Background
Nüsslein was born in Nuremberg on 31 March 1910.
Nüsslein was born in Nuremberg on 31 March 1910.
After finishing school he apprenticed as a mechanic.
In his youth, he played football, handball and tennis at the 1. Football Club Nürnberg. At age 16, he gave tennis lessons to other club members for which he was paid a small amount. Nüsslein then decided to work as a professional tennis coach.
He then was hired by the Deutsche Bank in order to give lessons to their executives.
Beside his coaching work, Nüsslein pursued a career on the emerging professional tennis tournaments. In 1929, he reached third place at the German tennis coaches championships.
Tilden who had never heard of Nüsslein before the match ("Who is Nusslein?") was surprised by the German"s performance and invited him to play in his United States pro tour. In 1933, Nüsslein and Tilden met again in the final of the World Pro Championships.
In front of an audience of 7,000, Nüsslein beat Tilden 1–6, 6–4, 7–5 and 6–3.
Nüsslein repeated in 1935 over Henri Cochet) and in 1937 over Tilden once more. Ray Bowers ranked Nüsslein the World Number. 1 professional for 1933.
He was known for his fine groundstrokes.
Tennis historian Robert Geist described his playing style: "He possessed classic strokes, equal to Hall of Famers René Lacoste, Henri Cochet, and Karel Koželuh, as well as excellent volleys, magnificent drop shots and breath-taking half-volleys. As consistent as Ken Rosewall, Nüsslein was one of the best players during the 1930s."
From 1936 onwards, Nüsslein focused on coaching.
He signed a contract with Rot-Weiss tennis club in Cologne. In World World War II Nüsslein served in the German army.
Towards the end of the war, he suffered an arm injury which affected his tennis.
He continued to play tournaments until 1957 and gave tennis lessons until an age of 70. His most prominent tennis pupils included Wilhelm Bungert, Christian Kuhnke, Dieter Ecklebe and Wolfgang Stuck. Remaining unmarried for most of his life, at age 72, Nüsslein finally married his long-time partner Anneliese.
He died nine years later at Altenkirchen after suffering a stroke.
In 2006, Nüsslein was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island. Pro Slam tournaments
= Singles: 11 (6/5) =.
After a member of a neighboring club reported this to the German Tennis Federation, Nüsslein received a lifetime ban from amateur competition, preventing him from competing at Grand Slam tournaments. On 1 April 1928, he passed the qualifying examination and became a member of the German federation of tennis coaches.