Suzanne Lenglen

Suzanne Lenglen

Full name	Suzanne Rachel Flore Lenglen
Country (sports)	France
Born	24 May 1899 Paris, France
Died	4 July 1938 (aged 39) Paris, France
Int. Tennis HoF	1978 (member page)
Singles
Career record	341–7 (97.99%)
Career titles	81[1]
Highest ranking	No. 1
Grand Slam Singles results
French Open	W (1925, 1926)
Wimbledon	W (1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1925)
US Open	2R (1921)
Other tournaments
WHCC	W (1914, 1921, 1922, 1923)
Doubles
Grand Slam Doubles results
French Open	W (1925, 1926)
Wimbledon	W (1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1925)
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
French Open	W (1925, 1926)
Wimbledon	W (1920, 1922, 1925)
Medal record Olympic Games 1920 Antwerp Women's singles 1920 Antwerp Mixed doubles 1920 Antwerp Women's doubles

Suzanne Rachel Flore Lenglen (French pronunciation: ​[syzan lɑ̃'glɛn]; 24 May 1899 – 4 July 1938) was a French tennis player who won 31 Championship titles between 1914 and 1926. She dominated women's tennis from the end of World War I until 1926 when she turned professional. A flamboyant, trendsetting athlete, she was the first female tennis celebrity and one of the first international female sport stars, named La Divine (the divine one) by the French press.^[2] Lenglen's 241 titles, 181 match winning streak and 341-7 (97.99%) match record are hard to imagine happening in today's tennis atmosphere.^[3]

Early life

A daughter of Charles and Anaïs Lenglen, Suzanne Lenglen was born in Paris.^[4][5][6] During her youth, she suffered from numerous health problems including chronic asthma, which also plagued her at a later age.^[7] Because his daughter was so frail and sickly, Charles Lenglen, the owner of a carriage company, decided that it would be good for her to compete in tennis and gain strength. Her first try at the game was in 1910, when she played on the tennis court at the family property in Marest-sur-Matz. The young girl enjoyed the game, and her father decided to train her further in the sport. His training methods included an exercise where, the story goes, he would lay down a handkerchief at various places on the court, to which his daughter had to direct the ball.^[8]

Only four years after her first tennis strokes, Lenglen played in the final of the 1914 French Championships, aged only 14 (the tournament was open only to members of French clubs until 1925). She lost to reigning champion Marguerite Broquedis in the final 5–7, 6–4, 6–3.^[9] That same year, she won the World Hard Court Championships held at Saint-Cloud, turning 15 during the tournament. This made her the youngest winner of a major championship in tennis history, a record she still holds. The outbreak of World War I at the end of the year stopped most national and international tennis competitions, and Lenglen's burgeoning career was put on hold for the next 5 years, until Wimbledon in 1919.

Dominance

Lenglen with Bill Tilden

The French championships were not held again until 1920, but Wimbledon was, again, organised for 1919. Lenglen entered the tournament – her first on grass – and met seven-time winner Dorothea Douglass Chambers in the final. The match, which became one of the hallmarks of tennis history, was played before 8,000 spectators, including King George V and Queen Mary. After splitting the first two sets, Lenglen took a 4–1 lead in the final set before Chambers rallied to take a 6–5 (40–15) lead. Lenglen saved the first match point when her service return trickled off the wood of her racket and dropped over the net. Lenglen survived the second match point when Chambers hit a drop shot into the net. Lenglen then went on to win the match 10–8, 4–6, 9–7.

It was not only her performances on the court which were noted, however. She garnered much attention in the media when she appeared at Wimbledon with her dress revealing bare forearms and cut just above the calf, while all other players competed in outfits covering nearly all of the body.^[10] The staider British also were in shock at the boldness of the French woman who also casually sipped brandy between sets.

At the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp (Belgium), Lenglen dominated the women's singles. On her path to the gold medal, she gave up only four games, three of them in the final against Dorothy Holman of Britain. She then teamed up with Max Décugis to win another gold medal in the mixed doubles. She was eliminated in a women's doubles semifinal (playing with Élisabeth d'Ayen) and won the bronze medal after their opponents withdrew.

