Gottfried von Cramm

[urban]

The old pros like Najuch or Maskell, even Nuesslein made money mainly by giving tennis lessons. That made them ineligible for all official tournaments. Von Cramm came from a pretty rich family, and always stayed amateur. He had however good contacts with the outcast pros, he often trained with Tilden, played pro am matches with Nuesslein, and if i recall it right played some exos in Germany with pro Budge after the war. He organized some pro tours in Germany by Budge, Riggs and Betz and others, to rebuild some German sports structures and international contacts, which were destroyed during the war. Germany was banned from the Olympics in 1948, and excluded from all major international competitions. I think, von Cramm was the first German sportsman, who got invited to France and England.

[hoodjem]

I always found his marriage to Barbara Hutton unusual.

[Bjorn99]

Most of the celebrities, politicians and movie stars of today are homos as well,nothing has changed. Eyes wide shut as usual.

[chrischris]

How good was Brian Gottfried?

[krosero]

Originally Posted by newmark401

It's interesting that Gottfried von Cramm seems never to have played a professional tennis match, i.e. earned money for playing. That meant he was able to come back after the Second World War and resume play, winning several more tournaments, including his fifth and sixth singles title at the German Championships, in 1948 and 1949.

He had won the same title in the years 1932-35 (there was no German Championships tournament in 1936, probably due to the Olympic Games being held in Berlin, although the venue for the tournament in question was almost always Hamburg, and still is for the men.)

If I'm not mistaken, another German, Otto Froitzheim, with seven, holds the record for most wins in the men's singles event at the German Championships.
-----

Fisher mentions that von Cramm returned to the German Championships in '37 and lost in five sets, right after losing the Davis Cup match to Budge.

It was a loss to Bromwich:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...=7178%2C550616.

Von Cramm was so rarely defeated in five-setters, but suddenly in the summer of '37 he lost three (two to Budge).

[krosero]

Originally Posted by pc1

In the famous Kramer-Budge 1948 US Pro match according to the newspapers Budge only won one point in the fifth set. He was apparently exhausted.

Kramer almost got a golden set there. Budge was up a break in the fourth, and Danzig in the NY Times thought that it was more Budge's exhaustion, rather than Kramer's comeback, that decided the match. Danzig thought Budge, up to that point, might have been playing his best tennis since the 30s.

Riggs was right about Budge's stamina in the postwar years. That list of five-setters may not be complete, but it's clear that by the late '40s he was losing five-set matches frequently.

And Riggs was right that Budge lost the '36 US final to Perry due to poor stamina. Budge did not quite collapse there (it went to 10-8 in the fifth) but by all accounts, including his own, he was gassed.

I mentioned that in '36 Budge decided to get fit and never to lose another match due to poor stamina. I said his decision came before the Perry match, but I checked again in Fisher, and it was the loss to Perry that prompted Budge to make that decision.

Just going by his five-set record in the next couple of years, the decision seems to have paid off. And in the big Davis Cup match it was actually von Cramm who tired first, according to a few press reports. Von Cramm said himself a few weeks later, when he arrived in America, that he tired in the match (though he quickly added that Budge was playing well enough to beat him anyway).

[krosero]

The von Cramm interview I referred to took place when he arrived in New York on August 23rd aboard the Queen Mary. Excerpt from the NY Times:

********************

The Baron was a very confident young man as the huge ship moved up the river toward the pier. He was more than anxious for a return meeting with Donald Budge, and is looking forward with keen interest to the national singles championships at Forest Hills next month. There, if all goes well, the two will battle it out in the final.

Baron Uses English Accent

The odd part about von Cramm’s confidence is that he rates Budge as perhaps a better player than Fred Perry. Speaking with a clipped English accent, Oxford style, that was as surprising as the statement he made, the Baron said:

“I think that perhaps Budge is a superior player to Perry. Fred is a remarkably steady performer but your American boy is capable of reaching far greater heights of play.”

As for his anticipated meeting with his conqueror at Wimbledon and in the Davis Cup interzone final, the blond, good-looking Baron declared rather ruefully that Budge would have the advantage on him in playing in his own country and under more familiar conditions.

“But,” he said, “I feel very fit. I really had intended making my debut in America last season but pneumonia spoiled my plans. Now I am here at last and I want to make my visit a memorable one.”

The 28-year-old German has neither illusions nor delusions of grandeur. Although confident of his own talents and of his ability to turn his tennis into cash, von Cramm stated very flatly that he never would turn professional and that “they won’t catch me no matter what they propose.”

