Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling

Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling
Personal information
Date of birth March 26, 1908
Country Germany
Denmark
Grand Slam singles titles (3)
French Championships 1935, 1936, 1937

Hildegard "Hilde" Krahwinkel Sperling (Essen, Germany March 26, 1908 – March 7, 1981 in Helsingborg, Sweden) was a German tennis player, although she became a Danish national after marrying Svend Sperling from Denmark in 1933.[1] She 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.

Contents

Career

According to Wallis Myers and John Olliff of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Sperling was ranked in the world top ten from 1930 through 1939 (no rankings issued from 1940 through 1945), reaching a career high of World No. 2 in those rankings in 1936.[2] But according to Ned Potter of American Lawn Tennis magazine, 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 Simone 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 alone 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. Sperling also won the singles title at the Italian Championships in 1935 and defeated Moody in a semifinal of the 1938 Queens Club London championships,[3] 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 41 years old. 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.

Despite 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 ten consecutive years, Sperling has not yet been inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Grand Slam record

Grand Slam singles finals

Wins (3)

Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
1935 French Championships Simone Mathieu 6–2, 6–1
1936 French Championships (2) Simone Mathieu 6–3, 6–4
1937 French Championships (3) Simone Mathieu 6–2, 6–4

Runner-ups (2)

Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
1931 Wimbledon Cilly Aussem 6–2, 7–5
1936 Wimbledon Helen Hull Jacobs 6–2, 4–6, 7–5

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

Tournament 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 Career SR
Australia A A A A A A A A A A A 0 / 0
France 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
United States 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

A = did not participate in the tournament

SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played

See also

References

  1. ^ 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 0-942257-41-3. 
  2. ^ 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 0-942257-41-3. 
  3. ^ 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 0-942257-41-3.