View source for Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling

{{Short description|German-Danish tennis player}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{Infobox tennis biography
| name                  = Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling
| image                 = Cochet, Whittingstall, Krahwinkel, von Cramm, 1932 French Championships.jpg
| alt                   =
| caption               = [[Henri Cochet]], [[Eileen Bennett Whittingstall]], Hilde Krahwinkel and [[Gottfried von Cramm]], Roland Garros 1932
| fullname              =
| country_represented   = {{flagicon|GER}} Germany<br />{{flagicon|DEN}} Denmark
| residence             =
| birth_date            = {{birth date|1908|03|26|df=yes}}
| birth_place           = [[Essen]], Germany
| death_date            = {{death date and age|df=yes|1981|03|07|1908|03|26}}
| death_place           = [[Helsingborg]], Sweden
| height                =
| college               =
| turnedpro             =
| retired               =
| plays                 = Right-handed
| careerprizemoney      =
| tennishofyear         = 2013
| tennishofid           = hilde-krahwinkel-sperling
| singlesrecord         =331-41 (89.0%)
| singlestitles         =90
| highestsinglesranking = [[World number 1 ranked female tennis players|No. '''1''']] (1936<small>, Ned Potter</small>)
| currentsinglesranking =
| AustralianOpenresult  =
| FrenchOpenresult       = '''W''' ([[1935 French Championships – Women's singles|1935]], [[1936 French Championships – Women's singles|1936]], [[1937 French Championships – Women's singles|1937]])
| Wimbledonresult        = F ([[1931 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|1931]], [[1936 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|1936]])
| USOpenresult           =
| Othertournaments       = <!-- adds a "Other tournaments" title -->
| WHCCresult             =
| WCCCresult             =
| MastersCupresult       =
| Olympicsresult         =
| Promajors              = <!-- adds a "Professional majors" title -->
| USProresult            =
| WembleyProresult       =
| FrenchProresult        =
| TOCresult              =
| doublesrecord          =
| doublestitles          =
| highestdoublesranking  =
| currentdoublesranking  =
| AustralianOpenDoublesresult =
| FrenchOpenDoublesresult = F (1935)
| WimbledonDoublesresult = F (1935)
| USOpenDoublesresult       =
| OthertournamentsDoubles   = <!-- adds a "Other doubles tournaments" title -->
| WHCCDoublesresult         =
| WCCCDoublesresult         =
| MastersCupDoublesresult   =
| OlympicsDoublesresult     =
| Mixed                     = <!-- adds mixed information-->
| mixedrecord               =
| mixedtitles               =
| AustralianOpenMixedresult =
| FrenchOpenMixedresult     = 2R (1929, 1930)
| WimbledonMixedresult      = '''W''' ([[1933 Wimbledon Championships – Mixed doubles|1933]])
| USOpenMixedresult         =
| OthertournamentsMixedDoubles =
| WHCCMixedDoublesresult    =
| WCCCMixedDoublesresult    =
| OlympicMixedDoublesresult =
| Team                     = <!-- adds team information-->
| DavisCupresult         =
| FedCupresult           =
| HopmanCupresult        =
| WightmanCupresult      =
| medaltemplates            =
| medaltemplates-expand     =
}}

'''Hildegard Krahwinkel Sperling''' (née '''Krahwinkel'''; 26 March 1908 – 7 March 1981) was a German-Danish [[tennis]] player. She won three consecutive singles titles at the [[French Open|French Championships]] from 1935 to 1937. Krahwinkel Sperling is generally regarded as the second-greatest female German tennis player in history, behind [[Steffi Graf]]. Sperling played a counterpunching game, predicated on speed, and wore down opponents. [[Helen Jacobs]] once wrote that Sperling was the third-best player she ever played, behind [[Helen Wills|Helen Wills Moody]] and [[Suzanne Lenglen]].

