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 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 Moody and Suzanne Lenglen.

She became a dual-citizen after marrying a Dane, Svend Sperling, in December 1933.

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. 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 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 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 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 Italian Championships in 1935 and defeated Moody in the semifinals of the 1938 Queens Club London championships, 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. 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.

Grand Slam finals Singles (3 titles, 2 runners-up) ResultYearChampionshipSurfaceOpponentScoreLoss 1931 Wimbledon Grass Cilly Aussem 2–6, 5–7Win 1935 French Championships Clay Simonne Mathieu 6–2, 6–1Win 1936 French Championships (2) Clay Simonne Mathieu 6–3, 6–4Loss 1936 Wimbledon Grass Helen Jacobs 2–6, 6–4, 5–7Win 1937 French Championships (3) Clay Simonne Mathieu 6–2, 6–4

Doubles (0 titles, 2 runners-up) ResultYearChampionship SurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss 1935 French Championships Clay Margaret Scriven Ida Adamoff Kay Stammers 4–6, 0–6Loss 1935 Wimbledon Grass Freda James Hammersley Simonne Mathieu Kay Stammers 1–6, 4–6

Mixed doubles (1 title, 1 runner-up) ResultYearChampionship SurfacePartnerOpponentsScoreLoss 1930 Wimbledon Grass Daniel Prenn Elizabeth Ryan Jack Crawford 1–6, 3–6Win 1933 Wimbledon Grass Gottfried von Cramm Mary Heeley Norman Farquharson 7–5, 8–6

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

Tournament 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 Career SR Australian ChampionshipsAAAAAAAAAAA 0 / 0 French Championships2R3R SF SF2RA W W WAA 3 / 8 WimbledonA2R FQF SF4R SF FQF SF SF 0 / 10 U.S. ChampionshipsAAAAAAAAAAA 0 / 0 SR0 / 10 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 / 11 / 21 / 21 / 20 / 10 / 1 3 / 18

See also List of female tennis players Grand Slam women's singles champions Performance timelines for all female tennis players since 1978 who reached at least one Grand Slam final

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