Gottfried von Cramm

Baron Gottfried von Cramm (July 7, 1909, Nettlingen, Hanover, Germany — November 8, 1976, Cairo, Egypt) was a great German tennis player of the 1930s. At any other time he might have been the World No. 1 player, but he had the misfortune to be the contemporary of four other great players, Ellsworth Vines, Jack Crawford, Fred Perry, and Don Budge, all whom claimed that role throughout the 30s. He was a homosexual who was persecuted by the Nazis because of his orientation but survived both the Nazis and service on the Russian front during World War II—only to be killed in a car accident in Egypt many years later. He was married twice, the second time to an American heiress and socialite, Barbara Hutton.