From 1919 through 1925, Lenglen won the Wimbledon singles championship every year with the exception of 1924.^[11] Health problems due to jaundice forced her to withdraw after winning her quarterfinal match. Lenglen was the last French woman to win the Wimbledon ladies singles title until Amélie Mauresmo in 2006.

From 1920 through 1926, she won the French Championships Singles title six times and the Doubles title five times, plus three World Hard Court Championships from 1921 to 1923. She starred in an instructional film Tennis and How to Play It that was shown in newsreels in 1922.

Failed American debut

Lenglen's only defeat in singles, other than a pre-match withdrawal, during this period occurred in an unscheduled appearance in the 1921 US Championships. To raise reconstruction funds for the regions of France that had been devastated by the battles of World War I, she went to the United States to play several exhibition matches against the Norwegian-born US champion, Molla Bjurstedt Mallory.

Lenglen arrived in New York City the day before the tournament after a stormy and delayed voyage, during which she was ill the whole time. Upon arrival, Lenglen learned that, without her permission, tournament officials had announced her participation in the US Championships. Because of immense public pressure, she agreed to play in the tournament despite suffering from what was diagnosed later as whooping cough. As a concession, she was given a day to recover. To her surprise, there was no seeding for the event and her name had been drawn to play Eleanor Goss, a leading American player. Goss immediately defaulted, leaving Lenglen to face Mallory in the second round as her first opponent.

In their match, Lenglen lost the first set 6–2 and just as the second set got underway, she began coughing and burst into tears, unable to continue. The crowd jeered her as she walked off the court, and the American press severely criticised her. This worsened when, under doctor's orders after it was confirmed that she was afflicted with whooping cough, she cancelled her exhibition match. Unaccustomed to such treatment, a devastated Lenglen went home.

Once healthy, she set about preparing herself for redemption. In the singles final at Wimbledon the following year, she defeated Mallory in only 26 minutes, winning 6–2, 6–0, reputedly the fastest Ladies major tournament match on record. The two met again later that year at a tournament in Nice where, with Lenglen showing her complete mastery of the sport, Mallory failed to win even one game. Mary K. Brown relates that she asked Lenglen how she greeted Mallory at the net after the game when they met to shake hands. She said that Lenglen told her that after shaking hands she emitted a couple of gentle 'coughs'.^[12]

Final amateur year

In what would turn out to become her last year as an amateur player, Lenglen played what many consider to be her most memorable match. In a February 1926 tournament at the Carlton Club in Cannes, she played her only match against Helen Wills. The 20-year-old American was already a two-time winner of the U.S. Championships and would dominate the women's game in the late 1920s and early 1930s in the same way that Lenglen had dominated it since 1919.

Public attention for their meeting in the tournament final was immense, and scalper ticket prices went through the roof. Roofs and windows of nearby buildings were also crowded with spectators. The match itself saw Lenglen clinging on to a 6–3, 8–6 victory after being close to a collapse on several occasions.

According to many authorities, including Larry Englemann in his book, The Goddess and the American Girl: The Story of Suzanne Lenglen and Helen Wills, Lenglen was forbidden to play Wills by her father, and, because almost for the first time she was defying her father, she was sleepless for the whole night before the match, and in a state of the highest nervous tension.

Later in the year, Lenglen seemed to be on course for her seventh Wimbledon singles title. However, Lenglen unknowingly kept Queen Mary waiting in the Royal Box for her appearance in a preliminary match. Lenglen, who had been told that her match would not start until much later, fainted upon being informed of her error, which was seen by aristocratic English attendees as an insult to the monarchy. Lenglen withdrew from the tournament, which would be her last appearance at the courts of Wimbledon.

Professional career

The first major female tennis star to turn professional, Lenglen was paid US$50,000 by American entrepreneur Charles C. Pyle to tour the United States in a series of matches against Mary K. Browne. Browne, winner of the US Championships from 1912 to 1914, was 35 and considered to be past her prime, although she had reached the French final earlier that year (losing to Lenglen 6–1, 6–0).

