Cilly Aussem
Edith Cecilia " Cecily " Aussem ( born January 4, 1909 in Cologne, † March 22, 1963 in Portofino, Italy) was a German tennis player. She won in 1931 as the first German in purely German final against Hilde Krahwinkel the title of Wimbledon.
Life
Aussem was born in 1909 into a wealthy merchant family in Cologne. Her father had brought it from the distribution of Gervais cheese in Germany to prosperity. At the instigation of her ambitious mother, Helen, she learned to play tennis at age 14 and became a member of the Cologne club KTHC Stadium Rot-Weiss. In 1925, she won the German Junior Championships. She was initially trained by Willy Hannemann, who in 1927 led to winning the German Championships. Later she moved to Berlin and Rot-Weiss coached by Roman Najuch. In 1929, she won again at the German championships.
1930 and 1931 Aussem was trained by the tennis legend Bill Tilden, with whom she was victorious in 1930 at the French Championships in mixed doubles. This was preceded by a meeting between Tilden and Cecily's mother at a tournament on the Côte d' Azur, in which Helen Aussem asked the Americans, as her daughter could be a really great player. Tilden shall apply, mutatis mutandis replied, "By you sit in the train to Germany ," a Council, the Helen Aussem followed. In the years 1930 and 1931 Aussem took second place in the established by the English journalist Arthur Wallis Myers world rankings behind the outstanding U.S. American Helen Wills Moody. At the 1930 Wimbledon Championships she reached the semi-finals, which she had to give up unhappy against Elizabeth Ryan in singles. With the score at 4-4 in the third set she was carried to a dizzy spell passed out from the square.
In its most successful year in 1931, won the 22 -year-old Aussem both the French Championships and Wimbledon in the title. After the final of Wimbledon sent her the then mayor of Cologne, Konrad Adenauer, a message with the content " Cecily, all of Cologne congratulates great victory. Your hometown is proud of you. " She also won the 1931 German Open and the Masters title of Austria, Argentina and Chile. During a trip to South America, she suffered late 1931 appendicitis, which made them operate but only after his return to Germany and forced into a long tournament break.
After overcoming the disease Aussem never again reached its previous performance and could not repeat her success accordingly. In 1934 she was last in the rankings, at number nine, out; in the German national rankings they even won one ranking. This year, she performed most recently at Wimbledon, but was defeated in the quarterfinals Helen Jacobs with 0:6 and 2:6 chance. At the end of the year she ended her tennis career.
In March 1936 Aussem married in Munich the Italian diplomat and Air Force officer Count Fermo Murari dalla Corte Bra, whom she had met while skiing at the top corner near Garmisch -Partenkirchen. With him she moved after the wedding for two years in that time occupied by Italy East Africa, where they again, this time from malaria, fell ill. Then the couple moved back to the family estate in Portofino. Your hometown Cologne Aussem visited only a few times, the last in 1952. At the age of 54 years she died, almost completely blind and largely unnoticed by the German public after liver surgery. She was buried in the cemetery of San Giorgio, Portofino.
Appreciation
Her memory the team championships of the juniors of the German Tennis Federation are called since 1965 Cecily - Aussem games. On 5 May 1988, a definitive stamp of the former Federal Post appeared with the image of Cecily Aussem. In addition to December 2002, a pair of trains of Deutsche Bahn ICE was named on the connection Ruhr - Berlin for her. In addition, she was inducted into the newly formed Hall of Fame of German sport 2008.