Roman Najuch (15 February 1893 – 1967) was a professional

tennis 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 ...

player and teacher based in

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 was born in a location of today's

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

belonging to the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

at that time. His family moved to Germany, caused by revolutions and wars, and settled in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. One of his first teachers was Georg Kerr who left Germany in 1910. Later he got German

citizenship Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

. He took part in the first

German Pro Championships The German Pro Championships was a major professional men's tennis tournament. There were similar competitions in other countries, and also the World Pro Championships. After 1945 other names were used like ''German International'' in 1951 and '' ...

1911, still with Russian citizenship, and reached the final, but the winner was

Karel Koželuh Karel Koželuh (; hu, Kozeluh Károly ; 7 March 1895 – 27 April 1950) was a Czech tennis, association football, and ice hockey player of the 1920s and 1930s. Koželuh became a European ice hockey champion in 1925 and was one of the top-ranked ...

. He won the German Championships in 1913 and 1914. He was teaching at the LTTC

Rot-Weiss Tennis Club The Lawn-Tennis-Turnier-Club "Rot-Weiß" (abbr.: LTTC, ''red-white'') is a tennis club located in Grunewald, part of a district in Berlin, Germany. The club was founded in 1897 as ''Lawn Tennis Turnier Club'', and was the origin for careers of ma ...

in Berlin. In October 1925 he became German Champion for the seventh time. In 1928 and 1929 he won German Pro Championships. He was defeated in 1931 by his student

Hans Nüsslein Hans "Hanne" Nüsslein (; 31 March 1910 – 28 June 1991) was a German tennis player and coach and former World professional number 1 tennis player who won four professional Majors singles titles during his career. Biography Nüsslein was bo ...

after getting the title for eleven times. With Hans Nüsslein, who was 17 years younger, he played in the doubles event. Najuch was the coach of Poland's Davis Cup team and became president of the International Pro Tennis Federation. His life career was presented on German TV in the series ''Wie ich angefangen habe'' (1957–1958). Marshall Jon Fisher called him "one of the world's best players at the time" around the year 1925.Marshall Jon Fisher
''A Terrible Splendor: Three Extraordinary Men, a World Poised for War, and the Greatest Tennis MatchEver Played''
Crown/Archetype 2009. p. 56

References

External links

* Ray Bowers

* Ray Bowers

* Ray Bowers

around 1934 * Obituary
Berliner Tennis-Blatt, Heft 1, Jahrgang 1968, page 16
(deutsch) {{DEFAULTSORT:Najuch, Roman Professional tennis players before the Open Era 1893 births 1967 deaths Polish male tennis players Tennis players from Berlin Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Germany