Gottfried von Cramm hitting a volley in 1937.

Baron Gottfried von Cramm (July 7, 1909 – November 8, 1976) was a German amateur tennis champion. Image File history File links Von_Cramm_Time_Cover. ... Image File history File links Von_Cramm_Time_Cover. ... July 7 is the 188th day of the year (189th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 177 days remaining. ... 1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... November 8 is the 312th day of the year (313th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 53 days remaining. ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... For other uses, see Tennis (disambiguation). ...

Biography

The third of the seven sons of Burghard, Baron von Cramm, and his wife, Jutta von Steinberg, Baron Gottfried Alexander Maximilian Walter Kurt von Cramm was born at the family estate near Nettlingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. He held the title "baron" by birth, though the family title, Baron von Cramm, was inherited in 1936 by his eldest brother, Aschwin. With an area of 47,618 km and nearly eight million inhabitants, Lower Saxony (German Niedersachsen) lies in north-western Germany and is second in area and fourth in population among the countrys sixteen Bundesl nder (federal states). ...

One of the best German tennis players ever, he had the misfortune of having to compete against Fred Perry and Don Budge, two of the greatest players to have ever played the game. And, as a not openly gay man, he had to play under great stress at a time when gay men under Nazi Germany were being publicly persecuted and exterminated. Fred Perry hitting a backhand volley Frederick John Perry (May 18, 1909 – February 2, 1995) in Stockport, Cheshire. ... Don Budge hitting a backhand as an amateur in 1935 John Donald (Don) Budge (June 13, 1915 – January 26, 2000) was an American tennis champion who was a World No. ... Since its coinage, the word homosexuality has acquired multiple meanings. ... Prior to the Third Reich, Berlin was considered a liberal city, with many gay bars, nightclubs and cabarets. ...

In his 1979 autobiography Jack Kramer, the long-time tennis promoter and great player himself, included von Cramm in his list of the 21 greatest players of all time.^[1] Jack Kramer as an amateur in 1947 John Albert Kramer (b. ...

Von Cramm bowing to Hitler

In 1932, von Cramm earned a berth as a Davis Cup competitor for his country and immediately won the first of four straight German national championships. During this time he also teamed up with Hilde Krahwinkel to win the 1933 Mixed Doubles title at Wimbledon. Noted for his gentlemanly conduct and fair play, he gained the admiration and respect of his fellow tennis players. He earned his first individual Grand Slam title in 1934, winning the French Open. His victory made him a national hero in his native Germany, however, he had the bad luck of doing so just after Adolf Hitler had come to power. The tall, handsome, and blond Gottfried von Cramm fit perfectly the Aryan race image of a Nazi ideology that put pressure on all German athletes to be superior. However, von Cramm steadfastly refused to be a tool for Nazi propaganda. Image File history File links Von_Cramm_Bowing_to_Hitler. ... Image File history File links Von_Cramm_Bowing_to_Hitler. ... The great Australians Lew Hoad and Ken Rosewall with the Cup in 1953 The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in mens tennis. ... Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling (March 26, 1908) was a German female tennis player. ... This is a list of champions of the Wimbledon championships of the Mixed Doubles competitions. ... Wimbledon logo The Championships, Wimbledon, commonly referred to as simply Wimbledon, is the oldest and arguably most prestigious event in the sport of tennis. ... A Grand Slam is a term in tennis used to denote winning all four of the following championship titles in the same year: Australian Open French Open Wimbledon U.S. Open These tournaments are therefore also known as the Grand Slam tournaments, and rank as the most important tennis tournaments... The French Open, officially the Tournoi de Roland-Garros (English: Roland Garros Tournament), is a tennis event held over two weeks between mid May and early June in Paris, France, and is the second of the Grand Slam tournaments on the annual tennis calendar. ... Hitler redirects here. ... The Aryan race is a concept in European culture that was influential in the period of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. ... National Socialism redirects here. ...

