HISTORY
Unbelievable but true, the Jacke family celebrated 100 years of the "white sport" in 2007. The founder of the "tennis dynasty," Wolfgang Jacke from Magdeburg, would have turned 100 this year.
Wolfgang Jacke's passion for sports began early on, first in soccer, hockey, and then tennis. As a successful junior, however, he had no idea what a crucial role he would later play in German tennis. After many regional championships, his career path was fairly clear: he wanted to play tennis and, above all, teach. In 1938/39, he became German Tennis Teachers' Champion.
Around the same time in faraway Leipzig, a young lady named Irmgard Hallbauer, who had literally grown up on the tennis court, as her grandparents owned their own tennis facility there, played her way into the hearts of the audience. Fascinated by the sport, the extremely talented Irmgard became German doubles champion in Frankfurt am Main at the age of 15. Many more titles followed. Unfortunately, World War II brought sporting activities to a standstill. But things continued. In 1949, one month before the founding of the GDR, two more titles followed. Around this time, the two talented and successful tennis players crossed paths at the "East Zone Championships": Wolfgang Jacke from Berlin and Irmgard Hallbauer from Leipzig. Both became champions and became lovers. In 1950, Irmgard moved to Berlin-Friedrichshagen with her Wolfgang, and a year later she and he moved to Hennigsdorf. In 1951, when both became GDR champions, they were both given the task of building up the tennis association, but this was quickly stopped due to a lack of loyalty to the party line.
In Hennigsdorf, in 1952, on April 27, 1952 to be exact, their son Guido was born. Like his parents, he was introduced to the sport at an early age. He was already playing tennis at the age of 4, and at 6, he was a member of a tennis club. It turned out that he would become just as successful as his parents. From an early age, he knew he wanted to become a tennis professional and then a tennis coach. He played on the national team until he was 14—after that, it was over. His rejection of his enlistment in the FDJ (Free German Youth) was too much for the former GDR to bear.
He had no choice but to plan his tennis future on his own. However, at national tournaments, he could only compete with Eastern Bloc players; the goal of becoming a professional tennis player was only possible in the West, and to achieve that, his only option was escape.
In 1977, the moment came. After an unpleasant stopover (a forced stay in Cottbus), he came to Bavaria in 1978. For 14 long and successful years, he played and worked successfully for the Bavarian Tennis Association. After brief coaching stints in Hof and Coburg, his successful time came in Burgkunstadt, where he built SV Baur Burgkunstadt into a leading sporting club in northern Bavaria. He achieved numerous sporting successes – German Champion of the VDT (Association of German Tennis Teachers) in singles in 1988, two-time European Champion in doubles in 1990/91, and many more. He completed training as a coach with the VDT and DTB. He received honors from the Bavarian Tennis Association: a silver badge of honor for successful youth work, sporting achievements, and as player representative for the young seniors in the DTB. And a silver badge of honor for 25 years of VDT service. He was a base coach in Upper Franconia/Bavaria until he moved to Berlin in 1993. This was followed by head coach positions at the Berliner Schlittschuh Club, the Grunewald TC and, from 2000, at the tennis performance center in Bernau and Kleinmachnow.
After a restructuring, he founded the TennisAkademie Berlin with Adam Radomski in 2007.