Lenglen leapt across the tennis court with grace
Suzanne Lenglen (1899-1938) was born in Paris. As an asthmatic, young Suzanne took up sport because father Charles wanted to make her stronger. Papa soon recognised his daughter's tennis talent so he taught her to attack the net and play with aggression, just like a man.
At 14 Lenglen was winning tournaments. She gracefully leapt around the court, playing with powerful serves, timely smashes and well-placed volleys. Lenglen refused to compete if she didn't like the way she looked and she cried if she didn't meet her own exacting standards. Really?
Lenglen made her Wimbledon debut in 1919, which had resumed after the 4-years of WW1. Just 20, she first made a flamboyant fashion statement. She turned heads with her daring, one-piece cotton dress that bared her forearms and was cut above the calf!! She was glamorous, dramatic and moody, a fascinating champion.
In the Wimbledon finals, 20-year-old Lenglen faced 40-year-old Dorothea Chambers, 7-time defending champion. Note that Chambers was staid and traditional; Lenglen was rebellious and trend-setting eg unlike most of the other women, Lenglen served overhanded! In controversial change overs, papa Charles tossed her a vial that she consumed, revitalising her play. With King George V and Queen Mary watching, Lenglen defeated Chambers in 3 great sets, the first non-Anglo Saxon to win Wimbledon.
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Lenglen earned fame at the 1920 Antwerp Olympic Games. She won a singles Gold Medal, mixed doubles Gold Medal with Max Decugis, and women’s doubles Bronze Medal with Elisabeth d’Ayen. Go Lenglen!
This launched one of the great runs in tennis. Lenglen won 5 of the next 6 Wimbledons. In 1920 she won her first French Open, then took that title 5 more times. And she was just as dominant in doubles.
If WW1 slowed Lenglen's rise to stardom, it clearly helped to boost her popularity. After the massive casualties in the war, France needed a symbol of national pride. It came in Notre Suzanne! By the late 1920s, Lenglen was more famous than any other public figure in Europe.
And Lenglen personified tennis's contribution to the Roaring 20s’ Jazz Age. She arrived in a fur coat, played in full makeup and had a chic, coloured silk wrapped around her hair. France's top designers competed to provide her outfits and Vogue displayed her outfit. And this A-list international celebrity travelled in chauffeured cars!
The French media acted as Lenglen’s personal press agency. If a brave journalist did publish something anything unflattering about the Goddess, he was quickly ridiculed as an enemy of Suzanne Lenglen, of sport and of France.
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In Feb 1926 Lenglen played her most crucial match at the French Championships. As tennis thrived on rivalry, Lenglen had an ideal foil in Helen Wills, a 20-year-old who had already won 3 U.S titles. Both entered a tournament at the Carlton Club in Cannes. When it was likely Lenglen and Wills would meet in the final, the match became the International Match of the Century. And Lenglen won.
Lenglen never travelled to the Australian Championships in her entire career. And only once to the U.S, as an amateur. In 1921 she played at Forest Hills NY, but when they explained that drinking alcohol violated Federal Prohibition laws, Lenglen threatened to go home. Naturally tournament officials capitulated! Alas the 1921 U.S Tournament was a failure; Lenglen left after losing to U.S star Molla Mallory
The fans saw Lenglen as the box office attraction at the French and Wimbledon Championships. On Roland Garros’ red clay and Wimbledon’s green grass, the French woman filled the stands with her flamboyant play and personality. In Sports Illustrated (Sept 1982), they profiled her: “The Lady in the White Silk Dress, Suzanne Lenglen, drank, swore, had lovers by the score and played tennis incomparably.”
Her dominance peaked in 1925, when Lenglen seemed unbeatable. Wimbledon was her haven; she won 90 of 92 matches in 6 of 7 years (1919-1923, 1924). Had WW1 not delayed Lenglen’s appearance until 1919, her victory total could have been higher. Lenglen won the French Championships triple (singles and doubles in the same year) in 1925 & 1926. Thus she was ranked World No.1 for six years (1921-6).
Decades before the division between tennis' professional and amateur divisions ended, Lenglen pointed out that only a wealthy person could compete. Was that fair? In 1926 Lenglen became the first woman to turn professional. Getting paid meant that Lenglen could no longer enter Wimbledon, which was open only to amateurs. In the first women’s professional series, the French star accepted $50,000 from American promoter Charles Pyle to tour America, playing against Mary Browne. Lenglen defeated the three-time U.S champion in all 38 matches.
Lenglen retired from tennis at 28 and retreated to her Nice villa. Papa died in 1929 and soon Suzanne returned to Paris, working in a sporting goods establishment. There she invented above-the-knee shorts for women. But although Lenglen was free from the pressures of celebrity and relentless travel, she was having health issues, acute appendicitis, ?leukaemia and died in 1938 from pernicious anaemia.
