Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling

Playing career

Hilde Krahwinkel was born in Essen on 26 March 1908 and was a cross-country runner before she took up tennis. An early injury left the ring and little fingers of her right hand bent towards the palm, which gave her an unusual grip. She played from 1929 to 1950, and by 1931 she was in the Wimbledon final, which she lost 6-2, 7-5 to her compatriot Cilly Aussem.

In 1933 she married the Danish player Svend Sperling and became a Danish citizen. That summer, unseeded, she won the Wimbledon mixed doubles with Gottfried von Cramm without losing a set. She then dominated on clay: three French titles in a row from 1935 to 1937, all in straight sets, and six German titles in a row from 1933 to 1939. Between May 1933 and June 1936 she won 36 tournaments in succession.

On grass she came close at Wimbledon without winning the singles. She lost the 1936 final to Helen Jacobs 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, and reached the semi-finals in 1933, 1935, 1938 and 1939. In 1938 she beat Helen Wills Moody at Queen's two weeks before losing to her 12-10, 6-4 in the Wimbledon semi-final. She never played the Australian or US Championships. Her last international singles title came at the Scandinavian Covered Courts Championships in Copenhagen in 1950, at 41. She died in Helsingborg, Sweden, on 7 March 1981, and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2013.

On grass

Every grass title: 5

Show every title, tournament by tournament

Wimbledon
1933	Mixed doubles	with Gottfried von Cramm
Northern Championships
1934	Women's singles†
1938	Women's singles†
Irish Championships
1934	Women's singles†
Welsh Championships
1934	Women's singles†

Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. † single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions

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