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

tennis player Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cove ...

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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Biography

Born in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

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 is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. After the annexation of Austria by the German Reich in 1938, Redl was conscripted into the German army and was sent to the Eastern Front. During the

Siege of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (later ren ...

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 * ...

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. 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 top-ranking amateur and professional tennis player. He won a record 23 Majors in singles, including eight Grand Slam singles titles and, before the Open Era, a record ...

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 Sportspeople from Vienna Austrian amputees Austrian disabled sportspeople Austrian military personnel of World War II