Otto FROITZHEIM

Otto Froitzheim studied law at the University of Strasbourg, graduating in 1904. He won his first tennis tournament in 1902 in Alsace-Lorraine. Froitzheim was the first German to win the German International Championship in Hamburg against Major Josiah George Ritchie in 1907, and repeated his success from 1909-11, and in 1921, and 1925. He won the German doubles title in 1907, 1911, 1922, and 1925. Froitzheim won the silver medal in singles at the 1908 Olympics, but his greatest achievement was likely losing in the final at Wimbledon in 1914, taking Norman Brookes to five sets. He was world ranked #4 in 1914. Froitzheim also played Wimbledon in 1910, 1912, and 1928 – he was entered in 1908 but withdrew in the first round. He played five ties for Germany in the Davis Cup, appearing in 1913, 1914, 1927, and 1928, winning one of nine matches.

In 1914 Froitzheim, partnered by Oskar Kreuzer, was playing the second round Davis Cup match against Australasia in Pittsburgh (USA) when World War I broke out. On his return, their ship was boarded by the British off Gibraltar, and Froitzheim was taken prisoner. He was kept as a prisoner-of-war briefly in Gibraltar, and then in an English detention camp during World War I. After the war he settled in Berlin working with the police department and in 1926 he became police president of Wiesbaden. In 1933 Froitzheim refused to join the Nazi Party, and had to quit that position, but he was a friend of Hermann Göring, who admired his tennis achievements, and Froitzheim became police vice-president at Aachen. Froitzheim was notorious for his many affairs one of them being a short-lived secret engagement with ballet débutante, Leni Riefenstahl, the famous film director of the 1930s.