For three straight years he was the men's singles runner-up at the Wimbledon Championships, losing memorable matches in the finals to England's Fred Perry in 1935 and again in 1936. The following year he lost in the finals to American Don Budge both at Wimbledon and at the U.S. Open. In 1935, he was beaten in the French Open finals by Perry but turned the tables the following year and defeated Perry for his second French championship. In an attempt to get von Cramm on side, the Nazi regime punished his insubordination by not allowing him to compete in the 1937 French championship even though he was the defending champion. The U.S. Open is the fourth and final event of the Grand Slam in tennis. ...

Despite his Grand Slam play, Gottfried von Cramm is most remembered for his match against Don Budge during the 1937 Davis Cup. He was ahead 4-1 in the final set, when Budge launched a comeback, eventually winning 8-6 in a match considered by many as the greatest battle in the annals of Davis Cup play and one of the preeminent matches in all of tennis history. In an interview after the match, Budge told a reporter that von Cramm had received a phone call from Hitler minutes before the match started and came out pale and serious and had played each point as though his life depended on winning. And von Cramm did pay, when in 1938 things reached the boiling point with the Nazi government. While von Cramm was always respectful, he continued to refuse to go along with the propaganda of a regime he did not condone. The great Australians Lew Hoad and Ken Rosewall with the Cup in 1953 The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in mens tennis. ...

Despite his enormous popularity with the public, on 5 March 1938, von Cramm was arrested by the German government and ordered to stand trial for the crime of homosexuality, according to a lengthy article about von Cramm's career in the 5 July 1993 issue of Sports Illustrated.[1] After being hospitalized for a nervous collapse after his arrest, he was found guilty on 14 March of a homosexual liaison with Manasse Herbst, a young Jewish actor who fled to Palestine in 1936, and additionally charged with sending money to Herbst (who had blackmailed the tennis star for $12,000), von Cramm was sentenced to a year in prison.[2] He initially appealed the conviction, but withdrew it on June 20. His international tennis friends were outraged and Don Budge collected the signatures of high-profile athletes and sent a protest letter to Hitler. After being released in October 1938 on parole, in May of 1939 von Cramm returned to competitive tennis but the extremely tense political climate caused problems when he went to play in England. Nevertheless, von Cramm was allowed to compete at the Queen's Club tournament in London where he won the event by beating American Bobby Riggs 6-0, 6-1. Nonetheless, the officials at Wimbledon refused to let him play in the Championships, using the excuse that he was a convicted criminal and therefore unfit; the New York Times, however, quoted Wimbledon sources as saying that von Cramm was welcome to participate, had he asked submitted an entry. The U.S. rejected his temporary-visa application that same year, citing his morals-charge conviction; he had intended to play at the U.S. Open in September. The first issue of Sports Illustrated, August 16, 1954, showing Milwaukee Braves star Eddie Mathews at bat in Milwaukee County Stadium. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Bobby Riggs on the cover of Sports Illustrated just before his match with Billie Jean King in 1973 Riggs at Wimbledon in 1939 Robert Larimore (Bobby) Riggs (February 25, 1918 – October 25, 1995) was a 1930s–40s tennis player who was the World No. ...

With the outbreak of World War II, von Cramm served in the German army as a member of the Hermann Goering Division. While war robbed von Cramm of some of his best years for tennis, nevertheless he still won another German national championship in 1948 and was already forty years old when he won it for the last time in 1949. He played Davis Cup tennis until retiring after the 1953 season and still holds the record for most wins by any German team member. Following his retirement from active competition, von Cramm served as an administrator for the German tennis federation and became successful in business as a cotton importer. In addition, he managed the farm property he had inherited from his father at Wispenstein in Lower Saxony. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Polizeiabteilung z. ...

