German tennis player and coach
Hans
"
Hanne
"
Nusslein
(
German pronunciation:
['hans
?n?sla??n]
; 31 March 1910 ? 28 June 1991) was a German
tennis
player and coach and former World professional number 1 tennis player who won four professional
Majors
singles titles during his career.
Biography
[
edit
]
Nusslein was born in
Nuremberg
on 31 March 1910.
[3]
In his youth, he played football,
handball
and tennis at the
1. FC Nurnberg
. After finishing school he apprenticed as a mechanic. At age 16, he gave tennis lessons to other club members for which he was paid a small amount. After a member of a neighboring club reported this to the
German Tennis Federation
, Nusslein received a lifetime ban from amateur competition, preventing him from competing at
Grand Slam
tournaments.
[4]
Nusslein then decided to work as a professional tennis coach. On 1 April 1928, he passed the qualifying examination and became a member of the German federation of tennis coaches. He then was hired by the
Deutsche Bank
in order to give lessons to their executives.
[4]
Professional career
[
edit
]
- 1929
Beside his coaching work, Nusslein pursued a career on the emerging professional tennis tournaments. In 1929, he finished in third place in the concluding round robin at the German Pro tennis championships. His win was against Hermann Richter.
[5]
- 1930
In January 1930, Nusslein reached the quarter-finals of the Bristol Cup, beating Edmund Burke before losing to Robert Ramillon.
[6]
At the French Pro championships at Roland Garros, Nusslein reached the quarter-finals before losing to Roman Najuch.
[7]
He placed second in the German Pro championships to Plaa and also won his first international pro tournament:
Beaulieu-sur-Mer
on the
French Riviera
.
[4]
- 1931
In 1931, Nusslein won the
German Pro Championships
over
Roman Najuch
. He played tennis against legend
Bill Tilden
in Europe, taking him to 5 sets in Hamburg. Tilden who had never heard of Nusslein before the match ("Who is Nusslein?") was surprised by the German's performance and invited him to play in his United States pro tour.
[4]
- 1932
In 1932 Nusslein and Tilden played the World tour in the United States. Tilden won comfortably. Nusslein lost in the final of the U. S. Pro in Chicago to Karel Kozeluh in straight sets in July. "Long rallies, which frequently sent the score back to deuce, were the outstanding features of the match with Kozeluh, by reason of greater steadiness, scoring many points on these occasions. Both players showed a desire to hug the base line, with neither attempting to reach the net, save on rare occasions when a short drop shot would pull them to the forecourt. As a result the match was rather tedious."
[8]
Nusslein finished third out of four in the concluding round robin at the World Pro Championships in Berlin in September behind Martin Plaa and Bill Tilden.
[9]
- 1933
The score in the 1933 U. S. tour between Nusslein and Tilden was 56?22 in Tilden's favour. In September, Nusslein and Tilden met in the final of the
World Pro Championships
. In front of an audience of 7,000, "Nusslein was better than he seemed ... and little by little the young man began to blunt Tilden’s shot-making. With Tilden tiring, Nusslein pushed closer into court, sometimes trapping half-volleys at the service line and moving in, often behind drop shots. The German star gradually added pace and confidence, eventually dominating play and finally winning 1-6 6-4 7-5 6-3."
[2]
Touring South America in November, Nusslein won the tournament at Buenos Aires over Kozeluh
[9]
and the Facondi brothers. Ray Bowers ranked Nusslein the World No. 1 professional for 1933
[2]
and Albert Burke also ranked Nusslein World no. 1 pro.
[10]
- 1934
Nusslein won the Miami Pro in March beating Kozeluh in the final "timing his shots to perfection and stroking with lightning-like speed".
[11]
At the
US Pro
in August, Nusslein beat
Ellsworth Vines
in the semi-finals. In the final he beat
Karel Ko?eluh
. "Nusslein mixed soft slices to midcourt with stinging drives, to the corners and kept the Czech on the run throughout the match. Kozeluh's lift shots carried about half the speed that Nusslein put on his flat drives."
