September 17, 2003

ANOTHER AMBIGUOUS HERO

I guess I'd known that the German nobleman Baron Gottfried von Cramm's greatest moment came in his epic match against Don Budge in the 1938 Davis Cup, and I remember reading about Budge's great comeback from 1-4 in the final set to win 8-6, 7-5, 4-6, 2-6, 8-6...

I hadn't known that:
- von Cramm was an ardent anti-Nazi
- That the Gestapo imprisoned him after he lost
- That he was a hero on the Russian front and survived the war
- That, aged 40, he managed to win the German national title in 1948 and 1949

Somewhere there's an excellent graphic arts poster based on the match. Gotta dig that up. Here he is at Wimbledon in 1951...

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