A Terrible Splendor: Three Extraordinary Men, a World Poised for War, and the Greatest Tennis Match Ever Played Book

As I write this review, having only just finished the book, I must confess to a decidedly mixed reaction. The story of the 1937 Davis Cup match between American Don Budge and the German aristocrat Baron Gottfried von Cramm is certainly a compelling one. Indeed, the reportage of the actual championship match between Budge and von Cramm is gripping entertainment, replete with colorful quotations and a fine sense of pacing. However, the author too often falls into the biographer's trap of regurgitating facts and figures, miring an otherwise solid narrative in the minutiae of statistics; in this case a myriad of names, dates and scores read and forgotten almost simultaneously. [I should note that readers with a real love of tennis are bound to enjoy this much more than I did:].
Along for the ride is "Big" Bill Tilden (still the greatest tennis champion of all-time), who served as coach to the German team. The author devotes ample space to the formative years of each man. However, some men are simply more interesting than others. Tilden was a bigger-than-life sports figure, as famous in his day as Babe Ruth, who was twice sent to prison for having sexual relations with underage young men. The Baron was one of the most dashing and handsome young men to ever play the game of tennis, but a known homosexual who's every move was watched and recorded by the Nazis. He was convicted of violating the infamous "Paragraph 175" and sent to prison; he was subsequently conscripted into the German army, and secretly served the resistance fighters. In later life he was briefly married to heiress Barbara Hutton. By comparison, Budge is simply, bluntly, boring.
There is quite a bit to recommend A Terrible Splendor, not the least of which is the amount of hidden LGBT history presented. Still, on the whole I was left with an unquenched thirst for more of von Cramm's story; what a great character, and what a movie his life would make.