Cäcilia Edith Aussem, called Cilly, was the first German to win the Tennis Singles at Wimbledon. She played another German, Hilde Krahwinkel, in the final in 1931 and beat her 6-2, 7-5.
The next German woman to win the Wimbledon Singles was Steffi Graf in 1988, and then Angelique Kerber in 2018.
Early years
Cilly was born on January 4, 1909 into a wealthy merchant family in Cologne, attended a boarding school in Geneva for several years, and started playing tennis at 14, being ‘pushed’ into it by her ambitious mother.
She was a natural and won some junior championships. While she had some nice wins and started being noticed in 1926 and 1927, she suffered a performance low in 1928, recovered briefly by the end of the summer, but had to get treatment for an eye condition which turned worse over the course of her life and left her basically blind by the time she died.
Rise to the top
1929 started well for Cilly but health problems caused her to end the season early. In 1930, she met American tennis legend Bill Tilden who started to train her. Soon she was winning Singles titles as well as Mixed Doubles with Tilden. By the end of the year, she was ranked No 2 in the world.
Wimbledon 1931
1931 was another successful year for Aussem. After winning the French Open, she also won Wimbledon as the first German against another German, Hilde Krahwinkel. Apparently, the final was a pretty dull game. It also needs to be said that the No 1 in the world, American Helen Wills, was injured and didn’t take part.
Konrad Adenauer, then mayor of Cologne, sent her a congratulatory telegram.
South America
Later in the year, Aussem and friend and tennis player Irmgard Rost went on tour in South America. During that time, Aussem either had an inflamed liver or an infection of the appendix. Either way, she didn’t recover fully from these health issues and in 1935 she retired from tennis.
After retiring
In 1936, she married the Italian diplomat Earl Fermo Murari Dalla Corte Brà and became Gräfin Cäcilia Edith Murari Dalla Corte Brà. The couple moved to Mombasa, Kenya where Aussem contracted Malaria which was never fully cured. She spent her last decades on her husband’s estate at Lake Garda and later in Portofino, Italy. Aussem died after a liver operation on March 22, 1963.
Fun Facts
The Tennis Team Championships for Junior are named after her, Cilly-Aussem-Spiele.
In 1988, the German Post Office issued a stamp with her picture. It was part of the series “Women in German History” and worth 20 Pfennig.
In 2008, she was inducted into the Hall of Fames of German Sports.
