Gottfried von Cramm
Gottfried von Cramm (left) and George Lyttleton Rogers of Ireland in 1932 | |
| Full name | Gottfried Alexander Maximilian Walter Kurt Freiherr von Cramm |
|---|---|
| Country (sports) | Weimar Republic (until 1933) Nazi Germany (1933–1945) West Germany (from 1949) |
| Born | 7 July 1909 Nettlingen, German Empire |
| Died | 8 November 1976 (aged 67) Cairo, Egypt |
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) |
| Turned pro | 1931 (amateur tour) |
| Retired | 1952 |
| Plays | Right-handed (one-handed backhand) |
| Int. Tennis HoF | 1977 (member page) |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 390–82 (82.6%) |
| Career titles | 45 |
| Highest ranking | No. 1 (1937, ITHF) |
| Grand Slam singles results | |
| Australian Open | SF (1938) |
| French Open | W (1934, 1936) |
| Wimbledon | F (1935, 1936, 1937) |
| US Open | F (1937) |
| Doubles | |
| Grand Slam doubles results | |
| Australian Open | F (1938) |
| French Open | W (1937) |
| Wimbledon | SF (1933, 1937) |
| US Open | W (1937) |
| Grand Slam mixed doubles results | |
| Wimbledon | W (1933) |
Gottfried Alexander Maximilian Walter Kurt Freiherr[A] von Cramm (German: [ˈɡɔtfʁiːt fɔn ˈkʁam] ⓘ; 7 July 1909 – 8 November 1976) was a German tennis player who won the French Championships twice, becoming the first non American, British, Australian or French player to win a singles Grand Slam title at the 1934 French Championships, and reached the final of a Grand Slam singles tournament on five other occasions. He was ranked number 2 in the world in 1934 and 1936, and number 1 in the world in 1937. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1977, which states that he is "most remembered for a gallant effort in defeat against Don Budge in the 1937 Interzone Final at Wimbledon".
Von Cramm had difficulties with the Nazi regime, which attempted to exploit his appearance and skill as a symbol of Aryan supremacy, but he refused to identify with Nazism. He was jailed briefly in 1938 for a homosexual affair.
Von Cramm figured briefly in the gossip columns as the sixth husband of Barbara Hutton, the Woolworth heiress.