player – Tennisarchives.com

General First nameGeorg Theodor Woldemar
LastnameDemasius
GenderMale
CountryGermany
Date of birth1898-07-27
Place of birthRiga, Russia
Date of death1969-00-00
Place of deathJohannesburg, South Africa

About

Georg Demasius was born into an ancient German family as a subject of the Russian Tsar. As an adolescent he witnessed the bitter years of the Great War, which resulted in the capture of Riga by the German Army in September 1917 and the independence of Latvia in November 1918. In early 1919, Demasius joined the Volunteer Territorial Army, which defended the Baltic States against the Soviet Red Army. After the death of his father in the same year he emigrated to Berlin as part of a German resettlement program.

In 1920, Demasius made his debut on the German tennis scene, representing the clubs TC Borussia Berlin and later the Berliner Schlittschuh-Club. He developed into one of the best players and featured in the German singles rankings from 1922-1927 (1922:11, 1923:7, 1924:6, 1925:9, 1926:9, 1927:4).

George Demasius notably won the men’s doubles (with Anton Tomlin) at the German Covered Court Championships in 1924; the German Club Championships (with the Berliner Schlittschuh-Club), also in 1924; and the mixed doubles title at the German Covered Court Championships in 1925 and 1927. His name can also be found on the list of the singles champions at the Bavarian Championships, held in Munich (in 1926 and 1927), and the Württemberg Championships, in Stuttgart (in 1926). He also won the singles title at the Prussian Championships and Saxony Championships.

In May 1927, Demasius was chosen to represent Germany against Portugal in Germany’s first Davis Cup match after World War One. Demasius won the first singles and the doubles match (with Hans Moldenhauer). However, this proved to be his only Davis Cup nomination. The German Tennis Handbook of 1927 describes Georg Demasius as a vigorous player with a hard service, a powerful forehand and a successful net game, who sometimes lacked the stamina to win the deciding set. Because of this he was generally rated as a better doubles player than singles player.

In 1928/1929, Demasius became the first of only four German Davis Cup players to join the ranks of the professional tennis coaches during the amateur era (the other three were Rupert Huber in 1958, Wolfgang Stuck in 1966 and Peter Scholl in 1967). In the following years Demasius worked for the Rot-Weiss Club in Cologne and the Rochus Club in Düsseldorf. During these years, his most important pupil was Hilde Sperling (née Krahwinkel), who won the women’s singles title at the French Championships from 1935-37.

In May 1931, Georg Demausius was allowed to coach the South African Davis Cup Team, which played and won its first-round match against a rather weak German team in Düsseldorf. Apparently, the South African officials and players were so impressed by his abilities that he was offered a coaching job. In the same year Demasius emigrated to South Africa and stayed there for the rest of his life, continuing to coach the South African Davis Cup team. His most successful pupil in South Africa was Eric Sturgess.

From 1931 to 1969, Demasius was also a regular contributor to the German tennis magazines Tennis und Golf, Der Tennis-Sport and Deutsche Tennis Zeitung, submitting reports about the South African tennis scene.

Georg Demasius died of a heart attack while playing tennis.

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