Clara von der Schulenburg

Countess Clara von der Schulenburg (1874 – 10 February 1951), was a female German tennis player who was active in the final years of the 19th century and the early 20th century.[1] During that period she was considered the best German female player.[2]

Clara von der Schulenburg
Countess Clara von der Schulenburg, painted by Franz von Lenbach, 1895
Country (sports)Germany Germany
Born1874
Düsseldorf, German Empire
Died10 February 1951
Berlin, West Germany
Singles
Grand Slam singles results
Wimbledon2R (1908)

Biography

Von der Schulenburg played for the Rot-Weiss Tennis Club in Berlin since 1897.[1] She won the singles title at the International Championships of Berlin, also known as the 'Pfingstturnier', on nine occasions (1896, 1897, 1898, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1909, 1910 and 1920).[3] She was a runner-up at the 1899 International German Championships, held that year in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, losing the final in straight sets to three-time Wimbledon champion Charlotte Cooper.[lower-alpha 1]

She competed in the singles event at the 1908 Wimbledon Championships and reached the second round in which she was defeated in three sets by Dora Boothby.[5] Von der Schulenburg was considered the best German female player[lower-alpha 2] until the last years before World War I when she was superseded by Dora Köring and Mieken Rieck and thereafter also by Ilse Friedleben and Nelly Neppach. She, however, remained competitive in the doubles and mixed doubles events until around the mid-1920s.[1][2]

She was a frequent participant at the various French Riviera tournaments, played during the winter months and visited by many European, particularly British, players. Von der Schulenburg first took part in 1897 at the tournaments in Nice and Monte Carlo. In 1900, 1902, 1904 and 1909 she won the singles title at the South of France Championships in Nice and was runner-up in 1901, 1903 and 1905.[6]

Von der Schulenburg was a baseline player with firm, well-placed groundstrokes, mainly of the forehand side, who served underhand.[2]

She married tennis player Count Victor Voss in 1928 in Berlin-Grunewald and had previously been married to Count Hartwig von der Schulenberg-Angern, a Prussian councillor.[4]

Notes
  1. She played under the pseudonym 'Frau Hartwig'.[4]
  2. According to tennis player and author A. Wallis Myers her level was comparable to the eleventh or twelfth best English female player.[2]

References
  1. Gruber, Ferdinand, ed. (1927). Amtliches Tennis-Hand- und Jahrbuch 1927 zum Jubiläum 1902–1927 des Deutschen Tennis-Bundes (in German). Heidelberg: Verlag Hermann Meister. pp. 263–264.
  2. A. Wallis Myers, ed. (1903). Lawn Tennis at Home and Abroad (1 ed.). New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 228–230, 241. OCLC 5358651.
  3. Hofer, Wolfgang A. (1996). Ein Jahrhundert Tennis in Berlin : 100 Jahre Lawn-Tennis-Turnier-Club Rot-Weiss Berlin. Berlin: Nicolai. pp. 19, 21, 234–235. ISBN 3875846028.
  4. Gillmeister, Heiner (1998). Tennis : A Cultural History (Repr. ed.). London: Leicester University Press. pp. 262–263, 273, 278, 280, 391. ISBN 978-0718501952.
  5. "Wimbledon players archive – Clara Schulenburg". www.wimbledon.com. AELTC.
  6. Alan, Little (2014). The Golden Days of Tennis on the French Riviera 1874–1939. London: Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum. pp. 40, 46, 55, 59–60, 62, 68, 81, 426. ISBN 9780906741542.
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