Hans Redl (January 19, 1914 – May 26, 1976) was an Austrian

tennis player 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 ...

and administrator who played at the highest level despite the loss of his left arm in

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 ...

Biography

Born 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. ...

on January 19, 1914, he rose to become one of Austria's best tennis players in the late 1930s. He made his debut in the Austrian Davis Cup team in 1937, scoring his country's only point in their 3–1 defeat by

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 ...

. After the annexation of Austria by the German Reich in 1938, Redl was

conscripted Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it contin ...

into the German army and was sent to the Eastern Front. During the Siege of Stalingrad he was badly wounded and had his left arm amputated at the shoulder. After rehabilitation from his injury, he developed an adjusted serving technique to allow him to continue playing; instead of throwing the ball up with his free hand, he would rest the ball on the racquet face, flipping it in the air before serving as normal. Although this was against the rules, he was given special dispensation because of his handicap. Redl was invited to compete at

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

in 1947, and made ten consecutive appearances at The Championships, winning eight matches in singles. His best result was in his debut year, when he reached the fourth round before being defeated by eighth seed and future champion

Bob Falkenburg Robert Falkenburg (January 29, 1926 – January 6, 2022) was a Brazilian-American amateur tennis player and entrepreneur. He is best known for winning the Men's Singles at the 1948 Wimbledon Championships and introducing soft ice cream and Amer ...

. In the doubles, he and partner Freddie Huber reached the quarter-finals in 1953, taking a set off eventual champions

Lew Hoad Lewis Alan Hoad (23 November 1934 – 3 July 1994) was an Australian tennis player whose career ran from 1950 to 1973. Hoad won four Major singles tournaments as an amateur (the Australian Championships, French Championships and two Wimbledons ...

and

Ken Rosewall Kenneth Robert Rosewall (born 2 November 1934) is an Australian former World number one male tennis player rankings, world No. 1 professional tennis player. Rosewall won 147 singles titles, including 23 majors: a record 15 Major professional te ...

before the Australians triumphed. After his retirement, Redl continued to play seniors tennis as late as 1968. He also became an administrator, eventually serving as President of the Austrian Tennis Federation. He died in Vienna in 1976.

Performance timeline

Sources:

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Redl, Hans 1914 births 1976 deaths Austrian male tennis players Tennis players from Vienna Austrian amputees Austrian disabled sportspeople Austrian military personnel of World War II 20th-century Austrian sportsmen