28 Facts About Roderich Menzel

Roderich Menzel was born in Reichenberg in Bohemia.

Roderich Menzel chose tennis and soon became a Czechoslovak junior champion.

Roderich Menzel immediately won his first two singles in his long successful Davis Cup career, which in a history of the Czech Davis Cup team remains unsurpassed.

Roderich Menzel reached the same result in 1934, narrowly losing against von Cramm at the French Championships and, in one of the most memorable matches of all time, to Fred Perry at Wimbledon.

Roderich Menzel spent nearly one year in Bad Grafenberg where he received most of the treatments.

Vision problems and hallucinations immediately followed and Roderich Menzel lost the match.

Roderich Menzel did not pay too much attention to it until the Davis Cup final a few weeks later, when he played a crucial match of the whole series against von Cramm.

Roderich Menzel was back in 1937, but his early defeat at Wimbledon suggests that his comeback would not be that easy.

Everything was forgiven one year later, when Roderich Menzel was the men's singles runner-up at the French Open, losing in the final against Budge.

Roderich Menzel's biggest success of all time was a little bit reduced by an absence of great players such as von Cramm or Perry.

Roderich Menzel, who was born and spent his childhood in Reichenberg, now the capital of a new German state, became a German citizen.

Unlike his other colleagues in the team Roderich Menzel didn't have to go to the front, and spent the war years in the relative safety of Berlin.

Roderich Menzel had at that time an unusually tall physique, which directly predetermined him to a serve and volley style of play.

Roderich Menzel was often, as he states, in a good mood, when he was eliminated from some tournament, because he had more time to explore the surrounding beauty.

Roderich Menzel often recalled the meeting with many interesting people, such as Sheikh Mussa, King of snakes.

However, this conflict didn't prevent Roderich Menzel from going all around Australia and subsequently the entire Pacific region.

Roderich Menzel visited Hong Kong and Singapore on the way back.

Already when Roderich Menzel was at the peak of his athletic career, he contributed as a journalist to many newspapers and magazines.

Roderich Menzel's articles were not only about sport, he wrote about numerous experiences from his travels around the world.

Roderich Menzel didn't write only to the daily sports column, he composed poems and It is definitely worth noting that Roderich Menzel alternated for two years with Hermann Hesse and Karel Capek in Saturday's feuilleton column of Prager Tagblatt.

Apart from this major Prague German newspaper Roderich Menzel wrote to BZ am Mittag and Vossische Zeitung.

Roderich Menzel met there his future wife, illustrator Johanna Sengler, who gave him an idea to start writing books for children.

In 1963, Roderich Menzel won the 1st Prize in the best children's book competition, organized by the Federal Ministry for Displaced Persons, Refugees and War Victims, for his book Die Buben am Hammersee.

Roderich Menzel proved his creative talent in radio, television and theater.

Roderich Menzel's memories had fully come to life in his work from 1970's.

Roderich Menzel fully confessed his admiration for the Austro-Hungarian Empire there.

In spring 1983, Roderich Menzel was injured in an automobile accident from which he never fully recovered.

Roderich Menzel died on 17 October 1987 in hospital in Munich-Pasing, Germany, aged 80.