She became a dual-citizen after marrying a Dane, Svend Sperling, in December 1933.{{efn|name=danish|After the marriage she represented Denmark, according to the Danish tennis federation in 2015,<ref name=denfri>{{cite web|title=Franskmænd anerkender ikke dansk Grand Slam-vinder|url=https://www.denfri.dk/2011/09/franskmaend-anerkender-ikke-dansk-grand-slam-vinder/|publisher=Den Fri|access-date=23 July 2015|language=da|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160729183232/https://www.denfri.dk/2011/09/franskmaend-anerkender-ikke-dansk-grand-slam-vinder/|archive-date=29 July 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> but to others, including the French Championships and Tennis Hall of Fame there was never a mid-career switch and she remained a German athlete.<ref name="thof">{{cite web | url=https://www.tennisfame.com/hall-of-famers/inductees/hilde-krahwinkel-sperling/ | title=Tennis Hall of Fame bio | publisher=[[International Tennis Hall of Fame]] | access-date=16 September 2015}}</ref> She declared in January 1934, shortly after her marriage, that she would be representing Denmark and had become a member of the Hellerup Idrætsklub.<ref>{{cite news|title=Hilde Krahwinkel komt uit voor Denemarken|url=http://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=ddd:010015159:mpeg21:a0253|work=Het Vaderland|date=16 January 1924|page=3 (Avondblad)|language=nl|via=[[Delpher]]}}</ref>}}<ref>{{cite book |author=Collins, Bud |title=The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book |publisher=New Chapter Press |location=New York, N.Y |year=2008 |page=688 |isbn=978-0-942257-41-0 }}</ref>

==Career==

According to [[A. Wallis Myers]] and [[John Olliff]] of ''The Daily Telegraph'' and the ''Daily Mail'', Sperling was ranked in the world top 10 from 1930 through 1939 (no rankings issued from 1940 through 1945), reaching a career high of world no. 2 in these rankings in 1936.<ref>{{cite book |author=Collins, Bud |title=The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book |publisher=New Chapter Press |location=New York, N.Y |year=2008 |pages=695, 701–2 |isbn=978-0-942257-41-0 }}</ref> However, according to Ned Potter of ''[[American Lawn Tennis]]'', Sperling was the top-ranked player for 1936.

From 1935 through 1937, Sperling won three consecutive singles titles at the [[French Open|French Championships]]. She is one of only five women in history to do so. The others are Moody (1928–1930), [[Monica Seles]] (1990–1992), [[Justine Henin]] (2005–2007) and [[Iga Świątek]] (2022–2024).

Sperling's only loss on a clay court from 1935 through 1939 was to [[Simonne Mathieu]] at a tournament in Beaulieu, France in 1937. The score was 7–5, 6–1, and the two sets took 2 hours and 45 minutes to play. Two games lasted an hour. It was Mathieu's only victory versus Sperling in over 20 career matches.

Sperling twice reached the singles final at [[The Championships, Wimbledon|Wimbledon]] but never won the title. In 1931, she lost to her compatriot [[Cilly Aussem]]. In 1936, she lost to Jacobs. However, Sperling won the mixed doubles title that year, playing with [[Gottfried von Cramm]].

From 1933 through 1939, Sperling won the singles title at the [[German Open (WTA)|German Championships]] six consecutive times (the tournament was not held in 1936 because of the [[Berlin Olympics]]). This record stood for five decades until Graf won the tournament nine times (but not more than four consecutively). Sperling also won the singles title at the [[Rome Masters|Italian Championships]] in 1935 and defeated Moody in the semifinals of the 1938 Queens Club London championships,<ref>{{cite book |author=Collins, Bud |title=The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book |publisher=New Chapter Press |location=New York, N.Y |year=2008 |page=63 |isbn=978-0-942257-41-0 }}</ref> just before Moody won her eighth Wimbledon singles title. Sperling's last international singles title was at the 1950 Scandinavian Covered Courts Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark when she was age 41. Sperling won several championships in Denmark while that country was occupied by Germany during World War II. Sperling never entered the [[U.S. Open (tennis)|U.S. Championships]] because of scheduling conflicts with the German Championships.

