Cilly Aussem

Cilly Aussem 1927

Cäcilia Edith "Cilly" Aussem , from 1936 Countess Cäcilia Edith Murari Dalla Corte Brà (born January 4, 1909 in Cologne , † March 22, 1963 in Portofino , Italy ) was a German tennis player . In 1931 she was the first German to win the Wimbledon title and the French Open that same year . During her career, which lasted until 1935 and was interrupted several times by illness, Aussem was also successful in numerous international tournaments, including three times at the WTA Hamburg . On the world rankings compiled by Arthur Wallis Myers , she was in second place in 1930 and 1931.

Life

Early years

Aussem was born in 1909 into a wealthy Cologne merchant family. Her father Johann "Jean" Aussem had made it to prosperity in Germany as the general agent of the French cheese company Gervais . In 1916 Cilly started school at the Ursuline School in Cologne. She then attended a boarding school in Montreux on Lake Geneva from 1918 to 1923 .

After her return from Switzerland, Aussem came into contact with tennis at the instigation of her ambitious and dominant mother Ursula Franziska "Helen" Wiesbaum, who was a committed member of the KTHC Stadion Rot-Weiss . Aussem later described her beginnings in tennis as follows: "In the summer of 1923 my mother dragged me to the Rot-Weiß Klub in my hometown of Cologne, where she swung the racket under Roman Najuch's thumb for gymnastics in the morning." After a few weeks, she contacted the Herbst to her first tournament and beat the favored Ruth Zweiffel, who had previously taken second place at the German youth championships. In her first years, Aussem was trained by Willi Hannemann as well as Najuch . In 1924 she took part in her first international tournament in Merano . The following year, she won the German junior championships with a victory in the final over her club mate and friend Irmgard Rost (1909–1990).

Rise to top player (1926–1929)

Aussem (left), with Irene Peacock , in the quarter-finals of the French Open 1927

In 1926, Aussem won a tournament in Montreux , where she was able to beat the French Germaine Golding , a three-time finalist at the French Open. In August she won the mixed title with Hans Moldenhauer at the German championships in Hamburg.

In the spring of 1927, Aussem took part in tournaments on the Riviera for the first time . In Nice she was stopped in the semi-finals by the Spaniard Lilí Álvarez . In her first appearance at the French Open, she achieved notable successes over the French Helene Contostavlos and Simonne Mathieu , before she was eliminated in three sets in the quarterfinals against Irene Peacock from South Africa . At Wimbledon, she had to admit defeat to Brit Betty Nuthall 3: 6 and 4: 6 in the first round . At the German championships in Hamburg she won the title for the first time without giving up a set. In the final she beat Ilse Friedleben 6: 3 and 6: 3. In September she won another title with a final victory over Lilí Álvarez in Le Tourquet .

The year 1928 began with a series of unexpected defeats for Aussem. Although she was already considered a favorite in the press for Monte Carlo after a cancellation by Álvarez, she lost there early to the outsider Dallas Corbiere from the USA. In Cannes she reached the final, in which she had no chance against Elizabeth Ryan with 2: 6 and 0: 6. As a result, Aussem was sharply criticized in the local press. The Frankfurter Zeitung suspected a "lack of training" and further stated that "the eighteen-year-old, having become restless due to the over-zeal of her surroundings, perhaps also a little overtrained, lost the inevitable nerves that her technically by no means better English and American opponents had."

Then Aussem recovered from their low form and won tournaments in Biarritz and Montreux. At the French Open in 1928, she met the best player in the world at the time, the American Helen Wills , in the second round and, as expected, suffered a clear defeat. A little later she reached the final at the Dutch championships in Scheveningen , where she could not prevail against Cornelia Bouman . After she was eliminated in the third round by Lili Álvarez at Wimbledon, she returned to an international tournament in her hometown of Cologne. There she suffered heat stroke in the final against Toni Richter-Weihermann, a sister of Ilse Friedleben , in the scorching heat in the second set , which forced her to give up. Shortly afterwards she was able to return the favor and won against Richter-Weihermann in the final in Bad Kreuznach . In Hamburg she could not defend her German championship title and lost the final against Australian Daphne Akhurst .