Baron Gottfried von Cramm and his driver were killed in an automobile accident near Cairo, Egypt in 1976 when von Cramm's car collided with a truck. In his honor, the Gottfried-von-Cramm-Weg in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, site of the Rot-Weiss tennis club, was given his name. For other uses, see Cairo (disambiguation). ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... Berlin is the capital city and one of the sixteen states of the Federal Republic of Germany. ...

Von Cramm was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island in 1977. The International Tennis Hall of Fame is a not-for-profit tennis museum at the Newport Casino in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. It maintains a Hall of Fame for prominent personalities and players from the tennis world. ... Newport is a city in Newport County, Rhode Island, about 30 miles (48 km) south of Providence. ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ...

In 1990, a biography of von Cramm was published: "Gottfried von Cramm - Der Tennisbaron", by Egon Steinkamp.

Marriages

Von Cramm was married twice. His first wife was Baroness Elisabeth "Lisa" von Dobeneck (1912-1975), a daughter of Robert, Baron von Dobeneck and his wife, the former Maria Hagen, and a granddaughter of the Jewish banker Louis Hagen;[3] they married on 1 September 1930 and divorced in 1937.[4] Lisa von Cramm later married the Germany ice-hockey star Gustav Jaenecke.

Von Cramm's second wife was the American Woolworth heiress Barbara Hutton; they married in 1955 and divorced in 1959. F.W. Woolworth Company the original USA based chain of high street shops. ... Barbara Hutton, born November 14, 1912 in New York City, United States – died May 11, 1979 in Los Angeles, California, was a wealthy American socialite dubbed by the media as the Poor Little Rich Girl because of her troubled life. ...

Grand Slam record

Australian Championships The Australian Open is the first of the worlds four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, held each January at Melbourne Park. ...

• Doubles finalist: 1938

French Championships The French Open, officially the Tournoi de Roland-Garros (English: Roland Garros Tournament), is a tennis event held over two weeks between mid May and early June in Paris, France, and is the second of the Grand Slam tournaments on the annual tennis calendar. ...

• Singles champion: 1934, 1936
• Singles finalist 1935
• Doubles champion: 1937

Wimbledon Wimbledon logo The Championships, Wimbledon, commonly referred to as simply Wimbledon, is the oldest and arguably most prestigious event in the sport of tennis. ...

• Singles finalist 1935-37
• Mixed Doubles champion: 1933

U.S. Championships For the article about the U.S. Open 2006, click here. ...

• Singles finalist 1937
• Doubles champion: 1937

Grand Slam singles finals

Wins (2)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1934	French Championships	Jack Crawford	6-4, 7-9, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3
1936	French Championship (2)	Fred Perry	6-0, 2-6, 6-2, 2-6, 6-0

1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... The French Open, officially the Tournoi de Roland-Garros (English: Roland Garros Tournament), is a tennis event held from the middle of May to the beginning of June in Paris, France, and is the second of the worlds Grand Slam tournaments. ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Jack Crawford John Herbert Crawford, known as Jack Crawford, was a great Australian tennis player of the 1930s. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... Fred Perry hitting a backhand volley Frederick John Perry (May 18, 1909 – February 2, 1995) in Stockport, Cheshire. ...

Runner-ups (5)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1935	French Championships	Fred Perry	6-3, 6-1, 6-3
1935	Wimbledon	Fred Perry	6-2, 6-4, 6-4
1936	Wimbledon	Fred Perry	6-1, 6-1, 6-0
1937	Wimbledon	Don Budge	6-3, 6-4, 6-2
1937	U.S. Championships	Don Budge	6-1, 7-9, 6-1, 3-6, 6-1

1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar). ... The French Open, officially the Tournoi de Roland-Garros (English: Roland Garros Tournament), is a tennis event held over two weeks between mid May and early June in Paris, France, and is the second of the Grand Slam tournaments on the annual tennis calendar. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... Fred Perry hitting a backhand volley Frederick John Perry (May 18, 1909 – February 2, 1995) in Stockport, Cheshire. ... The Championships, Wimbledon, commonly referred to as simply Wimbledon, is the oldest event in the sport of tennis. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Don Budge hitting a backhand as an amateur in 1935 John Donald (Don) Budge (June 13, 1915 – January 26, 2000) was an American tennis champion who was a World No. ... For the article about the U.S. Open 2006, click here. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...

