Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling

Hildegard "Hilde" Krahwinkel -Sperling (born 26 March 1908 in Essen, † March 7, 1981 in Helsingborg, Sweden) was a German tennis player. From 1935 to 1937 she won continuously at the International French championships. After Steffi Graf it applies not only to Cecily Aussem as the most successful German player.

Life

The daughter of a building contractor since 1925, played at the tennis club black and white in Essen and moved in 1927 to Etuf in Essen. In 1929, she was German and Hungarian Champion. In 1931 she lost the only recipient of the purely German Wimbledon final of the Women's Cecily Aussem. 1933 won Krahwinkel with Gottfried von Cramm the Wimbledon title in mixed doubles, the same year she married the Dane Sven Sperling and took Danish citizenship.

From 1935 to 1937 she was successful three times in the French championship. Here she defeated in the finals always Simone Matthieu. In the history of French Open such a hat-trick only Helen Wills Moody (1928-1930), Monica Seles (1990-1992) and Justine Henin succeeded (2005-2007). In 1936 she moved again into the singles final of Wimbledon, but it lost to the U.S. American Helen Jacobs. In addition, she won from 1933 to 1939 seven times in a row the International German Tennis Championships.

In her career she won lasting until 1952, 123 titles in 16 countries and during this time was one of the most successful players in the world. She died in 1981 at the age of 72 in her adopted home of Sweden.

Sources and links

• Collins, B.: History of tennis. 2nd edition. New Chapter Press, New York, 2010. ISBN 978-0-942257-70-0, pp. 709
• Germany's forgotten great tennis star - Portrait 100th birthday. The West 26 March, 2008, accessed on 6 February 2013.

• Tennis Players ( Germany )
• Member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame
• Athletes ( food)
• German
• Dane
• Born in 1908
• Died in 1981
• Woman