During a smaller tournament on the courts of the Hamburg club in front of the Dammtor, an incident occurred in August 1928. When Aussem fell behind in a game against Paula von Reznicek , who was rated significantly worse , Aussem's mother Helen accused her opponent of having hypnotized Cilly . As a result, there was a fight between von Reznicek and Aussem's mother, in which Helen Aussem was slightly injured. The two women then reported each other, Helen Aussem for assault and von Reznicek for "defamation". In a letter to the President of the DTB , Gerhard Weber , Helen Aussem repeated her allegations and asked him to do something about the supposed hypnotization. A few weeks later, both of them withdrew their advertisements through the agency of the DTB board and expressed their regret over the incident.

For the remainder of 1928 Aussem did not take part in any tournament. She went to Munich and had her eye condition treated there, which, however, continued to worsen over the course of her life. At the end of the year she was placed in first place in the German rankings. The English journalist Arthur Wallis Myers included Aussem in its world rankings for the first time and put it in seventh place.

In the spring of 1929, Aussem reached the semi-finals in Monte Carlo and Nice. In Menton , she even advanced to the finals, in which she was defeated by Phyllis Covell in two sets. At the French Open she reached the semi-finals, in which she had to admit defeat in a close match by Frenchwoman Simonne Mathieu 6: 8, 6: 2 and 2: 6. After she was eliminated in the round of 16 against Joan Ridley at Wimbledon , she had to end the season early again due to health problems.

At the top of the world (1930–31)

At the beginning of 1930 Aussem met the American tennis legend Bill Tilden in the south of France , who also trained her afterwards. By training with Tilden, Aussem was able to improve her strengths - a hard forehand and excellent footwork - even further. In addition, Tilden Aussem, who had previously had a hard time coping with defeats and often burst into tears on the pitch, was able to stabilize psychologically.

Training with Tilden quickly bore fruit. In the spring, Aussem won a total of four individual titles, including the southern French championships in Nice and the tournament in Monte Carlo, and outclassed their opponents in rows. She was also successful ten times in doubles and mixed with her trainer Tilden. The Berliner Zeitung wrote: "After Helen Wills, Cilly Aussem is currently the strongest player in the world and even in her current condition for Miss 'Pokerface' [Helen Wills] a danger that should not be underestimated." Before the French Open, Aussem won Vienna in singles, doubles and also in mixed. In Paris, she made it to the semi-finals without difficulty, but had no chance against Helen Wills and lost 6-1 and 6-0. In the mixed competition, however, she won her first title at a Grand Slam tournament alongside Tilden.

At Wimbledon, she beat the then number two in the world, the American Helen Jacobs , in the quarterfinals , and "overran" her opponent. The semi-final against Elizabeth Ryan , who was almost 17 years her senior , was even for a long time, until Aussem fell at 4: 4 in the third set and injured his ankle. She initially tried to continue playing, but had to be carried off after a fit of weakness. After a short injury break, she was back at the German championships in Hamburg and was able to win the title there for the second time. At the end of 1930, Aussem was ranked second in the world.

Their most successful year - 1931 - already started promisingly for Aussem. She made it to the finals in Monte Carlo before winning the first tournament of the year in Menton and Cannes. In Vienna she defended the title and defeated Irmgard Rost in the final. A little later she won the individual title at the French championships, in the final she beat British Betty Nuthall , fifth in the world rankings, with 8: 6 and 6: 1.

In London, Aussem then achieved the greatest success of her career, which was, however, favored by the injury-related absence of Helen Wills, who was absolutely dominant in this era (after marriage, Helen Wills Moody). The Aussem, who was in first place, had insignificant opponents in the first two rounds. In the quarter-finals, the Swiss Lolette Payot offered some resistance, but lost after three sets. In the semifinals, this time against third seeded Simonne Mathieu , she again had to go over three sets, but as such made it to the final without much difficulty, although luck was more at her side in several cases than the 23-year-old Frenchwoman. The other participant in the final was the fourth-placed Essener Hilde Krahwinkel who defeated the later Wimbledon winner Dorothy Round in two sets in the quarter-finals . In the semifinals she met the powerful Californian Helen Jacobs who was placed sixth. The first set lasted almost an hour and a half and in the end Krahwinkel won it 10: 8, who also won after three sets.

