918) was an Australian tennis player and cricketer.

Career

Ernie Parker was educated at Perth High School and St Peter's College, Adelaide, before joining his father's law firm in Perth.[2]

Tennis

Parker is best remembered for winning the 1913 Australasian Championships men's singles title. In the final against Harry Parker, he made many successful forays to the net and he won in four sets.[3] He also reached the final in 1909 and won the 1909 (partnering J. Keane) and 1913 (partnering Alf Hedeman) doubles titles.[4]

He won the Western Australian Championships six times: 1903, 1904, 1907, 1908, 1911 and 1912. In 1905 he won the Maerenbad Cup in Marienbad Brandenberg, Germany, on clay, beating Kurt von Wessely.[5]

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 his serve was his weakness, described as "merely a means of putting the ball into play".[2][6]

Cricket

Parker was able to excel at both tennis and cricket because at the time tennis was mostly a winter game in Perth.[7] He played cricket for East Perth (Perth Cricket Club) and Wanderers in the Western Australian Grade Cricket competition. An elegant batsman, he was the first player to score a double-century in senior Perth cricket, and set a long-standing record of 19 centuries in the competition.[7]

He represented Western Australia in first-class cricket between 1905 and 1910 in the years before Western Australia joined the Sheffield 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 against Victoria in 1910.[7] He was included in two trial matches to select the Australian team to tour England in 1909, but without success.[2]

War service and death

Despite failing eyesight, which had affected his later sporting career, Parker enlisted in the Australian army in World War I. A gunner in the 102 Howitzer Battery, 2nd Brigade, he was killed by an enemy shell on 2 May 1918 in Caëstre, France.[2][8][9]

Grand Slam finals

Singles 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Outcome Year Championship Surface Opponent Score
Runner-up 1909 Australasian Championships Grass New Zealand Anthony Wilding 1–6, 5–7, 2–6
Winner 1913 Australasian Championships Grass New Zealand Harry Parker 2–6, 6–1, 6–2, 6–3

Doubles: 2 (2 titles)

Outcome Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Winner 1909 Australasian Championships Grass Australia J. P. Keane Australia Tom Crooks
New Zealand Anthony Wilding		 1–6, 6–1, 6–1, 9–7
Winner 1913 Australasian Championships Grass Australia Alf Hedeman New Zealand Harry Parker
Australia Roy Taylor		 8–6, 4–6, 6–4, 6–4

References

  1. ^ a b Garcia, Gabriel (2018). "Ernest Frederick Parker: Career match record". thetennisbase.com. Madrid, Spain: Tennismem SAL. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d Greg Growden, Cricketers at War, ABC Books, Sydney, 2019, pp. 107–11.
  3. ^ "Ernie Parker". Grand Slam Tennis Archive. Archived from the original on 2 December 2022. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  4. ^ "Western Australian Institute of Sport". Archived from the original on 10 April 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
  5. ^ Garcia, Gabriel (2018). "Ernest Frederick Parker: Tournament activity 1903-1913". app.thetennisbase.com. Madrid, Spain: Tennismem SAL. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  6. ^ "Ernest Parker". The West Australian: 5. 24 May 1918.
  7. ^ a b c The Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket, Oxford, Melbourne, 1996, p. 410.
  8. ^ "Cricketers who died in World War 1 – Part 4 of 5". Cricket Country. 7 August 2014. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  9. ^ "Gunner Ernest Frederick Parker". Australian War Memorial. Retrieved 16 December 2019.

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