Paula von Reznicek (née ''Heimann''; 17 October 1895 – 12 October 1976), was a German tennis player, journalist and author. Paula Von Reznicek was born on 17 October 1895 in Breslau, daughter of banker Georg Heimann and Valesca (Vally) Molinari. She competed at the

Wimbledon Championships The Wimbledon Championships, commonly called Wimbledon, is a tennis tournament organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Association annually in Wimbledon, London. It is chronologically the ...

in 1927 and 1928. Her best result in singles was reaching the second round in 1928 where she was defeated by fifth-seeded

Kea Bouman Cornelia "Kea" Tiedemann-Bouman (23 November 1903 – 17 November 1998) was a female tennis player from the Netherlands. She won the singles title at the 1927 French Championships, beating Irene Bowder Peacock of South Africa in the final. Bouma ...

. In 1928 the mother of fellow tennis player

Cilly Aussem Cilly Aussem (; 4 January 1909 – 22 March 1963) was a German tennis player. She was the first German, male or female, to win the singles title at Wimbledon, which she did in 1931. She also won the women's single titles at the French Champions ...

claimed that Von Reznicek had twice defeated her daughter by using hypnotism, which led to an altercation and a lawsuit in which Von Reznicek filed charges of 'defamation of character' and Aussem's mother charged her with 'insulting assault'. Von Reznicek won the singles title at the 1929 German Championships, held in Hamburg, after defeating Violet Chamberlain in the final in three sets. Von Reznicek won the singles title at the

South of France Championships The South of France Championships its original name or Championnats du Sud de la France also known as the Championships of the South of France and the Championship of Southern France was a tennis event held from 1895 through 1971 it was originall ...

in 1928 and 1929, defeating Cilly Aussem and

Phyllis Covell Phyllis Lindrea Covell ( Howkins. 22 May 1895 – 28 October 1982) was a female tennis player from Great Britain. She is best remembered for her silver medal at the Paris Olympics of 1924 in the women's doubles event partnering with Kitty McK ...

in the respective finals. The following year, 1930, she became the singles champion at the

French Covered Court Championships The French Covered Court Championships its original name or Championnats de France sur Court Couvert also known as the French Covered Court Open Championships and the French Indoors was a tennis event held from 1895 through 1971 in Paris, Fra ...

after a win in the final against

Marguerite Bordes Marguerite may refer to: People * Marguerite (given name), including a list of people with the name Places *Marguerite, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community *Marguerite Bay, Antarctic Peninsula * Marguerite Island, Adélie Land, Antarctica ...

. She was ranked No. 8 in the world in 1929 by

A. Wallis Myers Arthur Wallis Myers (24 July 1878 – 17 June 1939) was an English tennis correspondent, editor, author and player. He was one of the leading tennis journalists of the first half of the 20th century. Family life Myers was son of the Rev. Joh ...

of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' and that same year was the No. 1 ranked player in Germany. From 1928 onward she wrote several books including a biography of tennis player

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 ...

, published in 1949. She was a contributor to the illustrated magazine ''

Die Dame ''Die Dame'' (English: The Lady) was the first illustrated magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textua ...

'' (English: The Lady).

Personal life

In 1925 she married sportsjournalist Burghard Freiherr von Reznicek whom she divorced in 1931. In 1932 she married German racing driver

Hans Stuck Hans Erich Karl Josef Stuck (; sometimes called Hans Stuck von Villiez; 27 December 1900 – 9 February 1978) was a German motor racing driver. Both his son Hans-Joachim Stuck (born 1951) and his grandsons Johannes and Ferdinand Stuck became ...

with whom she had gone on a sports tour of South America and the United States in early 1932. They were divorced in 1948. Von Reznicek died on 12 October 1976, aged 80, in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reznicek von, Paula 1895 births 1976 deaths German female tennis players 20th-century German women writers Tennis players from Wrocław