The final of the first German Wimbledon finalists was not well received by the critics. A widespread agency report spoke of " One of the dullest finals ever seen in Wimbledon " and the Times said " The match was very poor for a final at Wimbledon ... ". Perhaps this was because Krahwinkel stayed sleepless the night before due to nervousness or because she suffered blisters on her feet in the previous match. For long stretches there was a seemingly endless baseline game with which Aussem Krahwinkel let run back and forth. Two sets - 6: 2 and 7: 5 - were enough for the big career highlight. “Cilly, all of Cologne congratulates on the great victory. Your hometown is proud of you. ”Was in the telegram that the then Lord Mayor of Cologne, Konrad Adenauer , sent her. On their return to Cologne, Aussem received a triumphant reception.

A little later, Aussem won the Silesian championships in Breslau and defended her title as German champion in Hamburg, before she set out on a tour through South America with Irmgard Rost. In November she won the Argentina championships in Buenos Aires . In Chile's Vina del Mar Aussem was in the final, but rust had to time to admit defeat. During the trip, Aussem suffered from appendicitis , which she did not have to operate until she returned to Germany and which forced her to take a long break from the tournament.

Last active years (1932-35)

The trip to South America marked a turning point in Aussem's career. In the following years she was unable to build on her previous top performances, often had to pause due to health problems and competed less and less in tournaments, mostly only in doubles or mixed competitions. She could hardly prevail against world-class players.

At the French Open in 1932 she reached the last sixteen, in which she had to give up against Betty Nuthall. At Wimbledon she only appeared in doubles and mixed games due to her poor health. After the tournament in Wroclaw, she ended the season in the summer and was therefore not in the national or world rankings.

On May 1, 1933, she became a member of the NSDAP . In the same year she reached the final in Cannes, but was eliminated early in Paris against Colette Rosambert . Aussem withdrew her registration at Wimbledon due to illness. At the end of the year she was second in the German rankings behind Hilde Krahwinkel.

In spring 1934 she only appeared in tournaments on the Italian Riviera with a rather weaker field of participants. In Paris she reached the semifinals, in which she was defeated by the eventual winner Margaret Scriven . In her last appearance at a Grand Slam tournament, she played her way into the quarter-finals at Wimbledon this year before losing 6-0 and 6-2 to Helen Jacobs. The American later wrote about the match: “When we met for the second and last time at Wimbledon in 1934, Cilli was no longer the same as in 1931 [...] I was facing a fading opponent [...] Her aggressive style of play was no longer there and she also lacked the will to win. "

At the end of the year, Aussem still led the German ranking, partly because her strongest opponent, Hilde Krahwinkel, had meanwhile married a Dane and changed her citizenship. Arthur Wallis Myers added her to his world rankings for the last time and put her in ninth place. In 1935, Aussem reached the final in Hamburg, which she lost to Hilde Krahwinkel. At the end of the year, she announced her withdrawal from tournament tennis.

Marriage and life after tennis

On March 12, 1936, Aussem married the Italian diplomat and officer Count Fermo Murari Dalla Corte Brà in the Trinity Church in Munich . According to Paula von Reznicek, Aussem is said to have met the Count in 1935 while skiing on the Kreuzeck near Garmisch-Partenkirchen . In fact, the two had met years earlier at an Italian tournament and had been engaged since 1933. Only a few days after the wedding, the couple moved to East Africa, as the Count initially participated as a fighter pilot in the Abyssinian War and later served there as a diplomat, and settled in Mombasa . During the three-year stay there, Aussem contracted malaria , which did not heal completely. Furthermore, her eyesight deteriorated and her skin developed an over-sensitivity to solar radiation, so that she often had to stay in darkened rooms.