...When Budge and von Cramm clashed in the final and deciding match of the Davis Cup interzone play, they divided the first four sets and the German had a 4-1 lead in the last one. Eventually the American won the set, 8-6, but there was some curiosity as to whether or not the Reich racquet-swinger had believed himself on the brink of victory.

“Not a bit of it,” he declared. “Budge played poorly when I broke service on him and I knew that the reaction would inspire him to greater heights. I had hit my peak and was due for a slump myself. I was tired at Wimbledon that time, but Don played so magnificently that I doubt that I could have stopped him anyway.”

[newmark401]

Originally Posted by krosero

Fisher mentions that von Cramm returned to the German Championships in '37 and lost in five sets, right after losing the Davis Cup match to Budge.

It was a loss to Bromwich:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id...=7178%2C550616.

Von Cramm was so rarely defeated in five-setters, but suddenly in the summer of '37 he lost three (two to Budge).

Von Cramm probably lost some other five-set matches throughout the 1930s. I haven't seen the draws for most of the tournaments held in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and in countries like Hungary and Italy during the period in question. But I imagine von Cramm played in a certain number of them. He really begins to come into his own around 1932.

[krosero]

Originally Posted by newmark401

Von Cramm probably lost some other five-set matches throughout the 1930s. I haven't seen the draws for most of the tournaments held in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and in countries like Hungary and Italy during the period in question. But I imagine von Cramm played in a certain number of them. He really begins to come into his own around 1932.

At least we know his full five-set record in the Davis Cup and the Slams.

As always if anyone has further information please feel welcome to share!

Unfortunately von Cramm's Wikipedia page doesn't have a performance timeline, but I've put this list together:


Played Australian

1938 – lost to Bromwich in semis, straights

Played Roland Garros

1931 – lost to Lott in R16, straights
1932 – lost to Sertorio in R64, walkover
[1933 – allowed to enter only the doubles]
1934 – champion
1935 – lost to Perry in final, four sets
1936 – champion
1952 – lost to Martinez, R128, walkover

Played Wimbledon

1931 – lost to Perry in R16, straights
1932 – lost to Boussus in R64, four sets
1933 – lost to Sutter in R32, straights
1934 – lost to Kirby in R16, four sets
1935 – lost to Perry in final, straights
1936 – lost to Perry in final, straights
1937 – lost to Budge in final, straights
1951 – lost to Drobny, R128, straights

Played US Nationals

1937 – lost to Budge in final, five sets

[kiki]

Originally Posted by chrischris

How good was Brian Gottfried?

Brian Gottfried was excellent...but Gottfried Von Cramm was even better.

[krosero]

More on the 1936 RG final, by William Roberston in American Lawn Tennis:

***********************

The singles ran more or less true to form, and the final was a tennis lesson by von Cramm. It can be admitted that Perry failed to hold his concentration throughout the match, but I doubt under any circumstances if he would have won. His poor start put him in a hole that he could not get out of. It took all of his concentration to pull even, and each time he suffered a relapse and von Cramm was off to the races. I doubt if ever there has been a final where one man played more perfect tennis than von Cramm did. His mistakes could be counted on your fingers. Every shot had a purpose and the way he manoeuvered Perry out of position and then went in and scored the point was a marvel to see.

He started the match by attacking Perry’s forehand and following it to the net. These tactics caught Fred time and time again, as he was covering his backhand side. Then, as the match progressed, von Cramm kept playing the forehand side of Perry but not attacking it. He would wait till he had Fred covering that side of the court, and then he would attack Fred’s backhand and take the net. In other words he had Fred guessing all the time. He also brought off a number of drop shots which Perry managed to retrieve, but found himself passed by von Cramm’s next shot, which was usually a backhand crosscourt.

In the fifth set von Cramm began to follow his service to the net, with good results. All during the match he had followed it in only when behind 30-40 or 15-40 in game score. His high bounding service to Perry’s backhand usually brought a weak return, and in the fifth set Fred could not handle it at all. Von Cramm may not have played the best Perry, but on that day he would have beaten anyone. He has worked hard on his tennis all winter and he now is a most complete player. He has developed a good chop and a drop shot that caught even Perry, and that’s something!

***********************

[krosero]

TIME magazine profiled von Cramm as the US Championships got underway in '37. Excerpt below in two parts.

