Bunny Austin

Bunny Austin

Bunny Austin with his wife Phyllis Konstam in 1936
Full name	Henry Wilfred Austin
Country (sports)	Great Britain
Born	(1906-08-20)20 August 1906 London, England
Died	20 August 2000(2000-08-20) (aged 94) Coulsdon, London, England
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Turned pro	1926 (amateur tour)
Retired	1939
Plays	Right-handed (1-handed backhand)
Int. Tennis HoF	1997 (member page)
Singles
Highest ranking	No. 2 (1931, A. Wallis Myers)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	QF (1929)
French Open	F (1937)
Wimbledon	F (1932, 1938)
US Open	QF (1929)
Doubles
Grand Slam Doubles results
Wimbledon	SF (1926)
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
French Open	F (1931)
Wimbledon	F (1934)
US Open	F (1929)

Henry Wilfred "Bunny" Austin (20 August 1906 – 20 August 2000) was a British tennis player from England. For 74 years, he was the last Briton to reach the final of the gentlemen's singles at Wimbledon, until Andy Murray did so in 2012. He was also a finalist at the 1937 French Championships and a championship winner at Queen's Club. Along with Fred Perry, he was a vital part of the British team that won the Davis Cup in three consecutive years (1933–35). He is also remembered as the first tennis player to wear shorts.

Austin was brought up in South Norwood, London. The nickname "Bunny" came from a comic strip, Pip, Squeak and Wilfred. Encouraged by his father, who was determined that he become a sportsman, he joined Norhurst Tennis Club aged six.

Austin was educated at Repton School, and studied history at Pembroke College, Cambridge.

While still an undergraduate at Cambridge University, he reached the semi-finals of the men's doubles at Wimbledon in 1926. In 1931, A. Wallis Myers of The Daily Telegraph ranked Austin as the World No. 2. In his first Wimbledon men's singles final in 1932, he was beaten by Ellsworth Vines of the United States in three sets.

In 1932, he decided that the traditional tennis attire, cricket flannels, weighed him down too much. He bought a pair of shorts to use at Forest Hills and subsequently became the first player to wear them at Wimbledon.

In the years 1933-6, he and Fred Perry helped win the Davis Cup for Britain.

Austin also pioneered the design of the modern tennis racquet by inventing the 'Streamline' – a racquet with a shaft that splits into three segments – allowing for aerodynamic movement. The design was manufactured by Hazells and at the time was mocked in the press for looking like a snow shoe. After Austin's retirement, the design was virtually forgotten until the reintroduction of the split shaft in the late 1960s.