In recognition of her winning the French Championships three times, being a Wimbledon finalist twice, reaching the semifinals of the French Championships and Wimbledon an additional six times, and being ranked in the top 10 for 10 consecutive years, Sperling was inducted into the [[International Tennis Hall of Fame]] in 2013.<ref name="thof" />

==Grand Slam finals==
===Singles (3 titles, 2 runners-up)===
{| class='sortable wikitable' 
!style="width:40px"|Result
!style="width:30px"|Year
!style="width:180px"|Championship
!style="width:50px"|Surface
!style="width:180px"|Opponent
!style="width:100px" class="unsortable"|Score
|-
| style="background:#ffa07a;"|Loss || 1931 || style="background:#cfc;"|[[Wimbledon Championships|Wimbledon]] || Grass || {{flagicon|GER|1931}} [[Cilly Aussem]] || 2–6, 5–7
|-
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win ||1935 || style="background:#ebc2af;"|[[French Open|French Championships]] || Clay || {{flagicon|FRA}} [[Simonne Mathieu]] || 6–2, 6–1
|-
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win ||1936 || style="background:#ebc2af;"|French Championships <small>(2)</small> || Clay || {{flagicon|FRA}} Simonne Mathieu || 6–3, 6–4
|-
| style="background:#ffa07a;"|Loss || 1936 || style="background:#cfc;"|Wimbledon || Grass || {{flagicon|USA|1912}} [[Helen Jacobs]] || 2–6, 6–4, 5–7
|-
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win ||1937 || style="background:#ebc2af;"|French Championships <small>(3)</small> || Clay || {{flagicon|FRA}} Simonne Mathieu || 6–2, 6–4
|}

===Doubles (0 titles, 2 runners-up)===
{|class="sortable wikitable" 
!style="width:40px"|Result
!style="width:30px"|Year
!style="width:180px"|Championship 
!style="width:50px"|Surface
!style="width:180px"|Partner
!style="width:180px"|Opponents
!style="width:80px" class="unsortable"|Score
|-
| style="background:#ffa07a;"|Loss || [[1935 French Championships (tennis)|1935]] || style="background:#ebc2af;"|[[French Championships]] ||  Clay || {{flagicon|GBR}} [[Margaret Scriven]] ||{{flagicon|FRA}} [[Ida Adamoff]]<br />{{flagicon|GBR}} [[Kay Stammers]] || 4–6, 0–6
|-
| style="background:#ffa07a;"|Loss || [[1935 Wimbledon Championships|1935]] || style="background:#cfc;"|[[Wimbledon Championships|Wimbledon]] ||  Grass || {{flagicon|USA}} [[Freda James|Freda James Hammersley]] ||{{flagicon|FRA}} [[Simonne Mathieu]]<br />{{flagicon|GBR}} [[Kay Stammers]] || 1–6, 4–6
|-style="background:#cfc;"
|}

===Mixed doubles (1 title, 1 runner-up)===
{|class="sortable wikitable" 
!style="width:40px"|Result
!style="width:30px"|Year
!style="width:180px"|Championship 
!style="width:50px"|Surface
!style="width:180px"|Partner
!style="width:180px"|Opponents
!style="width:80px" class="unsortable"|Score
|-
| style="background:#ffa07a;"|Loss || [[1930 Wimbledon Championships|1930]] || style="background:#cfc;"|[[Wimbledon Championships|Wimbledon]] || Grass ||  {{flagicon|GER|Weimar}} [[Daniel Prenn]] ||{{flagicon|USA|1912}} [[Elizabeth Ryan]]<br />{{flagicon|AUS}} [[Jack Crawford (tennis)|Jack Crawford]] || 1–6, 3–6
|-
| style="background:#98fb98;"|Win || [[1933 Wimbledon Championships|1933]] || style="background:#cfc;"|Wimbledon ||  Grass || {{flagicon|GER|1933}} [[Gottfried von Cramm]] ||{{flagicon|GBR}} [[Mary Heeley]]<br />{{flagicon|RSA|1928}} [[Norman Farquharson]] || 7–5, 8–6
|-style="background:#cfc;"
|}