[12]
Nusslein won the German Pro in September.
- 1935
Nusslein won the Miami Beach Pro in February beating Kozeluh in four sets in the final.
[13]
He won the Strassbourg Pro in June over Tilden in the semis and Ramillon in the final and won the German Pro in September.
[14]
- 1936
From 1936 onwards, Nusslein spent a fair amount of his time coaching. He signed a contract with
Rot-Weiss
tennis club in
Cologne
. In the late thirties, Nusslein coached the first Grand Slam winner
Don Budge
, the
Australian Davis Cup team
as well as several German players.
[4]
Nusslein won the Southport Pro event in July beating Cochet, Plaa and Ramillon in the concluding round robin and won the German Pro in September.
[15]
- 1937
Nusslein won the King George VI Coronation Plate at Wembley in May beating Tilden in the final, the
French Pro
championships in June (over Tilden and
Henri Cochet
), the Southport Dunlop Cup in July over Ramillon in the final and the Grand Palais Pro in August winning the concluding round robin against Tilden, Ramillon and Stoefen.
[16]
He also won the Dutch Pro in Scheveningen in September beating Tilden in the final.
[17]
In October he won the
Wembley Pro
(over Tilden) "there was too little variety, neither man favouring the volley much. However, one had to marvel at the superb length kept by Nusslein".
[18]
The same month he won in Rome over Henri Cochet.
- 1938
Nusslein won a round robin in Brussels in June over Tilden, Ramillon and Plaa. Another significant professional tournament of the time was the
International Pro Championship of Britain
in Southport, which Nusslein won for the third time in a row in July, beating Tilden among others and won the German Pro in September.
[19]
The same month, he won the
French Pro
in 1938 (over Tilden). In October he won another round robin in Brussels, this time over Tilden, Ramillon and Vincent Richards and beat the same players in a round robin in Copenhagen.
[19]
- 1939
Nusslein won an eight-man round robin at Olympia in London in April. He won the event at Southport for the fourth year in a row beating Vines and Tilden in successive rounds.
[20]
- 1940-1957
In
World War II
Nusslein served in the German army. Towards the end of the war, he suffered an arm injury which affected his tennis. At the 1953
Wembley Pro Championships
, age 43, he won eight games against a 25-year-old
Pancho Gonzales
, losing 4?6, 4?6.
[21]
In 1950, he won the international tennis coaches championships at
Bad Ems
. He continued to play tournaments until 1957
[3]
and gave tennis lessons until an age of 70. His most prominent tennis pupils included
Wilhelm Bungert
,
Christian Kuhnke
,
Dieter Ecklebe
and
Wolfgang Stuck
.
[4]
- Later years
Nusslein was known for his fine groundstrokes. Tennis historian Robert Geist described his playing style: "He possessed classic strokes, equal to Hall of Famers
Rene Lacoste
,
Henri Cochet
, and
Karel Ko?eluh
, as well as excellent volleys, magnificent drop shots and breath-taking half-volleys. As consistent as
Ken Rosewall
, Nusslein was one of the best players during the 1930s."
[3]
Remaining unmarried for most of his life, at age 72, Nusslein finally married his long-time partner Anneliese. He died nine years later at
Altenkirchen
after suffering a
stroke
.
[4]
In 2006, Nusslein was inducted into the
International Tennis Hall of Fame
in
Newport, Rhode Island
.
