Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling

Hildegard Krahwinkel Sperling (German pronunciation: [ˈhɪldəɡaʁt kʀaːvɪŋkl̩]; née Krahwinkel; 26 March 1908 – 7 March 1981) was a German-Danish tennis player. She won three consecutive singles titles at the French Championships from 1935 to 1937. Krahwinkel Sperling 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.

Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling
Henri Cochet, Eileen Bennett Whittingstall, Hilde Krahwinkel and Gottfried von Cramm, Roland Garros 1932
Country (sports)Germany Germany
Denmark Denmark
Born(1908-03-26)26 March 1908
Essen, Germany
Died7 March 1981(1981-03-07) (aged 72)
Helsingborg, Sweden
PlaysRight-handed
Int. Tennis HoF2013 (member page)
Singles
Highest rankingNo. 1 (1936, Ned Potter)
Grand Slam singles results
French OpenW (1935, 1936, 1937)
WimbledonF (1931, 1936)
Doubles
Grand Slam doubles results
French OpenF (1935)
WimbledonF (1935)
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
French Open2R (1929, 1930)
WimbledonW (1933)

She became a dual-citizen after marrying a Dane, Svend Sperling, in December 1933.[lower-alpha 1][4]

Career

According to A. Wallis Myers and John Olliff of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Sperling was ranked in the world top 10 from 1930 through 1939 (no rankings issued from 1940 through 1945), reaching a career high of world no. 2 in these rankings in 1936.[5] However, according to Ned Potter of American Lawn Tennis, 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 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 (but not more than four consecutively). Sperling also won the singles title at the Italian Championships in 1935 and defeated Moody in the semifinals of the 1938 Queens Club London championships,[6] 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 age 41. 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 10 consecutive years, Sperling was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2013.[2]

Grand Slam finals

Singles (3 titles, 2 runners-up)
Result Year Championship Surface Opponent Score
Loss1931WimbledonGrassGermany Cilly Aussem2–6, 5–7
Win1935French ChampionshipsClayFrance Simonne Mathieu6–2, 6–1
Win1936French Championships (2)ClayFrance Simonne Mathieu6–3, 6–4
Loss1936WimbledonGrassUnited States Helen Jacobs2–6, 6–4, 5–7
Win1937French Championships (3)ClayFrance Simonne Mathieu6–2, 6–4

Doubles (0 titles, 2 runners-up)
Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss1935French ChampionshipsClayUnited Kingdom Margaret ScrivenFrance Ida Adamoff
United Kingdom Kay Stammers		4–6, 0–6
Loss1935WimbledonGrassUnited States Freda James HammersleyFrance Simonne Mathieu
United Kingdom Kay Stammers		1–6, 4–6

Mixed doubles (1 title, 1 runner-up)
Result Year Championship Surface Partner Opponents Score
Loss1930WimbledonGrassGermany Daniel PrennUnited States Elizabeth Ryan
Australia Jack Crawford		1–6, 3–6
Win1933WimbledonGrassGermany Gottfried von CrammUnited Kingdom Mary Heeley
South Africa Norman Farquharson		7–5, 8–6

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline
Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
Tournament19291930193119321933193419351936193719381939Career SR
Australian Championships A A A A A A A A A A A 0 / 0
French Championships 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
U.S. Championships 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

See also

Notes
  1. After the marriage she represented Denmark, according to the Danish tennis federation in 2015,[1] 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.[2] She declared in January 1934, shortly after her marriage, that she would be representing Denmark and had become a member of the Hellerup Idrætsklub.[3]

References
  1. "Franskmænd anerkender ikke dansk Grand Slam-vinder" (in Danish). Den Fri. Archived from the original on 29 July 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  2. "Tennis Hall of Fame bio". International Tennis Hall of Fame. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  3. "Hilde Krahwinkel komt uit voor Denemarken". Het Vaderland (in Dutch). 16 January 1924. p. 3 (Avondblad) – via Delpher.
  4. 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 978-0-942257-41-0.
  5. 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 978-0-942257-41-0.
  6. 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 978-0-942257-41-0.
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