Georg von Metaxa

Georg Felix Ritter von Metaxa ( born October 7, 1914 in Vienna, † 12 December 1944 Arnoldsweiler in Düren ) was an Austrian tennis player and one of the most successful doubles player in the 1930s.

Life

The Metaxa family originates from the Greek island of Kefalonia. The father Stefan was a doctor of law and the district commissioner in Vienna Hietzing, Mother Marianne born Countess Stainach. In his youth Metaxa was expelled from several schools and eventually grew in the South German state reformatory on in am Ammersee. He was also considered a good football player and athlete.

As a tennis player he reached the final of the 1932 German Junior Championships, but was defeated Henner Henkel. After leaving school he took in Vienna on a law degree, which he soon broke off and his time entirely dedicated to the game of tennis. Between 1933 and 1937 he played 16 games for the Austrian Davis Cup team. He reached in 1936 with his partner Adam Baworowski the semifinals of the European zone. After the annexation of Austria by Germany in March 1938, Metaxa member of the German Davis Cup team. 1938 it became his most successful year. In early July, he moved along with his doubles partner Henner Henkel in the doubles final of Wimbledon. There, both were subject to the U.S. double Don Budge / Gene Mako 6:4, 3:6, 6:3, 8:6. Four weeks later, both were awarded against Yugoslavia, the inter-zone finals of the Davis Cup. Without point gain Henkel and Metaxa subject clear to the Australian team John Bromwich and Adrian Quist.

Metaxa denied until the beginning of World War II Davis Cup matches for Germany. Overall, he came up with 19 missions for the German Tennis Federation. Later he was drafted and played as Corporal in December 1941 a match against the Sergeant Hans Nüsslein. He fell in December 1944 in Düren in American artillery fire and was buried in the cemetery of Kerpen- Buir.