Major finals
[
edit
]
Pro Slam tournaments
[
edit
]
Singles: 9 (5/4)
[
edit
]
Result
|
Year
|
Championship
|
Surface
|
Opponent
|
Score
|
Loss
|
1932
|
U.S. Pro
|
Clay
|
Karel Ko?eluh
|
2?6, 3?6, 5?7
|
Win
|
1933
|
World Pro
|
Clay
|
Bill Tilden
|
1?6, 6?4, 7?5, 6?3
|
Win
|
1934
|
U.S. Pro
|
Clay
|
Karel Ko?eluh
|
6?4, 6?2, 1?6, 7?5
|
Loss
|
1934
|
Wembley Pro
|
Indoor
|
Ellsworth Vines
|
6?4, 5?7, 3?6, 6?8
|
Loss
|
1935
|
French Pro
|
Clay
|
Ellsworth Vines
|
8?10, 4?6, 6?3, 1?6
|
Win
|
1937
|
French Pro
|
Clay
|
Henri Cochet
|
6?2, 8?6, 6?3
|
Win
|
1937
|
Wembley Pro
|
Indoor
|
Bill Tilden
|
6?3, 3?6, 6?3, 2?6, 6?2
|
Win
|
1938
|
French Pro
|
Clay
|
Bill Tilden
|
6?0, 6?1, 6?2
|
Loss
|
1939
|
Wembley Pro
|
Indoor
|
Don Budge
|
11?13, 6?2, 4?6
|
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Gracia, Gabriel.
"Hans Nusslein: Career match record"
.
thetennisbase.com
. Madrid, Spain: Tennismem SL
. Retrieved
22 September
2021
.
- ^
a
b
c
Bowers, Ray.
History of the Pro Tennis Wars, Chapter IV: Tilden and Nusslein, 1932-1933
,
Tennis Server: Between the Lines
.
- ^
a
b
c
Collins, Bud (2010).
The Bud Collins History of Tennis
(2nd ed.). New York: New Chapter Press. p. 621.
ISBN
9780942257700
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Deike, Reiner (2002). "Der verfemte Weltmeister". In Deutscher Tennis Bund (ed.).
Tennis in Deutschland. Von den Anfangen bis 2002
[
Tennis in Germany. From the beginnings to 2002
] (in German). Berlin: Duncker & Humblot. pp. 103?104.
ISBN
3-428-10846-9
.
- ^
"Berliner Borsenzeitung, 17 September 1929, p.6"
.
europeana.eu
.
- ^
"Tennis Sports, 23 January 1930, p.3"
.
gallica.bnf.fr
. 23 January 1930.
- ^
"La Liberte, 21 June 1930, p.5"
.
gallica.bnf.fr
. 21 June 1930.
- ^
"Chicago Tribune, 1 August 1932, p.22"
.
newspapers.com
.
- ^
a
b
McCauley, Joe (2000).
The History of Professional Tennis
. Windsor: The Short Run Book Company Limited. p. 180.
- ^
"Le Professeur Albert Burke Classe Nuesslein Premier Devant W. Tilden"
[The instructor Albert Burke ranks Nuesslein first in front of W. Tilden].
L'Auto
(in French). 22 November 1933. p. 5.
- ^
"The Miami News, 12 March 1934"
.
newspapers.com
.
- ^
"The Chicago Tribune, 27 August 1934"
.
newspapers.com
.
- ^
"The Miami News, 25 February 1935"
.
newspapers.com
.
- ^
McCauley, Joe (2000).
The History of Professional Tennis
. Windsor: The Short Run Book Company Limited. p. 182.
- ^
McCauley, Joe (2000).
The History of Professional Tennis
. Windsor: The Short Run Book Company Limited. p. 183.
- ^
McCauley, Joe (2000).
The History of Professional Tennis
. Windsor: The Short Run Book Company Limited. p. 184.
- ^
"Nieuwsblad van het Noorden, 13 September 1937"
.
delpher.nl
.
- ^
"The Guardian, 2 October 1937"
.
newspapers.com
.
- ^
a
b
McCauley, Joe (2000).
The History of Professional Tennis
. Windsor: The Short Run Book Company Limited. p. 185.
- ^
McCauley, Joe (2000).
The History of Professional Tennis
. Windsor: The Short Run Book Company Limited. pp. 185?186.
- ^
McCauley, Joe (2000).
The History of Professional Tennis
. Windsor: The Short Run Book Company Limited. p. 200.
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