player – Tennisarchives.com

General First nameRoelof
Lastnamevan Lennep
GenderMale
CountryNetherlands
Date of birth1876-10-03
Place of birthWiesbaden, Germany
Date of death1951-09-13
Place of deathDen Haag, Netherlands

About

Adapted from Wikipedia, at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roelof_van_Lennep

Roelof van Lennep was born on 3 October 1876 in Wiesbaden, the son of Christiaan van Lennep (1828-1908) and his second wife Charlotta Louise van Lennep (née Küpfer; 1851-1926). Roelof had six siblings, including Madzy, Christine, August and Christiaan, junior, all of whom also took part in lawn tennis tournaments, and one half-sister from his father’s first marriage.

In 1895, the van Lenneps founded the Hilversumsche Lawn Tennisclub in their own house in Hilversum. Several years later three cement courts were laid down. Christine van Lennep was appointed the club’s first treasurer. Roelof van Lennep was a founding member of HVV t’Gooi, the first football club to be established in Hilversum.

August van Lennep won the men’s singles event at the Dutch National Championships in 1903, but died in london in 1908 at the age of only 24. Madzy van Lennep won the women’s doubles event three consecutive times at the same tournament: in 1899 with her sister Christine, and in 1900 and 1901 with Anthonie van Aken; and the mixed twice consecutively, in 1899 and1900, both times partnering Karel Beukema.

The inaugural Dutch national championships tennis tournament was held in Rotterdam in 1899. Of all the van Lennep siblings, Christiaan had the most success at that particular tournament. He won the men’s singles title six times: in 1905, 1907, 1919, 1921, 1925 and 1926. Christiaan van Lennep also won the men’s doubles title at the same tournament on seven occasions.

Roelof van Lennep’s breakthrough as a lawn tennis player came in 1904, at the Haarlem International Championships tournament in that Dutch city, where he won the triple crown of the men’s singles, men’s doubles (with John F. Sol) and mixed doubles titles (with Emilie Dolleman). In the same year he reached the finals of the men’s doubles event at the Dutch International Championships in Scheveningen with his brother Christiaan; they were beaten by Wylie Grant and his brother Irving.

In 1904, Roelof also won the triple crown at the Dutch National Championships in Leiden, where he won the men’s doubles event with his brother Christiaan and the mixed doubles event with Louise Dolleman, sister of Emilie. In 1905, Roelof successfully defended the men’s doubles title at the Duch National Championships with Christiaan, who beat him in the men’s singles event.

In 1909, partnering Loes Everts, Roelof regained the mixed national title in Noordwijk. In 1910, he won the men’s doubles title at the same tournament, in The Hague, alongside Gerard Scheurleer. In 1911, Roelof won his ninth and final title at the Dutch National Championships when he partnered Adolf Broese van Groenou to take the men’s doubles title, also in The Hague.

During the 1930s, van Lennep was also manager of Tarakan Petroleum and the Kali Tello coffee estate in Jakarta in the Dutch East Indies. He married twice and had three children: Sylvia, Warner and Marnix Roelof. Roelof van Lennep died in The Hague in September 1951 at the age of 74.

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