Carl August von der Meden (6 December 1841 – 23 May 1911) was the first president of the

Deutscher Tennis Bund The German Tennis Federation (German: Deutscher Tennis Bund, short form: DTB) is the governing body of tennis federations and clubs in Germany. It is the largest tennis federation in the world with more than 1,800,000 members. Founded on 19 May ...

(English: German Tennis Federation) and was called the ''Father of lawn tennis in Germany''. Von der Meden was born on 6 December 1841, the son of a

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

merchant and real estate agent. For over a decade he lived in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and worked in the financial district of

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. On his way to work he passed the All England Club in Wimbledon. On 9 December 1868 he married Sophie Mathlde Eckhardt in

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

and the couple had three daughters and one son. At the latest in 1881 he returned to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. He became the first chairman of the "Uhlenhorster Eislauf-Vereins". This Hamburg club, founded in 1888, had added tennis to its activities and in 1892 organized the first German Championships. Von der Meden was the tournament director, a function which he later also fulfilled for the Bad Homburg tournament which hosted the German Championships between 1897 and 1901. In 1901 von der Meden became chairman of the ''Hamburger Tennis-Gilde'', a cooperation of Hamburg tennis clubs. On 19 May 1902 he was part of the meeting in Berlin that founded the Deutscher Lawn Tennis Bund and he was elected its first president. Von der Meden died on 23 May 1911, aged 69. The matches in the German tennis league are called the ''Medenspiele'' (English: ''Meden games'') in his honor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Von der Meden, Carl August 1841 births 1911 deaths 19th-century male tennis players German male tennis players Founders of sporting institutions Sportspeople from Hamburg History of tennis Tennis executives