Notes

Don Budge hitting a backhand as an amateur in 1935 John Donald (Don) Budge (June 13, 1915 – January 26, 2000) was an American tennis champion who was a World No. ... Ellsworth Vines as an amateur in 1933 Ellsworth Vines (September 28, 1911 – March 17, 1994) was an American tennis champion of the 1930s, the World No. ... William Tatem Tilden II (February 10, 1893 – June 5, 1953), often called Big Bill, was an American tennis player who was the World No. ... Fred Perry hitting a backhand volley Frederick John Perry (May 18, 1909 – February 2, 1995) in Stockport, Cheshire. ... Bobby Riggs on the cover of Sports Illustrated just before his match with Billie Jean King in 1973 Riggs at Wimbledon in 1939 Robert Larimore (Bobby) Riggs (February 25, 1918 – October 25, 1995) was a 1930s–40s tennis player who was the World No. ... Ricardo Alonso González or Richard Gonzalez, (May 9, 1928 – July 3, 1995), who was generally known as Pancho Gonzales or, less often, as Pancho Gonzalez, was the World No. ... Rodney George (Rod) Laver (born August 9, 1938, in Rockhampton, Australia) is a former tennis player from Australia who was the World No. ... Lewis Alan Hoad, born November 23, 1934 in Glebe, New South Wales, Australia - died July 3, 1994 in Fuengirola, Spain, was a champion tennis player. ... Ken Rosewall and Lew Hoad in a 1952 Davis Cup doubles match Ken Robert Rosewall (born November 2, 1934 in Sydney, Australia) is a former champion tennis player with a renowned backhand who enjoyed an exceptionally long career at the highest levels, from the early 1950s to the early 1970s. ... Fred(e)rick Rudolph Ted Schroeder (born July 20, 1921) was an American male tennis player. ... Jack Crawford John Herbert Crawford, known as Jack Crawford, was a great Australian tennis player of the 1930s. ... Pancho Segura hitting his famous two-handed forehand Pancho Segura, born Francisco Olegario Segura (June 20, 1921) was a leading tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s, both as an amateur and as a professional. ... Frank Allan Sedgman, born October 29, 1927, in Mt. ... Marion Anthony Trabert (born August 16, 1930 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is a former star tennis player and longtime tennis author, TV commentator, instructor, and motivation speaker. ... John Newcombe. ... Arthur Ashe (1943-1993) Country: United States Height: 185 cm (6 ft 1 in) Weight: 73 kg (160 lb) Plays: Right Turned pro: 1969 Retired: 1980 Highest singles ranking: 1 (1968 and 1975) Singles titles: 34 Career prize money: $2,584,909 Grand Slam Record Titles: 3 Australian Open W... Stan Smith (born December 14, 1946 in Pasadena, California) is an American tennis player who, with his partner Bob Lutz, was one of the best doubles players of all time. ...   (born June 6, 1956, in Stockholm, Sweden) is a former World No. ... James Scott (Jimmy) Connors (born September 2, 1952 in Belleville, Illinois) is a former American tennis champion who was the World No. ... Henri Jean Cochet (December 14, 1901 in Villeurbanne, near Lyon - April 1, 1987) was a champion tennis player, one of the famous Four Musketeers from France who dominated tennis in the late 1920s and early 1930s. ... René Lacoste Jean René Lacoste (July 2, 1904 - October 12, 1996) was a famous French tennis player, businessman, and innovator, nicknamed the crocodile by fans; he is now mostly known as being the namesake of the Lacoste tennis shirt, which he introduced in 1929. ...

External links

• International Tennis Hall of Fame profile