One of the most fiercely competitive of all games, amateur tennis has no international championship. To answer the constantly perplexing question as to who is the best amateur player in the world, the chief contenders must rely on meeting either in team play for the Davis Cup or in the grand tour's series of national championships. In the days when Tilden, Richards and Johnston were the world's three top-ranking players and the U. S. won the Davis Cup with monotonous regularity, the U. S. Singles was as great a championship as any tennist could win. Since then a new generation of players, headed by the gaunt-faced figure of England's Frederick John Perry, has shifted the spotlight inexorably to Wimbledon. For the past four years Forest Hills has been notable to tennists chiefly because Fred Perry appeared there.

Last week it was the fact that Fred Perry would not appear there that made the U. S. singles once more promise to be not only the conclusion but the climax of the tennis season. Having withdrawn to the professional ranks, Fred Perry has, like Ellsworth Vines before him, given the season that refreshing stimulation that follows the abdication of a recognized champion. The question he left behind him was one that Forest Hills would go a long way toward answering. It was simply whether J. Donald Budge of Oakland, Calif., having achieved almost single-handed the return of the Davis Cup to the U. S. this year for the first time since 1926, and having smashed his way to an unprecedented triple victory in the All-England singles, doubles, and mixed doubles at Wimbledon, is the best amateur tennis player in the world.

The U. S. field was good but there was no one in it whom Donald Budge should be expected to fear. Of his Davis Cup teammates, Frank Parker is a precise but lacklustre youth who has never fulfilled his apparent potentialities, and Atlanta's bantam Bryan ("Bitsy") Grant is a highly erratic performer. California's most recent schoolboy sensation, 19-year-old Robert Riggs, who was seeded No. 2 among his countrymen and proceeded to put Gene Mako out as the matches got under way at Forest Hills last week, had bowed to Budge when they met at Newport last month.

The foreign field seemed to present a more effective picture. It was one of the largest and best to appear at Forest Hills in recent years, including Japan's No. 1 Jiro Yamagishi, France's No. 2 Yvon Petra, England's No. 2 Charles Edgar Hare. England's No. 1 Bunny Austin was not there, but Budge had already given him a conclusive beating this year in the Davis Cup challenge round. The player who seemed to stand firmly in Donald Budge's path, however, was none of these. At Forest Hills for the first time in his life and representing his nation there for the first time since the War was the man who is currently supposed to be at least the world's second best amateur and may well be the best, Germany's Baron Gottfried von Cramm.

Champions. Tennis' unofficial No. 1 and unofficial No. 2 are technically almost twins. Both hit with apparently effortless length and accuracy, forehand and backhand; both have a deadly overhead, a stinging service. Both are stylists whose repertory takes in all the shots that tennis knows. All-court players, they can chop, drop-shot, lob or volley with equal fluency. But no two characters could be so antipodal as 22-year-old Donald Budge and 28-year-old Gottfried von Cramm.

Even more than his contemporaries, Parker (ne Paikowski) and Riggs, the offspring respectively of a Polish laborer and an impoverished minister, Donald Budge, son of an Oakland laundry truck driver, is the archetype of the thousands of prodigious youngsters who since the War have taken U. S. tennis away from Society and made it the remarkable thing it is. When he became an international celebrity at Wimbledon two years ago, Donald Budge's sophistication was such that he cheerily waved his racket at Queen Mary in the royal box. Gottfried von Cramm, who put Budge out in the semi-finals that year, greeted the Queen with the courtliest bow of the dav.

Today a maturing international competitor at an age when many a great U. S. tennis player has flashed and expired, blond, green-eyed, handsome Gottfried von Cramm stands a husky 6 ft., plays with the sureness and ease of a methodically trained master. One of the seven sons of an Oxford-educated, tennis-loving Junker, he used to roll the courts for his father and brothers on the family estate, Oelber, near the little village of Nettlingen in Hannover. He started to play at the age of 9. Four years later, asked what his plans for the future were, he soberly replied: "World's Tennis Champion."

By that time he had attracted the attention of two of his father's guests at Oelber, Professional Roman Najuch and Otto Froitzheim, the finest tennist in German history. Froitzheim commented that young Gottfried's brand of tennis was "good." But Gottfried foreshadowing the day when he would become the most self-critical player of his generation, noted: "Good (but, unfortunately, not very good)."

In 1927, preparing to enter the German junior championships, young von Cramm smartly telephoned the tennis club to find out what brand of ball would be used, religiously used the prescribed brand in practice. The committee at the last moment shifted to another brand and methodical von Cramm was quickly eliminated. The next year he decided to move to Berlin where he could receive better instruction.