Why did it take until 1978 for the greatest ever female tennis player to posthumously enter the International Tennis Hall of Fame? Did France not approve of their champion becoming their first-ever professional women’s tennis player, interested in money more than French glory?
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Perhaps read Alan Little, Suzanne Lenglen: Tennis Idol of the Twenties, 1988
Lenglen made her Wimbledon debut in 1919, which had resumed after the 4-years of WW1. Just 20, she first made a flamboyant fashion statement. She turned heads with her daring, one-piece cotton dress that bared her forearms and was cut above the calf!! She was glamorous, dramatic and moody, a fascinating champion.
In the Wimbledon finals, 20-year-old Lenglen faced 40-year-old Dorothea Chambers, 7-time defending champion. Note that Chambers was staid and traditional; Lenglen was rebellious and trend-setting eg unlike most of the other women, Lenglen served overhanded! In controversial change overs, papa Charles tossed her a vial that she consumed, revitalising her play. With King George V and Queen Mary watching, Lenglen defeated Chambers in 3 great sets, the first non-Anglo Saxon to win Wimbledon.
King and Queen at Wimbeldon in 1926,
presenting the cup to Lenglen
Lenglen earned fame at the 1920 Antwerp Olympic Games. She won a singles Gold Medal, mixed doubles Gold Medal with Max Decugis, and women’s doubles Bronze Medal with Elisabeth d’Ayen. Go Lenglen!
This launched one of the great runs in tennis. Lenglen won 5 of the next 6 Wimbledons. In 1920 she won her first French Open, then took that title 5 more times. And she was just as dominant in doubles.
If WW1 slowed Lenglen's rise to stardom, it clearly helped to boost her popularity. After the massive casualties in the war, France needed a symbol of national pride. It came in Notre Suzanne! By the late 1920s, Lenglen was more famous than any other public figure in Europe.
And Lenglen personified tennis's contribution to the Roaring 20s’ Jazz Age. She arrived in a fur coat, played in full makeup and had a chic, coloured silk wrapped around her hair. France's top designers competed to provide her outfits and Vogue displayed her outfit. And this A-list international celebrity travelled in chauffeured cars!
The French media acted as Lenglen’s personal press agency. If a brave journalist did publish something anything unflattering about the Goddess, he was quickly ridiculed as an enemy of Suzanne Lenglen, of sport and of France.
Lenglen arrived to the tennis
in fur coat, silk hair piece and chic white dress
Lenglen never travelled to the Australian Championships in her entire career. And only once to the U.S, as an amateur. In 1921 she played at Forest Hills NY, but when they explained that drinking alcohol violated Federal Prohibition laws, Lenglen threatened to go home. Naturally tournament officials capitulated! Alas the 1921 U.S Tournament was a failure; Lenglen left after losing to U.S star Molla Mallory
The fans saw Lenglen as the box office attraction at the French and Wimbledon Championships. On Roland Garros’ red clay and Wimbledon’s green grass, the French woman filled the stands with her flamboyant play and personality. In Sports Illustrated (Sept 1982), they profiled her: “The Lady in the White Silk Dress, Suzanne Lenglen, drank, swore, had lovers by the score and played tennis incomparably.”
Her dominance peaked in 1925, when Lenglen seemed unbeatable. Wimbledon was her haven; she won 90 of 92 matches in 6 of 7 years (1919-1923, 1924). Had WW1 not delayed Lenglen’s appearance until 1919, her victory total could have been higher. Lenglen won the French Championships triple (singles and doubles in the same year) in 1925 & 1926. Thus she was ranked World No.1 for six years (1921-6).
Decades before the division between tennis' professional and amateur divisions ended, Lenglen pointed out that only a wealthy person could compete. Was that fair? In 1926 Lenglen became the first woman to turn professional. Getting paid meant that Lenglen could no longer enter Wimbledon, which was open only to amateurs. In the first women’s professional series, the French star accepted $50,000 from American promoter Charles Pyle to tour America, playing against Mary Browne. Lenglen defeated the three-time U.S champion in all 38 matches.
Lenglen retired from tennis at 28 and retreated to her Nice villa. Papa died in 1929 and soon Suzanne returned to Paris, working in a sporting goods establishment. There she invented above-the-knee shorts for women. But although Lenglen was free from the pressures of celebrity and relentless travel, she was having health issues, acute appendicitis, ?leukaemia and died in 1938 from pernicious anaemia.
Why did it take until 1978 for the greatest ever female tennis player to posthumously enter the International Tennis Hall of Fame? Did France not approve of their champion becoming their first-ever professional women’s tennis player, interested in money more than French glory?
