Rupert Wertheim

Rupert Carl Wertheim (22 December 1893 – 12 October 1933) was an Australian tennis player.

Towering at 6 feet 6 inches, Wertheim was known for his strong wrists and vigorous play.

Biography Wertheim was born on 22 December 1893, in Melbourne Victoria, the second son of Hugo Wertheim and Sophie Emilie. His parents were both emigrants from Germany, who settled in Melbourne in the 1880s. He had four siblings, two brothers and two sisters. The business which his father founded, Wertheim Pianos, was highly successful and made the family a well known name in Australia. He transferred after that to the 2nd Pioneer Battalion in March 1916 and fought in Pozières from July to August and then in Flers.

He continued his tennis career in the 1920s and was a regular competitor at the Australasian Championships. Although he wasn't able to reach the final four again he was a doubles semi-finalist on four occasions, with Timothy Fitchett in 1924, Garton Hone in 1925 and Richard Schlesinger in both 1926 and 1929.

The 1922 season saw Wertheim called up to the Australian team for the International Lawn Tennis Challenge (Davis Cup) and he played in a quarter-final tie against Czechoslovakia in London. He featured in the doubles, with Gerald Patterson, which they won in straight sets, over Karel Ardelt and Friedrich Rohrer. It was the only rubber he would ever play and he later would jocularly declare that he was one of the few players to be unbeaten in the Davis Cup. While in England he competed at Wimbledon and was runner-up in the All England Plate, after a second round exit in the main draw. He then travelled with the Davis Cup team to America and although he wasn't required for the Davis Cup ties did appear at the U.S. National Championships.

One of his finest wins came when he defeated Patterson, then a two-time Wimbledon winner, at the 1925 Victorian Championships.

A stock broker, he co-founded a brokerage business called Williams & Wertheim in Collins Street. They had with three sons.