For the first time in tennis history, the women's match was the headline event of the tour (which also featured male players). In their first match in New York City, Lenglen put on a performance that New York Times writer Allison Danzig lauded as "one of the most masterly exhibitions of court generalship that has been seen in this country." When the tour ended in February 1927, Lenglen had defeated Browne, 38 matches to 0. She was exhausted from the lengthy tour, and a physician advised Lenglen that she needed a lengthy period away from the game to recover.

Instead, Lenglen chose to retire from competitive tennis to run a Paris tennis school, which she set up with the help and money of her lover Jean Tillier. The school, located next to the courts of Roland Garros, slowly expanded and was recognised as a federal training centre by the French tennis federation in 1936. During this period, Lenglen also wrote several books on tennis.

Lenglen was criticised widely for her decision to turn professional, and the All England Club at Wimbledon even revoked her honorary membership. Lenglen, however, described her decision as "an escape from bondage and slavery" and said in the tour programme, "In the twelve years I have been champion I have earned literally millions of francs for tennis and have paid thousands of francs in entrance fees to be allowed to do so.... I have worked as hard at my career as any man or woman has worked at any career. And in my whole lifetime I have not earned $5,000 – not one cent of that by my specialty, my life study – tennis.... I am twenty-seven and not wealthy – should I embark on any other career and leave the one for which I have what people call genius? Or should I smile at the prospect of actual poverty and continue to earn a fortune – for whom?" As for the amateur tennis system, Lenglen said, "Under these absurd and antiquated amateur rulings, only a wealthy person can compete, and the fact of the matter is that only wealthy people do compete. Is that fair? Does it advance the sport? Does it make tennis more popular – or does it tend to suppress and hinder an enormous amount of tennis talent lying dormant in the bodies of young men and women whose names are not in the social register?"^[13]

Later life

In June of 1938 Lenglen was diagnosed with leukemia and only three weeks later, she went blind. July 1938, the French press announced that Lenglen had suddenly become extremely fatigued and few days later she died of pernicious anemia on 4 July 1938.^[14][15] She is buried in the Cimetière de Saint-Ouen at Saint-Ouen near Paris.

Achievements

According to Wallis Myers of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Lenglen was ranked in the world top ten from 1921 (when the rankings began) through 1926 and was the World No. 1 player in each of those years.^[16]

During her career, Lenglen won 81 singles titles, seven of which were achieved without losing a single game. In addition, she won 73 doubles titles and 11 mixed doubles titles. She won the Wimbledon singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles championships in the same year on three separate occasions (1920, 1922, and 1925).^[17]

The World Hard Court Championships (WHCC), the official clay court world championships, were held in Paris (except for one year in Brussels) beginning in 1912 and lasting through 1923. Unlike the pre-1925 French Championships, the WHCC was open to all nationalities. Therefore, the WHCC is the truer forerunner of the open-to-all-nationalities French Championships that began in 1925. For purposes of determining the total number of championship titles won by Lenglen, the WHCC is used for 1914 and 1920 through 1923 instead of the closed-to-foreigners French Championships for those years. Under this counting method, Lenglen's total number of championship wins is 31.

Event	Women's Singles	Women's Doubles	Mixed Doubles
French Championships	(6) 1920/1921/1922/1923/1925/1926	(5) 1914/1921/1922/1925/1926	(5) 1921/1922/1923/1925/1926
Wimbledon	(6) 1919/1920/1921/1922/1923/1925	(6) 1919/1920/1921/1922/1923/1925	(3) 1920/1922/1925

Major finals

World Hard Court Championships

Singles: 4 (4 titles)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in final^1	Score in final^1
Winner	1914	World Hard Court Championships	Clay	Germaine Golding	6–3, 6–2
Winner	1921	World Hard Court Championships (2)	Clay	Molla Mallory	6–2, 6–3
Winner	1922	World Hard Court Championships (3)	Clay	Elizabeth Ryan	6–3, 6–2
Winner	1923	World Hard Court Championships (4)	Clay	Kitty McKane	6–2, 6–3

