Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling

Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling

Henri Cochet, Eileen Bennett Whittingstall, Hilde Krahwinkel and Gottfried von Cramm, Roland Garros 1932
Country (sports)	Germany Denmark
Born	26 March 1908 Essen, Germany
Died	7 March 1981 (aged 72) Helsingborg, Sweden
Plays	Right-handed
Int. Tennis HoF	2013 (member page)
Singles
Highest ranking	No. 1 (1936, Ned Potter)
Grand Slam Singles results
French Open	W (1935, 1936, 1937)
Wimbledon	F (1931, 1936)
Doubles
Grand Slam Doubles results
French Open	F (1935)
Wimbledon	F (1935)
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
French Open	2R (1929, 1930)
Wimbledon	W (1933)

Hildegard "Hilde" Krahwinkel Sperling (German pronunciation: [ˈhɪldəɡaʁt kʀaːvɪŋkl̩]; 26 March 1908 – 7 March 1981) was a German tennis player, although she became a dual-citizen after marrying Dane Svend Sperling in December 1933.^[1] After the marriage she represented Denmark according to the Danish tennis federation in 2015,^[2] but to others, including the French Championships and Tennis Hall of Fame there was never a mid-career switch and she remained a German athlete.^[3] She is generally regarded as the second-greatest female German tennis player in history, behind Steffi Graf. Sperling played a counterpunching game, predicated on speed, and wore down opponents. Helen Jacobs once wrote that Sperling was the third-best player she ever played, behind Helen Wills Moody and Suzanne Lenglen.

Career

According to A. Wallis Myers and John Olliff of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Sperling was ranked in the world top ten from 1930 through 1939 (no rankings issued from 1940 through 1945), reaching a career high of World No. 2 in those rankings in 1936.^[4] But according to Ned Potter of American Lawn Tennis magazine, Sperling was the top ranked player for 1936.

From 1935 through 1937, Sperling won three consecutive singles titles at the French Championships. She is one of only four women in history to do so. The others are Moody (1928–1930), Monica Seles (1990–1992), and Justine Henin (2005–2007).

Sperling's only loss on a clay court from 1935 through 1939 was to Simonne Mathieu at a tournament in Beaulieu, France in 1937. The score was 7–5, 6–1, and the two sets took 2 hours and 45 minutes to play. Two games alone lasted an hour. It was Mathieu's only victory versus Sperling in over 20 career matches.

Sperling twice reached the singles final at Wimbledon but never won the title. In 1931, she lost to her compatriot Cilly Aussem. In 1936, she lost to Jacobs. However, Sperling won the mixed doubles title that year, playing with Gottfried von Cramm.

From 1933 through 1939, Sperling won the singles title at the German Championships six consecutive times (the tournament was not held in 1936 because of the Berlin Olympics). This record stood for five decades until Graf won the tournament nine times (though not more than four consecutively). Sperling also won the singles title at the Italian Championships in 1935 and defeated Moody in a semifinal of the 1938 Queens Club London championships,^[5] just before Moody won her eighth Wimbledon singles title. Sperling's last international singles title was at the 1950 Scandinavian Covered Courts Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark when she was 41 years old. Sperling won several championships in Denmark while that country was occupied by Germany during World War II. Sperling never entered the U.S. Championships because of scheduling conflicts with the German Championships.

In recognition of her winning the French Championships three times, being a Wimbledon finalist twice, reaching the semifinals of the French Championships and Wimbledon an additional six times, and being ranked in the top 10 for ten consecutive years, Sperling was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2013.^[3]

Grand Slam finals

Singles (3 titles, 2 runners-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in final	Score in final
Runner-up	1931	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	Cilly Aussem	2–6, 5–7
Winner	1935	French Championships	Clay	Simonne Mathieu	6–2, 6–1
Winner	1936	French Championships (2)	Clay	Simonne Mathieu	6–3, 6–4
Runner-up	1936	Wimbledon Championships	Grass	Helen Hull Jacobs	2–6, 6–4, 5–7
Winner	1937	French Championships (3)	Clay	Simonne Mathieu	6–2, 6–4

Doubles (0 titles, 2 runners-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Partner	Opponents in final	Score in final
Runner-up	1935	French Championships	Margaret Scriven	Ida Adamoff Kay Stammers	4–6, 0–6
Runner-up	1935	Wimbledon Championships	Freda James Hammersley	Simonne Mathieu Kay Stammers	1–6, 4–6

Mixed doubles (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Partner	Opponents in final	Score in final
Runner-up	1930	Wimbledon Championships	Daniel Prenn	Elizabeth Ryan Jack Crawford	1–6, 3–6
Winner	1933	Wimbledon Championships	Gottfried von Cramm	Mary Heeley Norman Farquharson	7–5, 8–6

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

Tournament	1929	1930	1931	1932	1933	1934	1935	1936	1937	1938	1939	Career SR
Australia	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 0
France	2R	3R	SF	SF	2R	A	W	W	W	A	A	3 / 8
Wimbledon	A	2R	F	QF	SF	4R	SF	F	QF	SF	SF	0 / 10
United States	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 0
SR	0 / 1	0 / 2	0 / 2	0 / 2	0 / 2	0 / 1	1 / 2	1 / 2	1 / 2	0 / 1	0 / 1	3 / 18

A = did not participate in the tournament

SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played

See also

• List of female tennis players
• Grand Slam Women's Singles champions
• Performance timelines for all female tennis players who reached at least one Grand Slam final

References

1. Collins, Bud (2008). The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book. New York, N.Y: New Chapter Press. p. 688. ISBN 0-942257-41-3.
2. "Franskmænd anerkender ikke dansk Grand Slam-vinder" (in Danish). Den Fri. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
3. "Tennis Hall of Fame bio". International Tennis Hall of Fame. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
4. Collins, Bud (2008). The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book. New York, N.Y: New Chapter Press. pp. 695, 701–2. ISBN 0-942257-41-3.
5. Collins, Bud (2008). The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book. New York, N.Y: New Chapter Press. p. 63. ISBN 0-942257-41-3.

External links

• Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling at the International Tennis Hall of Fame