Kho Sin Kie

Early years

Kho was born and raised in Java to a poor family in an eggplant farm where his father, Han Ting was the head of the village. He had three brothers and three sisters. After he had been dropped out of school he started playing tennis at the age of 14, while working in a sports equipment store. In the early years he had troubles to make his father understand his admiration for the game. In 1929 he won the Central Java Tennis Championship. In 1932 his parents died. He won the All-Java Championship in 1933. In 1933 he won the Chinese national championships topping Qiufei Hai of Shanghai. In 1935 he became the Chinese national champion for the second time after beating compatriot Khoo Hooi Hye and subsequently was named the top Chinese player. Local people raised money for him to support his post-graduate education in Switzerland. In 1936 he arrived to Great Britain to attend college and in the mean time he was offered a job at the Chinese Embassy. He studied commerce in London. Later he was sponsored by the Dunlop Rubber Company.

Tennis career

He played his first international matches in 1934 when he toured Sumatra challenging the Netherlands Davis Cup team. In Kisaran he met Cornelius Bryan (Champion of Sumatra) whom he beat after e decider third set. In doubles Bryan and team member Hendrik Timmer equalized the tally in a three-set victory against the Chinese. Then they moved to Siantar where at the inaugural of the Simeloengoen Club two one-set matches were held. Bryan and Kho went toe-to-toe in singles with Kho victorious. Then he faced Alsbach and won six to four. This was followed by the doubles between Timmer-Bryan and Alsbach-Kho, which was abandoned due to Bryan's injury with Khos' leading one set and one break in the second, while the Bryan was serving to stay in the match. In Medan he beat Bryan in a normal match in straights and had his match with Alsbach interrupted as it started raining.

In 1935 the Dutch Indies Tennis Association invited a couple of European players to play a series of exhibition matches in the Orient. In Surabaya he paired with Nami to face Giorgio de Stefani and Enrique Maier and lost in two sets. Then the party traveled to Surakarta where singles matches were held and Kho faced de Stefani with the Italian coming out victoriously. Then on a rematch in Semarang Kho prevailed for the first time over de Stefani in front a home crowd of two thousand. While touring America Kho reached the doubles finals of the 1935 Kansas City Championships alongside Lewis D Carson eventually ceding the victory to Wilbur Coen and William Kiley. The same year he debuted in the Davis Cup against the United States Davis Cup team and lost all three of his rubbers.

Kho won numerous tournaments in Europe, most notably winning the British Hard Court Championships twice, in 1938 and 1939 and was a runner-up in 1946.

In 1934 he was scheduled to represent his country at the 1934 Far Eastern Games, which was unfortunately cancelled. He met Giorgio de Stefani again for the Dutch Championships in 1936 eventually losing to him. Also in 1936 he reached the fourth round of the 1936 French Championships in singles surpassing previous opponents such as Jean Lesueur and Robert Murray and reached the third round of the mixed doubles partnering Mademoiselle Terwinot.

In the New Year's Eve tournament of 1936–37 at the Beausite – L. T. C. de Cannes he defeated Vladimir Landau and won the doubles as well with him. At the same event he and miss Simonne Mathieu won the mixed contest. In January 1937 he won the Monegasque Championships against Gaston Médécin. In February he captured the Gallia L.T.C. de Cannes title beating home favorite Jacques Brugnon in straight sets. They paired for the doubles of the Nice Lawn Tennis Club where they triumphed over Jean Lesueur and William Robertson. Kho also took the singles trophy. Also in February at Carlton Club of Cannes Brugnon and Kho were on the opposite side in the mixed semifinals where they teamed with Simone Matthieu and Nancy Liebert respectively. In the end the French couple advanced to the finals. For the men's doubles Brugnon and Robertson formed a team this time and met in the final with Kho and Landau. In May he clinched the Priory tournament from Daniel Prenn. In July he won the Midlands Counties tournament in Edgbaston. In September he was in both singles and doubles finals of the Hungarian International Tennis Championships in Budapest. He was a finalist for the Paris International Championships in the same month where he was overcome by Croatian Franjo Punčec.

In March 1938 at the International Championships of Cairo he was defeated by Roderich Menzel in the semifinals. In April he defended his South of France title against Swiss Max Ellmer and this time gained the doubles crown as well partnering Brugnon. In May he not only deprived Bunny Austin of his British Hard Court Championships title but gained the doubles title as well with Irishman George Lyttleton-Rogers against the British duo of Donald William Butler and Frank Wilde. In June he reached the Queen's Club Championships final but was annihilated by Bunny Austin. He was able to win only two games and received a so-called bagel in the second set. In October he wrapped the Sussex Club title in Brighton from Dennis C. Coombe of New Zealand. Later that month he reached the fourth round of the 1938 Wimbledon Championships by scoring victories over Harold Hare, Georg von Metaxa and Ian Collins.

In February 1939 he won his second Gallia championships in singles and doubles with Jacques Brugnon. In March Brugnon and Kho lost the International Championships of Cairo doubles to the team of Gottfried von Cramm and Pat Hughes. In April he claimed his first Italian trophy at the L. T. C. di Rome International Championships by defeating Germany Davis Cup team reserve W. Beuthner in the semis and Constantin Tanacescu for the title. In May he took the Surrey Grass Court Championships against Murray Deloford in straight sets. Later that year he won the Hastings tournament.

In 1945 he won the Midlands Counties Championships for the second time and retained his title the next year against Argentine Enrique Morea. In 1946 he went for the North of England title but was eliminated in both the singles and doubles finals by Jack Edwin Harper and Harper-Cam Malfroy respectively. In May he served the first and only Davis Cup victory for the First Republic of China by winning all three of his rubbers against the Denmark Davis Cup team. While in London on 31 January 1947, Kho was admitted to hospital with double pneumonia and died soon after.

Kho appeared in six Davis Cup ties for China, between 1935–1946. He won eight of his 18 rubbers.

In the club level scene he represented the International Tennis Club of Great Britain.

During World War II

On January 27, 1940 he married Jane Margaret Gordon Balfour, daughter of E.J. Gordon Balfour, a judge in Ceylon. They met in England at the Queen's Club where both of them practised. They moved to the Dutch East Indies and stayed there for the time of the war. In order to help his country against the Empire of Japan he participated in a series of exhibition matches with Englishman Pat Hughes in the Malacca Lawn Tennis Club. The ticket sales income was transferred to the Malaya Patriotic Fund and the War Fund. In 1940 he became Malayan Champion in singles and mixed doubles. He continued on to get featured in exhibition matches in 1941.

Playing style

In an 1938 article contemporary Australian tennis player and subsequent chairman of Lawn Tennis Association of Victoria Mervyn Weston described Kho as a drop shot expert, who has a fine control over the ball disguising it so well that it reached a "deadly effect". He had a whipped forehand accompanied by an excellent net game and service and assisted by a formidable backhand. He possessed an athletic body type with a height of 5'11". He was a calm but opportunist player.