After returning from Africa in 1939, the couple moved to the Muraris family estate, the Villa Tarika near San Vigilio on Lake Garda . Aussem spent the last decades of her life withdrawn and characterized by her deteriorating health in Italy. She visited her hometown Cologne only a few times, most recently in 1952. In 1958 she moved with her husband to the " Flower Riviera " in Portofino , where Aussem followed in March 1963 at the age of 54, almost completely blind and hardly noticed by the German public died of liver surgery. She was buried in the San Giorgio cemetery in Portofino.

Appreciation

The team championships of the juniors of the German Tennis Federation since 1965 have been named Cilly-Aussem games in her memory .

On May 5, 1988, the Deutsche Bundespost issued a stamp in honor of Cilly Aussem as part of the definitive series Women in German History . The stamp had a face value of twenty pfennigs and is cataloged under the number 1365.

In addition, until December 2002 a Deutsche Bahn ICE train pair on the Ruhr-Berlin connection was named after her. In addition, she was inducted into the newly founded Hall of Fame of German Sports in 2008.

In 2015, her biographer, Bernd Tuchen, was able to acquire the estate of photos, trophies and the Wimbledon medal for her former club from the widow of her second wife, Count Fermos, which are now on display there.

title

singles

No.	year	competition	Final opponent	Result
1.	1927	German championships	Use Friedleben	6: 3 6: 3
2.	1930	German championships	Hilde Krahwinkel	6: 2 6: 4
3.	1931	French Open	Betty Nuthall	8: 6 6: 1
4th	1931	Wimbledon Championships	Hilde Krahwinkel	6: 2 7: 5
5.	1931	German championships	Irmgard Rost	6: 1 6: 2

Double

No.	year	competition	partner	Final opponent	Bottom line
1.	1930	Queen's Club Championships	Elizabeth Ryan	Simone Mathieu Paula von Reznicek	6: 1 6: 0

Mixed

No.	year	competition	partner	Final opponent	Bottom line
1.	1928	Queen's Club Championships	Wilbur Coen	Paula von Reznicek Norman Brookes	6: 4 8: 6
2.	1928	German championships	Ronald Boyd	Daphne Akhurst Edgar Moon	7: 5 6: 4
3.	1930	French Open	Bill Tilden	Eileen Bennett Henri Cochet	6: 4 6: 4

literature

• Bernd Tuchen: I was considered a child prodigy ... Cilly Aussem - the life of the first German Wimbledon winner. Shaker Media, Aachen 2008, ISBN 978-3-86858-089-1 .
• Dieter Koditek: The happy nature . From: Deutscher Tennis Bund (Ed.): Tennis in Germany. From the beginning until 2002. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2002. ISBN 978-3-428-10846-6 .

