We have often read or heard in the sports reports describing an event as "the match of the life". Most of the time these are useless and annoying rhetorical excesses. But who really played the match of his life in the summer of 1937 at Wimbledon was Gottfried von Cramm, when he lost against the American Don Budge in the decisive singles match of the Germany-United States Davis Cup final. Thus going from Hitler's phone call, received in the locker room before taking the field to arrest and sentence to hard labor for homosexuality. We owe Piero Marchiani, a former second-class tennis player, and tennis master and above all his history, the beautiful book "The Baron of Tennis", the story of a dramatic story, developed with grace, finesse and simplicity of writing, which marked the life not only tennis by Baron von Cramm.
And since this is tennis (the one that was still played with long pants) let's get to that match. Davis Cup Final. Germany and the United States are on 2 all. The whole single will decide between the two number 1s: the American Don Budge and Von Cramm. A few weeks earlier they had already met right in the final of the Wimbledon tournament and the American won. But the Davis Cup is up for grabs here. You play for the nation. And the Baron is well prepared. The non-playing captain of the Germans is the American Tillden, coach of Gottfried and also in the odor of homosexuality. But the Nazi leaders at the helm of the German federation have decided, for the time being, to overlook it and are betting everything (as already happened at the Berlin Olympics) on the need to show everyone the Aryan superiority of the Germans even in sport.
We talked about Hitler's phone call in the locker room. He goes to the field. Gottfried plays his best and wins the first two sets. But the American takes advantage of a physical drop from the Baron and takes it up 2 to 2. Fifth set. Von Cramm has recovered and goes on 4 to 1. At this point Budge plays all out. He comes back and in the end wins one of the most beautiful matches in the history of tennis by 8 to 6. The audience applauds. The two protagonists embrace in the center of the field as can two great athletes who know how much sport feeds on mutual esteem.
The scene shifts to a week later in Berlin. Von Cramm received an invitation to an award ceremony for the best athletes in the Reich. He begins to suspect something when he arrives at the hotel. And in fact it is a trap: he is arrested while he is at the barber's and tried and convicted "for manifest homosexuality". They have to do hard labor.
Marchiani also tells us about a dramatic encounter with Goering by Frau Jutta, in which Gottfried's mother stands up to the Nazi hierarch by reminding him that, according to rumors circulating, he too is impotent, commenting: "It's certainly not his fault". Goering replies: "His son is homosexual and has offended the Fuhrer". Meanwhile, the world of tennis has mobilized. Budge has collected signatures from the most prestigious tennis players in the world. And King Gustav of Sweden, a personal friend of Gottfried and a great tennis enthusiast, also took the field in defense of the baron. In May 1939 pardon arrives from the German Ministry of Justice. But von Cramm was left with the shame of the sentence and the demotion from captain to private. A sentence to which the managers of the Wimbledon tournament attacked to deny him the registration, to him, who returning to competitive activity had immediately won and dominated the Queen tournament.
Very beautiful is also the first part of Marchiani's book which describes the tennis world of the time from the tournaments of the Côte d'Azur to the Italian ones preparatory to the Foro Italico tournament. Ample prominence is then given to my city with the story of Von Cramm who divides himself between Naples and Capri in a veritable parade of the history of Italian tennis: from Prince D'Avalos, a Neapolitan who was champion of Italy to Valentino Taroni and George De Stefanis.
The book published by "Edizioni Progetto Cultura" is currently being presented in various tennis clubs throughout Italy. It would be desirable to talk about it also on the occasion of the next tennis internationals at the Foro Italico. Perhaps it would be an incentive for the author of "The Baron of Tennis" to start dedicating himself again to the history and chronicles of our tennis. Which, after all, they deserve it.
