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Evald Kree was born June 11th, in 1918, in Tallinn. The summers of his childhood were  spent in Nõmme, where he found his calling, passion and love for sports. At the beginning playing sports was just for fun, a way to spend time with his friends and having friendly competitions. It became more serious and structured in his last years of high school in Tallinn Westholm Gymnasium. Evald Kree was Tallinn´s highschool champion in 7 different sporting events, and in 1936 he won the highschool championship title in 5 fields - basketball, baseball, football, hockey and tennis.
It wasn't until the age of 14 that Evald Kree was introduced to tennis at Hiiu tennis courts, where he for the first time held a tennis racquet in his hand. The year after, he joined the youth group of Eduard Hiiop at "Kalev" tennisclub to learn the game properly. Being lefty and having lots of experiences in other sports the progress in tennis came to him very fast. Already in 1935 Evald Kree won the Estonian Championships in juniors. In 1937 Evald Kree graduated with honours from J. Westholm  Gymnasium. Same year he became the overall Estonian Champion in junior tennis and was included in the national team at the age of 19. The year after, in 1938, Kree was already number 3 player in Estonia after Kristjan Lasn and Hugo Pukk. In 1939 he reached the finals of the Estonian Championships in all three events - singles, doubles and mixed doubles. He reached the championship title in doubles with Paul Kuus and in mixed doubles with Vera Nõmmik. The best years of tennis for Evald Kree remain in the 1940s when beside playing tennis, he was already teaching it as well. By 1944, Evald Kree had earned the 9th place on the USSR championships rankings. He won the silver medal in doubles with Ottomar Alas in the USSR Championships in 1945. In 1944 and 1946 Kree and Alas reached the semi-finals at the same tournament.
At the same time Evald Kree continued to be active in other sports as well. In 1937 he won the Estonian Championships in hockey with "Kalev" hockey team. He also belonged to the Estonian national team in hockey, participating in successful games in Finland and Sweden in 1939. After the World War II Evald Kree continued playing hockey in Tallinn "Dynamo" team, that won the national championships in 1946, 1948 and 1949. Being a member of the "Dynamo" volley-ball team, that won the Estonian Cup competition, signifies once more Evald Kree's capability, universality and competence in different sports. Since during that time coaches were also often required to be referees, Evald Kree acquired national referee licences in tennis, volley-ball, basketball and in hockey.
Evald Kree played competitive tennis for 20 years, while winning his first medal at the age of 17 and his last in 1956 at the age of 38. He played for the Estonian national team for 36 times. As a tennis player Kree is best describe as determined and fast, skilful and smart, athletic and intellectual. 
Besides his remarkably successful athletic career, Evald Kree is even more appreciated as an invaluable instructor, coach and developer of Estonian tennis. Evald Kree became the director of "Dynamo" sports centre in 1944 and started immediately to conduct the renovations of the many sports centres that were ruined during the World War II. Within couple of summers all the tennis courts in Kadriorg were reconstructed and in 1947 Estonian only indoor tennis facility opened its doors to the players. In 1962Evald Kree started to organize the construction of the new indoor tennis club, which was finally finished in 1978 under his persistent guidance, input and careful supervision.
While working full time, Evald Kree still had the energy and will to complete his studies that were discontinued because of the war. In 1948 he graduated from Tallinn´s Polytechnical Institute with a degree in Economics and in 1954 from Tartu University with a degree in Physical Education. His first educational book "Tennis" was published in 1951, which was followed by a Russian translation in 1955. The second, more profound tennis book was published in 1962. Presenting the second tennis book as his dissertation, he was awarded as a candidate for PhD in pedagogical education. In 1966 he started working in Tallinn Pedagogical University to help in the preparation of young tennis instructors. Evald Kree was teaching many different sports in Tallinn Pedagogical University, and he can also claim the credit for restarting baseball in Estonia. In 1970 he received the assistant professor position. With Evald Kree’s initiative in cooperation with a film operator Ants Roosipuu two educational tennis movies were made. One of them was awarded with a golden medal in Leningrad, in 1978 during the educational film festival. Evald Kree was also a very good photographer who was always travelling with at least 2 cameras on the tournaments. Lots of his pictures made it to the newspapers and magazines. Read more: tennis career of Evald Kree >>
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