player – Tennisarchives.com

General First nameHendrik (Henk)
LastnameTimmer
GenderMale
CountryNetherlands
Date of birth1904-02-08
Place of birthUtrecht, Netherlands
Date of death1998-11-13
Place of deathBilthoven, Netherlands

About

Adatped from Wikipedia, at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hendrik_Timmer

Hendrik Timmer was born on 8 February 1904 in Utrecht, the son of Lubertus Timmer (1864-1924), a native of Zuidhorn and teacher of English, and Eke Timmer (née Kramer; b. 1864), who was from Dokkum. Hendrik had one sibling, Jan Pieter Timmer, who also took part in tennis tournaments.

Throughout a long career, Henk Timmer, as he was popularly known, won a total of 23 titles at the Dutch National Championships: nine in men’s singles, in 1923, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1935; nine in men’s doubles, in 1922, 1924 and 1925 (w. Cor Bryan), 1926 (w. “De Beer”), 1927 (w. Bryan again), 1929 (w. Jan Ruys), 1933 (w. Ody Koopman) and in 1935 and 1936 (w. Diederik Teschmacher); and five in mixed doubles, in 1925 and 1926 (w. Kea Bouman) and in 1933, 1934 and 1935 (w. Madzy Rollin Couquerque).

In 1924, Timmer won the men’s singles title at the Swiss International Covered Court Championships, defeating Bela von Kehrling in the final, 6-3, 1-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. In the same year, together with Kea Bouman, Timmer won a silver medal in the mixed doubles event at the Olympic Games in Paris. They were beaten in the semi-finals by the American team of Marion Zinderstein and Vincent Richards, before benefitting from a default by Kathleen McKane and Brian Gilbert, who were unable to take part in the match for the bronze medal.

At the Dutch International Championships, Timmer won the men’s singles title three times: in 1926, 1927 and 1928. In 1926, he and Irma Kallmeyer lost the mixed doubles final at the same tournament to Julie Stroink-Cords and De Beer. In 1929, partnering Wilbur Coen, Timmer reached the final at the same tournament, before losing to Bill Tilden and Frank Hunter.

In 1930, again at the International Dutch Championships, and this time partnering Arthur Diemer Kool, Timmer reached the final of the men’s doubles event, where they were beaten by Tilden and Daniel Prenn. In the mixed doubles final Timmer and Else Støckel lost to Margaretha Dros-Canters and Roderich Menzel and Margaretha Dros-Canters.

At the International Dutch Championships in 1932, Timmer was runner-up in the men’s singles event to Bela von Kehrling, but won the men’s doubles event with von Kehrling and the mixed doubles with Elizabeth Ryan. One year later, Timmer lost in four sets to Giorgio de Stefani in the men’s singles final in Noordwijk. Timmer and von Kehrling retained the men’s doubles title, defeating de Stefani and George Lyttleton-Rogers in the final.

In 1927, Timmer had reached the quarter-finals of the men’s singles event at Wimbledon, where he was beaten in four sets by Jean Borotra. Two years later, in 1929, Timmer again reached the quarter-finals of the men’s singles event at Wimbledon, where he was defeated in straight sets by Henri Cochet, the eventual champion.

In October 1930, Timmer won the triple crown at the Welsh Covered Court Championships in Llandudno, taking the men’s singles, men’s doubles (w. Vincent Allman-Smith) and mixed doubles (w. Peggy Ingram). In November of the same year Timmer won the men’s singles event at the Lowland Championships of Scotland in Peebles. In the final he beat Horace Keats Lester in three sets. Timmer also won the men’s doubles event with Francis Fisher.

Timmer missed the whole of the 1931 tennis season because of illness. In early 1932, he had pneumonia. By late May of the same year he had returned to play and won the men’s singles event at the Northern Championships held in Liverpool, where he beat Nigel Sharpe in a four-set final. In mid-June of 1932, Timmer was runner-up to Jack Crawford in the men’s singles event at the London Championships held at the Queen’s Club.

Timmer was nominated to the Dutch Davis Cup team for the first time in 1923. He represented the Netherlands in 26 ties and finished with a total win-loss record of 43-22. He went 32-15 in singles and 11-7 in doubles.

In 1937, a bad case of rheumatism in his shoulder caused Timmer to miss the whole of the tennis season. He played very little competitve tennis thereafter. According to one source, Timmer’s main weapon was his cleanly-hit, hard backhand. His only weakness was his service, a shot that lacked strength and variety.

In 1934 Harry Hopman called him “one of the best hardcourt players in the world”. Bill Tilden praised his stroke technique and described him as an all-court player, who played the “French” tennis style. Timmer considered himself a baseline player. He was coached by the former Davis Cup player Gerard Scheurleer. Timmer frequently practised three times a week with his Davis Cup partner Christiaan van Lennep.

Timmer was an all-round sportsman. In 1941, he won the men’s singles title at the Dutch National Squash Championships. In speed skating he completed the Elfstedentocht three times; this is a long-distance skating event on natural ice. At golf, Timmer won the De Golfbag Cup of Noordwijk in 1934. The following year he won the first prize in an 18-hole bogey tournament held at Noordwijk Golf Club. During his golf career, he claimed ten golf titles.

On 24 May 1933, Hendrik Timmer married Anna (‘Annetje’) Hogeburg (1902-96), a native of Putten. He worked as an insurance agent for a major Dutch company. He also gave free tennis lessons to members of the Dutch royal family, including Queen Juliana. Hendrik Timmer died on 13 November 1998 in Bilthoven at the age of 94.

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