==Grand Slam singles tournament timeline==
{{Performance key|short=yes|active=no}}
{|class="wikitable"
! Tournament !! 1929 !! 1930 !! 1931 !! 1932 !! 1933 !! 1934 !! 1935 !! 1936 !! 1937 !! 1938 !! 1939 !! Career SR
|-
| style="background:#EFEFEF;" | [[Australian Open|Australian Championships]]
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" style="background:#EFEFEF;" | '''0 / 0'''
|-
| style="background:#EFEFEF;" | [[French Open (tennis)|French Championships]]
| align="center" style="background:#afeeee;"|[[1929 French Championships – Women's singles|2R]]
| align="center" style="background:#afeeee;"|[[1930 French Championships – Women's singles|3R]]
| align="center" style="background:yellow;" | [[1931 French Championships – Women's singles|SF]]
| align="center" style="background:yellow;" | [[1932 French Championships – Women's singles|SF]]
| align="center" style="background:#afeeee;"|[[1933 French Championships – Women's singles|2R]]
| align="center" |A
| align="center" style="background:#00ff00;" | '''[[1935 French Championships – Women's singles|W]]'''
| align="center" style="background:#00ff00;" | '''[[1936 French Championships – Women's singles|W]]'''
| align="center" style="background:#00ff00;" | '''[[1937 French Championships – Women's singles|W]]'''
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" style="background:#EFEFEF;" | '''3 / 8'''
|-
| style="background:#EFEFEF;" | [[The Championships, Wimbledon|Wimbledon]]
| align="center" |A
| align="center" style="background:#afeeee;"|[[1930 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|2R]]
| align="center" style="background:#D8BFD8;" | [[1931 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|F]]
| align="center" style="background:#ffebcd;"|[[1932 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|QF]]
| align="center" style="background:yellow;" | [[1933 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|SF]]
| align="center" style="background:#afeeee;"|[[1934 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|4R]]
| align="center" style="background:yellow;" | [[1935 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|SF]]
| align="center" style="background:#D8BFD8;" | [[1936 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|F]]
| align="center" style="background:#ffebcd;"|[[1937 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|QF]]
| align="center" style="background:yellow;" | [[1938 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|SF]]
| align="center" style="background:yellow;" | [[1939 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|SF]]
| align="center" style="background:#EFEFEF;" | '''0 / 10'''
|-
| style="background:#EFEFEF;" | [[U.S. Open (tennis)|U.S. Championships]]
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" |A
| align="center" style="background:#EFEFEF;" | '''0 / 0'''
|-
| style="background:#EFEFEF;" | SR
| align="center" style="background:#EFEFEF;" |0 / 1
| align="center" style="background:#EFEFEF;" |0 / 2
| align="center" style="background:#EFEFEF;" |0 / 2
| align="center" style="background:#EFEFEF;" |0 / 2
| align="center" style="background:#EFEFEF;" |0 / 2
| align="center" style="background:#EFEFEF;" |0 / 1
| align="center" style="background:#EFEFEF;" |1 / 2
| align="center" style="background:#EFEFEF;" |1 / 2
| align="center" style="background:#EFEFEF;" |1 / 2
| align="center" style="background:#EFEFEF;" |0 / 1
| align="center" style="background:#EFEFEF;" |0 / 1
| align="center" style="background:#EFEFEF;" | '''3 / 18'''
|}

==See also==
*[[List of female tennis players]]
*[[Grand Slam women's singles champions]]
*[[Tennis performance timeline comparison (women)|Performance timelines for all female tennis players who reached at least one Grand Slam final]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Tennis Hall of Fame}}

{{French Open women's singles champions}}
{{Wimbledon mixed doubles champions}}
{{International Tennis Hall of Fame members}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sperling, Hilde Krahwinkel}}
[[Category:1908 births]]
[[Category:1981 deaths]]
[[Category:International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:Tennis players from Essen]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from the Rhine Province]]
[[Category:German emigrants to Denmark]]
[[Category:German female tennis players]]
[[Category:French Championships (tennis) champions]]
[[Category:Wimbledon champions (pre-Open Era)]]
[[Category:Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's singles]]
[[Category:Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles]]
[[Category:World number 1 ranked female tennis players]]
[[Category:20th-century German sportswomen]]