player – Tennisarchives.com

General First nameCharles Frederick
LastnameAeschlimann
GenderMale
CountrySwitzerland
Date of birth1897-02-28
Place of birthCannes, Alpes-Maritimes, France
Date of death1952-05-04
Place of deathMontreux, Switzerland

About

From Die Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 27 May 1952:

Obituary

Swiss tennis is in mourning. Two weeks ago, in a clinic in Montreux, Charles F. Aeschlimann, the biggest personality in tennis in Switzerland, died at the age of 58. Originally from Murten, Aeschlimann spent his youth in Vevey, Caux and Cannes. Like his parents, who owned several hotels on the French Riviera, he later worked in the hotel industry, earning his spurs as secretary of the Grand Hotel in Montreux, before subsequently joining his parents’ business in Cannes and managing a guesthouse in London.

Aeschlimann played many different sports, but his favourite one, and the one at which he had the greatest success, was tennis. The 24 national titles he won between 1923 and 1937 bear witness to his skill at tennis. In 1923, 1925, 1926 and 1930, he won the men’s singles title at the Swiss national championships; he also won nine national men’s doubles titles, with Charles H. Martin, H. de Blonay and Max Ellmer; and, together with Mme Monk, Mlle de Trey, Frau Fehlmann and Lolette Payot, he was national mixed doubles champions eleven times.

It goes without saying that in 1923, when Switzerland took part in the Davis Cup for the first time, Aeschlimann was a member of the team, along with Martin, Guy Sautter and Maurice Ferrier. After defeating Czechoslovakia 3-2 and Argentina 4-1, Switzerland came up short in the semi-finals against France, who won 3-2. In the latter tie, Martin defeated the future world champion Henri Cochet in five sets, while the doubles pairing of Aeschlimann and Sautter recovered from two sets to love down to win their match. In later years Aeschlimann represented Switzerland a further nine times in the Davis Cup, with much success.

During the course of his long career, Aeschlimann beat many famous players. His victims included René Lacoste and Jacques Brugnon and, on the French Riviera in the 1920s and 1930s, Aeschlimann was feared because of his game. He played an unorthodox, stylistically incongruous type of tennis, which nevertheless caused many a renowned opponent a great deal of trouble. He hit both his forehand and backhand with the same part of the racket, something which required an unusually strong wrist. And it was precisely this agile wrist which allowed him to change the course of the ball and to send it in a completely different direction, one which his opponent had not foreseen.

Aeschlimann was a real strategist among tennis players. There were many strong players around during the years in which he was at his peak, but when they had to face Aeschlimann, they failed, and they had to fail because he never gave them the chance to play their own style of tennis. Aeschlimann was much better at doubles than at singles; in the former discipline he defeated many a world class pair.

He spent most of his time abroad, but almost always attended the Swiss national championships tournament when he was not in another country, and was available to represent Switzerland in many international matches. Aeschlimann had friends in all parts of the world and visited them regularly. He particularly liked to return to Geneva, Lausanne, Montreux and Zürich, cities in which he was a member of the leading tennis clubs. Aeschlimann was a good loser and a modest winner. He was always ready with a nice gesture and gave free rein to his inborn wit at every opportunity.

Aeschlimann continued to play an important role in the development of Swiss tennis even after his retirement as an active player. I remember how, in 1937, he sent an encouraging telegram to the Swiss Davis Cup team in Brussels when things were looking very bad against Belgium half-way through the tie. The “message” had no influence on the final outcome because the Belgians were simply better, but the Swiss players Max Ellmer and Hector C. Fisher approached the task they faced on the last day much more light-heartedly because of it.

During the last six years of his life, Aeschlimann worked for the International Red Cross, whose delegate he was in Europe and, later, in the Far East. Charly Aeschlimann returned from the Far East as a sick man in order to seek a cure in Montreux where, on the centre court of the club in Territet, he had gained many a victory for his country. Now he has closed his eyes forever. The world of tennis in Switzerland will always remember the 24-time national champion with fondness.

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