Robert Spies

Robert Spies reached the quarter-finals of the 1912 Olympic men’s doubles alongside Luis Maria Heyden. In the singles he was eliminated in the third round by his teammate Heinrich Schomburgk. In 1912 Spies won the German men’s singles title. Spies won both the International German Indoor singles in 1920 and 1925, and the doubles in 1920-21, alongside August Lurman, in Bremen, where the first indoor facility in Germany was built in 1911. Spies was a member of the oldest Bremen lawn tennis club, Bremer Tennisverem von 1896, and Club zur Vahr, a golfclub. He is remembered because of his sportsmanlike conduct and spirit of fair play.

Spies was the son of the German consul in Moskva (Moscow), and was also born there. Spies served on the Eastern Front in World War I. On his return to civilian life, he founded a real estate firm, Robert C. Spies lmmobilien, which survived through the 20th century, along with his friends and tennis partners Lurman and Fritz Bunemann.