Web links

Commons : Cilly Aussem  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Cilly Aussem in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)
• Biography in the portal Rheinische Geschichte
• Aussem would have been 100 years old today. Focus, January 4, 2009, accessed September 24, 2013 . 
• Christian Eichler : Cilly Aussem: A touch of tragedy. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , January 4, 2009, accessed on September 24, 2013 . 
• Portrait, dates and biography of Cilly Aussem in the Hall of Fame of German Sports
• British Pathé: All German Final At Wimbledon (1931) (Video, 1:39 m via YouTube )
• CHAMPION.– Fräulein Aussem (left) with Fräulein Krahwinkel, whom she beat in the final round of the Ladies' Single yesterday. In: The Times . June 4, 1931(photo by Cilly Aussem and Hilde Krahwinkel). 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bernd Tuchen: Cilly Aussem - the life of the first German Wimbledon winner. Shaker Media, Aachen 2008. p. 35
2. ↑ Bernd Tuchen: Cilly Aussem - the life of the first German Wimbledon winner. Shaker Media, Aachen 2008. p. 41
3. ↑ Bernd Tuchen: Cilly Aussem - the life of the first German Wimbledon winner. Shaker Media, Aachen 2008. p. 45 f.
4. ↑ Bernd Tuchen: Cilly Aussem - the life of the first German Wimbledon winner. Shaker Media, Aachen 2008. p. 57
5. ^ Eduard Hoffmann: The first German tennis queen. In: Deutschlandfunk .de. July 3, 2011, accessed March 14, 2020 . 
6. ↑ Bernd Tuchen: Cilly Aussem - the life of the first German Wimbledon winner. Shaker Media, Aachen 2008. p. 59
7. ↑ Bernd Tuchen: Cilly Aussem - the life of the first German Wimbledon winner. Shaker Media, Aachen 2008. p. 72
8. ↑ Bernd Tuchen: Cilly Aussem - the life of the first German Wimbledon winner. Shaker Media, Aachen 2008. p. 78
9. ↑ Bernd Tuchen: Cilly Aussem - the life of the first German Wimbledon winner. Shaker Media, Aachen 2008. p. 85
10. ↑ Bernd Tuchen: Cilly Aussem - the life of the first German Wimbledon winner. Shaker Media, Aachen 2008. p. 105
11. ↑ Bernd Tuchen: Cilly Aussem - the life of the first German Wimbledon winner. Shaker Media, Aachen 2008. p. 107
12. ↑ Bernd Tuchen: Cilly Aussem - the life of the first German Wimbledon winner. Shaker Media, Aachen 2008. pp. 130-132
13. ^ ^{A b c} Bud Collins: History of Tennis. 2nd Edition. New Chapter Press, New York 2010, ISBN 978-0-942257-70-0 . P. 722
14. ↑ Bernd Tuchen: Cilly Aussem - the life of the first German Wimbledon winner. Shaker Media, Aachen 2008. p. 136
15. ↑ Bernd Tuchen: Cilly Aussem - the life of the first German Wimbledon winner. Shaker Media, Aachen 2008. p. 142
16. ↑ Bernd Tuchen: Cilly Aussem - the life of the first German Wimbledon winner. Shaker Media, Aachen 2008. p. 151
17. ↑ Bernd Tuchen: Cilly Aussem - the life of the first German Wimbledon winner. Shaker Media, Aachen 2008. p. 168
18. ↑ Bernd Tuchen: Cilly Aussem - the life of the first German Wimbledon winner. Shaker Media, Aachen 2008. p. 181
19. ↑ Bernd Tuchen: Cilly Aussem - the life of the first German Wimbledon winner. Shaker Media, Aachen 2008. p. 183
20. ↑ Bernd Tuchen: Cilly Aussem - the life of the first German Wimbledon winner. Shaker Media, Aachen 2008. p. 199
21. ↑ Sporting News> Lawn Tennis> The Championships> Fraulein Aussem's Victory. In: The Times . June 4, 1931, Retrieved March 14, 2020 . 
22. ↑ Aussem would have been 100 years old today. In: Focus .de. January 4, 2009, accessed March 14, 2020 . 
23. ↑ Bernd Tuchen: Cilly Aussem - the life of the first German Wimbledon winner. Shaker Media, Aachen 2008. p. 216
24. ↑ Bernd Tuchen: Cilly Aussem - the life of the first German Wimbledon winner. Shaker Media, Aachen 2008. p. 233
25. ↑ Bernd Tuchen: Cilly Aussem - the life of the first German Wimbledon winner. Shaker Media, Aachen 2008. p. 238
26. ↑ Bernd Tuchen: Cilly Aussem - the life of the first German Wimbledon winner. Shaker Media, Aachen 2008. p. 242
27. ↑ Susanne Esch: No road for Wimbledon winner. In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger . April 3, 2018, accessed March 14, 2020 . 
28. ↑ Bernd Tuchen: Cilly Aussem - the life of the first German Wimbledon winner. Shaker Media, Aachen 2008. p. 265
29. ↑ Bernd Tuchen: Cilly Aussem - the life of the first German Wimbledon winner. Shaker Media, Aachen 2008. p. 255
30. ↑ Bernd Tuchen: Cilly Aussem - the life of the first German Wimbledon winner. Shaker Media, Aachen 2008. p. 298
31. ^ Matthias Pesch: Club Stadion Rot-Weiß: Trophies from Wimbledon winner Cilly Outside come to Cologne. In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. March 9, 2015, accessed March 14, 2020 .