Karel Koželuh
Koželuh in 1919
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| Country (sports) |
 Austria-Hungary Czechoslovakia
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|---|---|
| Born |
7 March 1895 Prague, Austria-Hungary |
| Died | 27 April 1950 (aged 55) Prague, Czechoslovakia |
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) |
| Plays | Right-handed |
| Int. Tennis HoF | 2006 (member page) |
| Singles | |
| Highest ranking | No. 1 (1930, Pro - American Lawn Tennis magazine) |
| Professional majors | |
| US Pro | W (1929, 1932, 1937) |
| French Pro | W (1925De, 1926BC, 1928BC, 1929BC, 1930, 1930BC, 1931BC, 1932BC) |
Karel Koželuh (Czech pronunciation: [ˈkàːrəl ˈkoʒɛlux], 7 March 1895 – 27 April 1950; Hungarian: Kozeluh Károly; Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈkozɛlux ˈkaːroj]) was a top Czech tennis, football, and ice hockey player of the 1920s and 1930s. Koželuh never played in the major tournaments of amateur tennis but was an all-around athlete at the highest level.
Koželuh was born in Prague, Austria-Hungary (today's Prague, Czech Republic), one of seven brothers (and two sisters). His sports career began with rugby and it was only at the age of 16 that he learned to play tennis. In 1914 he joined the strong soccer team of Sparta Prague. In later years Koželuh also played for DFC Prag (Prague) and Teplitzer FK (Teplice).
He played international football for both Austria and Czechoslovakia.
In 1925, he was a member of the Czechoslovakia ice hockey team that won the European Championship, scoring the winning goal in the final game.
The exact circumstances are unclear, but it appears that Koželuh became a professional tennis coach at a fairly young age and thereby made himself ineligible to play in any amateur tournaments. He did, however, compete in the very few professional tournaments that took place in Europe in the 1920s, contested primarily between teaching professionals. He became known in these tournaments for his speed, his endurance, and his fine groundstrokes from the baseline. He was 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 145 pounds. The American tennis player Vinnie Richards said he was "seamy-faced, cadaverous-looking and, in general, resembled a cigar-store Indian." Koželuh used the Continental grip, in which both the forehand and backhand are hit with the same grip, and preferred to play as much as 10 feet behind the baseline, returning balls endlessly to the other court, almost never advancing to the net. Seldom hitting the ball very hard, he was content to outrun and outlast his opponents in exhausting matches of attrition. He won the most prestigious of these European tournaments, the Bristol Cup, played in Beaulieu, France, 6 times.
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