Background
Spychała was born in Posen, German Empire (modern Poznań, Poland).
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Czeslaw Spychala
Edit ProfileCareer
In 1938 Poland played against Italy in the second round of the European zone. He played the doubles match with his teammate Ignacy Tłoczyński against Ferruccio Quintavalle and Valentino Taroni and lost in five sets. His first participation in a Grand Slam event was the 1938 French Championships.
He made it to the third round of the singles event in which he was defeated in straight sets by Robert Abdesselam.
That year he was ranked Number.3 in Poland. In 1939 at the start of World World War II Spychała was taken prisoner by the Soviet Army after they invaded Poland but escaped captivity and went underground.
In 1944 during the Warsaw uprising he was shot through the hand and retaken prisoner which he remained until the end of the war. In 1946 he was the runner-up at the All England Plate, a tennis competition held at the Wimbledon Championships which consisted of players who were defeated in the first or second rounds of the singles competition.
He lost the final in straight sets to Robert Abdesselam.
Until 1954 he played a further eight times in the singles event at Wimbledon but did not make it past the second round. He reached the third round in both the doubles (1946) and mixed doubles events (1957).
Achievements
-
He represented Poland in the Davis Cup on a single occasion. Italy won the tie, played on clay courts in Milan, by 3–2. Spychała was scheduled to play the doubles match against The Netherlands in the first round of the 1939 Davis Cup competition but was replaced by Tłoczyński when he did not how up on time. Spychała won the Welsh Championships singles title in July 1946 as well as the doubles title with compatriot Ignacy Tłoczyński. The same year he also won singles titles at tournaments in Bognor and Chiswick. In April 1947 he won the singles title at the Tally Ho tournament in Birmingham and in July successfully defended his Welsh singles and doubles title. In August 1948 he won the singles titles at Cranleigh and New Malden and in September he defeated Tłoczyński in the final of the South of England Championships in Eastbourne and together they won the doubles title. In 1949 he won the singles event at the Surrey Grass Court Championships in Surbiton, defeating Geoffrey Paish in the final. The following year, 1950, he lost this title to Narendra Nath but in 1952 regained it after a win in the final against David Samaai. Spychała was decorated by the Polish government in exile with the Gold Cross of Merit in 1966. In 1971 he received the Lawn Tennis Writers award for his services to the game.
Views
The titles at the Cranleigh and New Malden tournaments were successfully defended the following year.
Membership
He took the identity of "Marian Tworowski" and as a member of the "Ruczaj" battalion of the Polish resistance was involved in raids on the German forces.
