Harold Kitson

{{Infobox tennis biography

| name = Harold Kitson

|fullname = Harold Austin Kitson

| image = Harold Kitson.jpg

| caption = Kitson in 1912

| country = South Africa

| residence =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1874|6|17|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Richmond, Colony of Natal{{cn|date=December 2020}}

| death_date = {{death date and age|1951|11|30|1874|6|17|df=yes}}

| death_place = Umkomaas, South Africa

| height =

| weight =

| turnedpro = 1903 (amateur tour)

| retired = 1914

| plays = Right-handed (one-handed backhand)

| careerprizemoney =

| singlesrecord =

| singlestitles =

| highestsinglesranking =

| AustralianOpenresult =

| FrenchOpenresult =

| Wimbledonresult = 2R (1905, 1908)

| USOpenresult =

| Othertournaments = yes

| WHCCresult = 2R (1912)

| doublesrecord =

| doublestitles =

| highestdoublesranking =

| AustralianOpenDoublesresult =

| FrenchOpenDoublesresult =

| WimbledonDoublesresult = QF (1905)

| USOpenDoublesresult =

| OthertournamentsDoubles = yes

| AustralianOpenMixedresult =

| FrenchOpenMixedresult =

| WimbledonMixedresult =

| USOpenMixedresult =

| awards =

| medaltemplates-expand = yes

| medaltemplates =

{{MedalCountry | {{RSA|1912}} }}

}}

Harry Austin Kitson (17 June 1874 – 30 November 1951) was a male tennis player from South Africa who won a gold medal at the men's doubles event at the 1912 Summer Olympics.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/2521 |title=Harold Kitson |publisher=Olympedia |access-date=12 April 2021}}

Tennis career

Kitson competed in the singles and doubles events at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. In the singles event, he had a bye in the first round and lost in straight sets to George Caridia in the second round. In the doubles, he was partnered by Victor Gauntlett and reached the quarterfinals, where Clement Cazalet and Charles P. Dixon proved too strong.{{cite book|title=The Fourth Olympiad – The Official Report (of) The Olympic Games of 1908|year=1909|publisher=The British Olympic Association|location=London|pages=218–220|url=http://library.la84.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1908/1908.pdf|author=Theodore Andrea Cook}} Kitson was more successful at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm winning two medals. He won the gold medal in the men's doubles event together with Charles Lindhurst Winslow, defeating the Austrian team Arthur Zborzil / Fritz Pipes in the final. He won a silver medal in the men's singles tournament after losing in the final to his doubles partner in four sets.{{cite book|title=The Fifth Olympiad – The Official Report (of) The Olympic Games of 1912|year=1913|publisher=The Swedish Olympic Committee|location=London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/fiftholympiadoff00berg/page/628 628]–639|url=https://archive.org/details/fiftholympiadoff00berg|author=Erik Bergvall}}{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ki/harry-kitson-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417203835/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ki/harry-kitson-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2020-04-17 |title=Harold Kitson Olympic Results |access-date=2013-05-13 |publisher=Sports Reference}}

Kitson won the South African Championships in 1905, 1908, 1911 and 1913 and was runner–up in 1909 and 1910 respectively to Reginald Doherty and Anthony Wilding.

World Championships finals

=Doubles (1 runner-up)=

class="sortable wikitable"
Result !Year !style="width:200px"\|Championship !Surface !style="width:130px"\|Partner !style="width:130px"\|Opponents !style="width:120px" class="unsortable"\|Score
style="background:#ffa07a;"\|Loss	1912	style="background:#ebc2af;"\|World Hard Court Championships	Clay	{{flagicon\|SAF\|1912}} Charles Winslow	{{flagicon\|GER\|1866}} Otto Froitzheim {{flagicon\|GER\|1866}} Oscar Kreuzer	6–4, 2–6, 1–6, 3–6

class="sortable wikitable"

Result

!Year

!style="width:200px"|Championship

!Surface

!style="width:130px"|Partner

!style="width:130px"|Opponents

!style="width:120px" class="unsortable"|Score

style="background:#ffa07a;"|Loss

1912

style="background:#ebc2af;"|World Hard Court Championships

Clay