Count Adam Baworowski (; 9 August 1913 – 1943) was an
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
player.
Biography
Early life and family
Count Adam Baworowski descended from the Polish noble family '' Baworowski''. He was the son of Count Rudolf Baworow-Baworowski (1865–1931) and Austrian Countess Maria Chorinsky von Ledske (1876–1963), the former who was the Chamberlain of
Franz Joseph I of Austria
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I ( ; ; 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the ruler of the Grand title of the emperor of Austria, other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 1848 until his death ...
and had estates in
Lviv
Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...
and where Adam often spent his childhood years. He had three brothers and three sisters, Emil, Stefan, Rudolf, Matylda, Marya and Franciszka. He went to school in
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
and as the family spoke German at home Adam was alienated from his Polish roots in the beginning.
He started playing tennis at a very early age and started taking coaching lessons from the Van Dycków brothers. He attended the tennis club at the Prater where he had a chance to meet Georg von Metaxa, his later Davis Cup teammate and friend. In 1927, he had a victory over Henner Henkel at the Youth Games. In 1929, at the age of 13 he already defeated then-Polish champion Maximilian Stolarow. In 1931, he won the Austrian junior tennis championships as well as the international junior championships of Berlin in singles and doubles. He was ranked tenth on the Austrian rankings. The next year he was classified fifth. While in 1934 he climbed to number four on the same list. In 1935, he won the national singles and doubles championships and drew attention with back to back straight victories against famed players Franz Wilhelm Matejka and Hermann Artens to be crowned champion. Subsequently, he rose to the second place after Matejka. Later he became member of the Wiener Park Club.
International tennis career
Baworowski was first drafted into the Austrian Davis Cup troupe in 1933 only for the doubles rubber teaming with Herbert Kinzl with whom he reached the doubles finals of the
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...
tournament later that year. He played again in the Cup in 1936 along with Georg von Metaxa and reached the semifinals of the European zone. He won the Austrian Championships in the same year. He twice won the International Polish Championship of Warsaw in the doubles partnering Pat Hughes in 1933 and
Hans Redl
Hans Redl (January 19, 1914 – May 26, 1976) was an Austrian tennis player and administrator who played at the highest level despite the loss of his left arm in World War II.
Biography
Born in Vienna on January 19, 1914, he rose to become o ...
in 1937. He was twice finalist in
Budapest
Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
in 1935 and 1937. In 1937, he still held the second spot on the Austrian rankings next to von Metaxa.
In 1936, he won the
Capri
Capri ( , ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. A popular resort destination since the time of the Roman Republic, its natural beauty ...
tournament meeting Jacques Jamain in the championship match. He also won the mixed doubles with Toto Zehden. In January 1937 he lost the doubles final in Saint Moritz, playing with von Metaxa, to Frenchmen Christian Boussus and Paul Féret. In March he lost the Nice title to Kho Sin-Kie in straight sets. At the same tournament he reached the double final as well with von Metaxa. In April he clinched the Monegasque Championships by beating Marcel Bernard in a five set match. He also took the doubles title with von Metaxa defeating Daniel Prenn and Vladimir Landau. In March 1938 he was victorious at the Cannes L.T.C. tournament where he eliminated Swedish champion
Karl Schroeder
Karl Schroeder () (born September 4, 1962) is a Canadian science fiction author and a professional futurist. His novels present far-future speculations on topics such as nanotechnology, terraforming, augmented reality, and interstellar travel, ...
. Schroeder took revenge in the doubles final where he teamed up with seasoned player
Jacques Brugnon
Jacques Marie Stanislas Jean Brugnon (; 11 May 1895 – 20 March 1978), nicknamed "Toto", was a French tennis player, one of the famous "The Four Musketeers (tennis), Four Musketeers" from France who dominated tennis in the late 1920s and early ...
of the Four Musketeers to stop the Baworowski-von Metaxa duo in a five set match.
At the
French Championships
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam tennis events eve ...
, Baworowski reached the fourth round in 1937 and 1938. At Wimbledon, he lost his initial match on three occasions (1933, 1936, 1939). After the "
Anschluss
The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938.
The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...
", the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany, in March 1938, Baworowski decided to join the Polish Davis Cup team as he didn't want to lose his family's estates in Poland.