So, aged 19, Gottfried von Cramm leased a flat in swank suburban Charlottenburg, simultaneously entered the University of Berlin as a student of law (his family wanted him to go into diplomacy) and the exclusive Rot-Weiss Club as a student of tennis. He was soon spending most of the money that came from Oelber on lessons with famed Professional Robert Kleinschroth. Two years later, after he had progressed to the point of beating Tilden-trained Wilbur Coen Jr., he got his father's permission to marry his childhood friend, dark, vivacious Baroness Lisa von Dobeneck, and to abandon his studies in favor of a career in tennis.

For methodical Gottfried von Cramm that meant a rigid training schedule with no alcohol or tobacco, eleven hours' sleep every night, long hours of practice at the Rot-Weiss club with Teacher Kleinschrroth, who, he now believes, "contributed more to my game than any other instructor." What Teacher Kleinschroth contributed was not only an array of effective strokes but the habit of not depending on any one of them. Froitzheim had taught him the necessity of sound ground strokes and good physical condition. All these qualities were beginning to be apparent in 1931 when he handily won his first big tournament, the Greek National Singles Championship, but when Gottfried von Cramm returned to Germany, he was not included in the German Davis Cup team. The team lost to South Africa, and von Cramm had the satisfaction of giving a sound beating to the South African No. i, Louis Raymond, in a later tournament. When he further distinguished himself that year by reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon, he became Germany's white hope on the Davis Cup team.

[krosero]

Part II

Since then Gottfried von Cramm, the only great post-War player in a country where until recently tennis and squash courts were discouragingly rare, has put Germany into the Davis Cup interzone final four times (1932-35-36-37). He has played 74 Davis Cup matches and lost only 14, five in his first season. He has defeated every leading amateur in the world. Last year in the French champion ships, fortified by a cleaner backhand stroke he had learned from William Tatem Tilden, he beat Fred Perry for the title. Then the following month at Wimbledon he strained a thigh muscle and lost to Perry in the final.

This year at Wimbledon, with Perry out of the way, von Cramm had a chance to become the world's No. i amateur by beating Donald Budge in the final. But he failed, 3-6, 4-6, 2-6. A fortnight later they met again—in the Davis Cup interzone final, with the matches between the U. S. and Germany standing at two all— in a match which, as an exhilarating display of two great tennis machines was not so much a contest as a cumulative spectacle. It made a gloriously crowded hour of Wimbledon history. With both men constantly attacking, it seemed to the crowd as if every hard-hit rally had its incredible gets, its finishing shots whipped back for aces. "How pleased we all were," said a reporter for the London News, "with the admiring gasp of 'Oh Baby!' that burst from Budge when von Cramm left him standing with an astonishing stop-volley from the centre of the court." When after splitting four sets, Budge worked up from 1-4 in the fifth set to 7-6, the well-behaved Wimbledon audience crumpled as von Cramm, having saved five match points, finally had to yield, 6-8, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 8-6. There were many spectators who agreed with the London News Chronicle that they had seen "the greatest match of all time."

Although the fact that Gottfried von Cramm came to the peak of his deft, flawless game along with two players so formidable as Perry and Budge may keep him at No. 2 as long as Budge remains an amateur, this misfortune has helped him to become another kind of champion even more impressive to the tennis public. He is by far the most gracious loser in the game. In the Davis Cup interzone final in _1935, he and Kay Lund had Wilmer Allison & John Van Ryn at match point four times. As von Cramm served and came in for the volley, he just checked himself from hitting Van Ryn's high return, let it sail out. The umpire called match point for Germany again. Von Cramm walked up to the umpire to explain that his racket had touched the ball, a piece of Quixotry that cost Germany the match. And when he had come within an ace of his first Wimbledon championship only to be nosed out by Budge this year, his remark at the net was typical: "I played the best tennis in my life, and if you can beat me, it is a pleasure to lose."

Gottfried von Cramm speaks some French and Italian and a reasonably fluent English, is equally amiable in any of them. Although umpires may insist on pronouncing his full name as resonantly as possible, his fellow players call him Gottfried or Cramm. He likes dancing, field hockey, swimming, hiking, the cinema, Wagner and after tournaments, night clubs and champagne. He also likes to race his Opel limousine from Berlin to Oelber. Independently rich, he is currently the only outstanding amateur who is certain not to turn professional, may thus some day be unquestionably the world's best amateur. From Forest Hills, he plans to go on to California. He will go alone, for this year he and the Baroness, who used to knit and read during his matches, are divorced.

