Heinrich Ernst Otto "Henner" Henkel (; 9 October 1915 – 13 January 1943) was a German

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 during the 1930s. His biggest success was his singles title at the 1937 French Championships.

Biography

Henner Henkel and Gottfried von Cramm 1937

Henner was born in 1915 the son of Ferdinand and Margarete Henkel. After

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, his family moved to

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Central Germany (cultural area), Central German state of Thuringia, with a population of around 216,000. It lies in the wide valley of the Gera (river), River Gera, in the so ...

in 1919. He joined the Sportclub Erfurt (today TC Erfurt 93) together with his elder brother Ferdinand and learned to play tennis. His father moved to

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 ...

for job-related reasons, and his entire family followed in 1927. In 1929, Henkel won the club championships of the ''THC 99 Berlin''. In 1932 and 1933, he won the German junior championships. At age 15, he changed to '' Lawn-Tennis-Turnier-Club Rot-Weiß''. In singles he was defeated by

Ladislav Hecht Ladislav Hecht (; ; August 31, 1909 – May 27, 2004) was a Jewish Czechoslovak-American professional tennis player. He won the gold medal in singles at the 1932 Maccabiah Games in Mandatory Palestine, and won the 1934 Hungarian Internationa ...

in the final of the 1934 Hungarian International Tennis Championships. Henkel was the second German, after

Gottfried von Cramm Gottfried Alexander Maximilian Walter Kurt Freiherr von Cramm (; 7 July 1909 – 8 November 1976) was a German tennis player who won the French Open, French Championships twice, becoming the first non American, British, Australian or French playe ...

in 1936, to win the singles title 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 ...

in 1937. The same year, he and Gottfried von Cramm won the Roland Garros doubles title. Later that year they also won the US Championships doubles title defeating Americans

Don Budge John Donald Budge (June 13, 1915 – January 26, 2000) was an American tennis player. He is most famous as the first tennis player — male or female — to win all four Grand Slam tournaments in one year and complete the Grand Slam. Budge was ...

and

Gene Mako Constantine "Gene" Mako ( ; January 24, 1916 – June 14, 2013) was an American tennis player and art gallery owner. He was born in Budapest, Hungary. He won four Grand Slam doubles titles in the 1930s. Mako was inducted into the International T ...

in three straight sets. In March 1937, he became the singles champion at the Cairo International Championships defeating Giorgio de Stefani in the final in straight sets and also won the doubles title partnering Von Cramm. Later that year he won the singles title at the German Championships after a five-sets victory in the final over

Vivian McGrath Vivian Erzerum Bede McGrath (17 February 1916 – 9 April 1978) was a tennis champion from Australia. Along with John Bromwich, he was one of the early great players to use a two-handed backhand. His name was pronounced "McGraw". Biograph ...

. Two years later, in 1939, he again won the title after defeating Roderich Menzel in the final in four sets. Between 1934 and 1939 Henkel played 66 matches for the German

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...

team in 27 ties. He won 49 matches, lost 17 and was particularly successful in doubles, winning 16 of 20 matches partnering

Georg von Metaxa Georg Felix Ritter von Metaxa (; 7 October 1914 – 12 December 1944) was an Austrian tennis player active in the 1930s. Biography Von Metaxa was born in Vienna to a Greek father and Austrian mother. His father Stefan, a lawyer, was head of th ...

and Roderich Menzel. Henkel played his last tournament at

Bad Pyrmont Bad Pyrmont (, also: ; West Low German: ) is a town in the district of Hamelin-Pyrmont, in Lower Saxony, Germany, with a population close to 19,000. It is located on the river Emmer (Weser), Emmer, about west of the Weser. Bad Pyrmont is a popul ...

in the summer of 1942. He reached the final which he lost to Roderich Menzel. During the tournament, he had already received his draft notice. In 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, ...

, Henkel was shot in the upper leg. He died of this injury on 13 January 1943 near

Voronezh Voronezh ( ; , ) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the Southeastern Railway, which connects wes ...

. Since 1950, the German junior team championship has been called the "Große Henner Henkel-Spiele" and since 1963, a commemorative tournament named the "Henner-Henkel-Gedächtnisturnier" has been held in

Grand Slam finals

Singles (1 title)

Doubles (2 titles, 2 runners-up)

Mixed doubles (1 runner-up)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Henkel, Henner 1915 births 1943 deaths Tennis players from Poznań People from the Province of Posen French Championships (tennis) champions German Army personnel killed in World War II Deaths by firearm in the Soviet Union German male tennis players Tennis players from Berlin United States National champions (tennis) Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's singles Grand Slam (tennis) champions in men's doubles Deaths by firearm in Russia 20th-century German sportsmen