Upon arrival in Poland he gave a few interviews, condemning the "Anschluss" and the policy of the Nazi authorities. His statements were widely covered in the Western media. He joined the
Legia Warsaw
Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning a record 15 champions titles, a record 2 ...
and on 3 May 1938 he participated in a friendly match between Poland and Germany, and a few days later played in a match in a Legia Warsaw-Stockholm meeting. He quickly moved up to second place on the list of Polish Tennis Association right behind Ignacy Tłoczyński. He was victorious again in the doubles at the
Katowice
Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...
tournament partnering Tłoczyński and the duo represented Poland in the Central European Cup and claimed the trophy after beating
Yugoslavia
, common_name = Yugoslavia
, life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation
, p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia
, flag_p ...
and
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
.
The last peaceful season in 1939 kicked off well for him. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs sponsored Baworowski
French Riviera
The French Riviera, known in French as the (; , ; ), is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is considered to be the coastal area of the Alpes-Maritimes department, extending fr ...
tour and it paid off well. At
Cannes
Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...
he was only beaten in the final by
Yvon Petra
Yvon Petra (; 8 March 1916 – 12 September 1984) was a French male tennis player. He was born in Chợ Lớn, Ho Chi Minh City, Cholon, French Indochina.
Petra is best remembered as the last Frenchman to win the Wimbledon Championships men's s ...
. In
Juan-les-Pins
Juan-les-Pins (; ) is a town in the commune of Antibes in the Alpes-Maritimes department in Southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera, it is situated between Nice and Cannes, to the southwest of Nice Côte d'Azur Airport. Juan-les-Pins ...
he proved to be unstoppable and defeated Robert Abdesselam for the title and carried on this streak at
Nice
Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one millionAntoine Gentien. After this great season opener he suffered injury, which affected his Davis Cup tie against
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
and in the
French Championships
The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam tennis events eve ...
. However he was a doubles semifinalist along with Ignacy Tłoczyński at Roland Garros. Despite his bad shape he still secured the Polish National Doubles championship alongside Tłoczyński.
World War II and death
At the outbreak of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, after returning from
Monaco
Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...
with a silver medal of the 1939 International University Games Baworowski was residing in Paris where his family lived. When he heard about the outbreak of the war he was determined to join the
Polish army
The Land Forces () are the Army, land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 110,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military histor ...
although his parents begged him to stay. When he arrived to the East Railway Station of Warsaw, the German
Luftwaffe
The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...
was already bombarding the area. The passengers fled from the trains to nearby trenches. Apparently he was successfully enlisted. The next time he met his cousin Eugene Paul Baworowski in the streets of Warsaw in the first days of occupation he was about to get in touch with the Polish Resistance. As the 6 September 1939 decree issued by the Wehrmacht command pursued every Polish citizen who reached the military age to be sent to a
POW
POW is "prisoner of war", a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict.
POW or pow may also refer to:
Music
* P.O.W (Bullet for My Valentine song), "P.O.W" (Bull ...
camp the
Gestapo
The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
soon arrested and sent him to a camp. Only his ties to the Chorinsky von Ledske noble family and to the former Austrian Tennis Federation saved him from further reprisals.
In 1941, he took part in the German war championships at
Braunschweig
Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( ; from Low German , local dialect: ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
. He further represented Germany in the Danube Cup, which was a wartime substitute for the Central European Cup. Baworowski later joined the
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...
Heer. He served as a
Hauptmann
() is an officer rank in the armies of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. It is usually translated as ''captain''.
Background
While in contemporary German means 'main', it also has, and originally had, the meaning of 'head', i.e. ' literall ...
during the
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad ; see . rus, links=on, Сталинградская битва, r=Stalingradskaya bitva, p=stəlʲɪnˈɡratskəjə ˈbʲitvə. (17 July 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II, ...
. On December 21, 1942, when the Luftwaffe evacuated his troops, he ceded his place on the last flight to a heavily injured soldier and decided to stay in the trenches with his subordinates. He was hit by the Soviets in the beginning of 1943 and died in agony without receiving any medical help.
Playing style
According to Kordian Tarasiewicz, contemporary senior Polish tennis Player Baworowski was " ..was a well established tennis player on the European courts and represented a versatile offensive tyle especially had a well mastered game at the net".