Eva Johannes

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Eva Johannes (born October 8, 1934 in Dresden ; † December 4, 2015 ) was a German tennis player .

Career

Born Eva Mannschatz, the grande dame of GDR tennis began picking up balls from her older sister at the TC Bad Weißer Hirsch before she picked up the racket herself and became the most successful tennis player in the GDR .

One of Eva Johannes' greatest successes was her appearances in what was then the United Arab Republic . In 1960 she was in the final of all three competitions in Cairo, but could "only" win the mixed together with Horst Stahlberg . This final encounter took a very unusual course. After winning the first set, the referee suddenly stopped the game against the Australian Margaret Helleyer / Hillebrand when the score was 7: 7 and began the award ceremony of the other competitions. The background was the growing restlessness of the audience, who were drawn home to eat, after all it was Ramadan . After this strange interruption, the GDR pairing came to the tournament success in the third set.

The year before, Eva Johannes had already been in the final of the women's singles, but lost against Pucejova 6: 3, 4: 6 and 6: 2. The Dresden woman also shone in some tournaments in West Germany. In 1959 she won the title at the Hamburg Whitsun tournament. Also at the tournament in Zinnowitz in 1957 - at that time still under the name Mannschatz - and 1962 in the list of winners of the women's individual competition. The second time she was able to triumph in the final over the sister of the top Czech player Jan Kodeš , Vlasta Kodesova. At the same time Johannes won the doubles and mixed competition.

In 1965, the woman from Dresden moved back to her hometown. In the following years she devoted herself to the next generation and worked as a sports teacher. In 1999 she was named “Trainer of the Year” by the German Tennis Association (DTB).

After the fall of the Wall, Eva Johannes was one of the first to point out the capabilities of seniors in GDR tennis. In 1990 she won the mixed and women's doubles title in her age group at the European Senior Championships.

literature

  • R. Streppelhoff: Tennis as a competitive sport in the GDR. In: Stadium. International magazine for the history of sport. Volume 23, 2007, 2, pp. 243-264.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rolf Becker: GDR record champion Eva Johannes died. DNN online, December 10, 2015, accessed December 10, 2015.