Says tennis' modest No. 2: "For three years Tilden has been saying that I am the best amateur. It is the only time I have known him to be wrong." With Tilden's judgment still in doubt, von Cramm and his 22-year-old doubles partner, Henner Henkel, prepared for Forest Hills last fortnight at Chestnut Hill (Mass.), where they met Budge & Mako in the final of the U. S. doubles championship, neatly reversed the two defeats they suffered earlier in the season (Wimbledon semi-finals and Davis Cup interzone final). 6-4, 7-5, 6-4.

As the Forest Hills matches got under way, von Cramm put out young Alfred Jarvis and Donald McNeill, but had to work his hardest to beat Hal Surface of Kansas City, who twice was within a point of making it a five-set battle. With much greater dispatch, Budge put out William Winslow, Joseph Abrams.

[BobbyOne]

Originally Posted by urban

The old pros like Najuch or Maskell, even Nuesslein made money mainly by giving tennis lessons. That made them ineligible for all official tournaments. Von Cramm came from a pretty rich family, and always stayed amateur. He had however good contacts with the outcast pros, he often trained with Tilden, played pro am matches with Nuesslein, and if i recall it right played some exos in Germany with pro Budge after the war. He organized some pro tours in Germany by Budge, Riggs and Betz and others, to rebuild some German sports structures and international contacts, which were destroyed during the war. Germany was banned from the Olympics in 1948, and excluded from all major international competitions. I think, von Cramm was the first German sportsman, who got invited to France and England.

Nüsslein was the first to be invited to England (Wembley).

[newmark401]

Here's the entry on Gottfried von Cramm in the 1938 edition of "Ayres' Lawn Tennis Almanack" (for 1937):

"von Cramm, Baron Gottfried. B. July 7, 1909. In 1931 represented Germany at Wimbledon and won London Doubles Champs. (with Jacques Brugnon); in 1932 represented Germany in Davis Cup v. India, Ireland, Great Britain (defeating Bunny Austin), Italy and in inter-zone final against America (defeating Frank Shields), won German singles and mixed doubles champs. [with Hilde Krahwinkel] and Berlin doubles champs.; ranked no. 8 in World's 'First Ten'; in 1933, again won German Champs., also mixed double champs. (with Hilde Krahwinkel) at Wimbledon; in 1934 won French Champs. at Auteuil, defeating Jack Crawford in final, retained German Champs. and won Danish Champs.; in 1935 was finalist in French Champs. and at Wimbledon, mainly responsible for Germany winning European Zone of Davis Cup (beating Jack Crawford, Vivian McGrath and Roderich Menzel), retained German Champs.; ranked no. 3 in World's First Ten; in 1936 was ranked no. 2, won French Champs. (defeating Fred Perry in final) and in final at Wimbledon, defeating Austin; assisted Germany to win European Zone Davis Cup fourth time, beat Jean Borotra in Paris; in 1937 represented Germany in Davis Cup team which won European Zone fifth year; led Budge 4-1 in fifth set of fifth match at Wimbledon in inter-zone contest v. USA; in final of singles at Wimbledon and of American Champs.; won USA doubles champs., French doubles champs. and Butler Cup doubles at Monte Carlo (all with Henner Henkel); won Japanese singles and doubles champs. at Tokyo and toured Australia.

"Address: Dernburg, Strasse 35, Berlin, C.3"
------

[BobbyOne]

Originally Posted by urban

The old pros like Najuch or Maskell, even Nuesslein made money mainly by giving tennis lessons. That made them ineligible for all official tournaments. Von Cramm came from a pretty rich family, and always stayed amateur. He had however good contacts with the outcast pros, he often trained with Tilden, played pro am matches with Nuesslein, and if i recall it right played some exos in Germany with pro Budge after the war. He organized some pro tours in Germany by Budge, Riggs and Betz and others, to rebuild some German sports structures and international contacts, which were destroyed during the war. Germany was banned from the Olympics in 1948, and excluded from all major international competitions. I think, von Cramm was the first German sportsman, who got invited to France and England.

urban, It could be that Nüsslein was the first German sportsman to be invited to England after the war.

[Dan Lobb]

Originally Posted by hoodjem

I always found his marriage to Barbara Hutton unusual.

They were married for six years, quite a long time by celebrity standards, longer than her marriage to Cary Grant.
Budge claimed that she had a deep crush on von Cramm.

[Dan Lobb]

Originally Posted by Dan Lobb

They were married for six years, quite a long time by celebrity standards, longer than her marriage to Cary Grant.
Budge claimed that she had a deep crush on von Cramm.

Von Cramm made her happy.