Grand Slam tournaments

Singles: 8 (8 titles)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in final^1	Score in final^1
Winner	1919	Wimbledon	Grass	Dorothea Lambert Chambers	10–8, 4–6, 9–7
Winner	1920	Wimbledon (2)	Grass	Dorothea Lambert Chambers	6–3, 6–0
Winner	1921	Wimbledon (3)	Grass	Elizabeth Ryan	6–2, 6–0
Winner	1922	Wimbledon (4)	Grass	Molla Mallory	6–2, 6–0
Winner	1923	Wimbledon (5)	Grass	Kitty McKane	6–2, 6–2
Winner	1925	French Championships (5)	Clay	Kitty McKane	6–1, 6–2
Winner	1925	Wimbledon (6)	Grass	Joan Fry Lakeman	6–2, 6–0
Winner	1926	French Championships (6)	Clay	Mary Browne	6–1, 6–0

¹At Wimbledon in 1920 and 1921, Lenglen did not play what was called the final but instead a Challenge Round. At the time, the winner of the tournament final would go on to play a single match for the title against the champion from the previous year. The exception was ladies doubles and mixed doubles.

Career statistics

Key

W

F

SF

QF

R#

RR

Q#

A

NH

(W) Won tournament; reached (F) final, (SF) semifinal, (QF) quarterfinal; (R#) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; competed at a (RR) round-robin stage; reached a (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent from tournament; or (NH) tournament not held.

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

Tournament	1914	1915	1916	1917	1918	1919	1920	1921	1922	1923	1924	1925	1926	Career SR
Australia	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 0
France^1	F	NH	NH	NH	NH	NH	W	W	W	W	A	W	W	6 / 7
Wimbledon	A	NH	NH	NH	NH	W	W	W	W	W	SF	W	3R	6 / 8
United States	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	2R	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 1
SR	1 / 1	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	0 / 0	1 / 1	1 / 2	2 / 3	2 / 2	2 / 2	0 / 1	2 / 2	1 / 2	12 / 16

SR = the ratio of the number of championship singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

¹Until 1925, the French Championships were open only to French nationals. Beginning in 1925, the French Championships were open to all nationalities.

Legacy

Despite her flamboyant and sometimes controversial appearance on the court, Suzanne Lenglen was also known as a very graceful player.

Prior to Lenglen, female tennis matches drew little fan interest, which quickly changed as she became her sport's greatest drawing card. Tennis devotees and new fans to the game began lining up in droves to buy tickets to her matches. Temperamental, flamboyant, she was a passionate player whose intensity on court could lead to an unabashed display of tears.^[18] But for all her flamboyance, she was a gifted and brilliant player who used extremely agile footwork, speed and a deadly accurate shot to dominate female tennis for seven straight years. Her excellent play and introduction of glamour to the tennis court increased the interest in women's tennis, and women's sports in general.

In 1997 the second court at the Roland Garros Stadium, site of the French Open, was renamed Court Suzanne Lenglen in her honour. In addition, the trophy awarded to the winner of the Women's Singles competition at the French Open is the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen. In 2001 the French Tennis Federation organised the first Suzanne Lenglen Cup for women in the over-35 age class. First played in France, the annual event is now held in a different country each year.

Lenglen, who was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1978, continues to be held by many as one of the best players in tennis history. For example, the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, organiser of the Wimbledon Championships, ranks her among the five greatest Wimbledon champions.

See also

• Performance timelines for all female tennis players who reached at least one Grand Slam final

Notes and references

1. "Queens of the Court". Retrieved 3 October 2012.
2. Clerici, Gianni (1984). Suzanne Lenglen – La Diva du Tennis. p. 253.
3. Little, Alan (1988). Suzanne Lenglen: Tennis idol of the twenties.
4. Interview with Suzanne Lenglen in the magazine Femina on July 1, 1914 (p. 382)
5. Suzanne Lenglen at the International Tennis Federation
6. Suzanne Lenglen's Olympic profile at sports-reference.com
7. "Short biography". Retrieved 6 March 2007.
8. Although a beautiful story, its accuracy has been refuted. Mary K. Browne was a three-time singles titlist at the U.S. Championships and a runner-up at the French Championships. She traveled with and played against Lenglen on a professional tour for nearly five months in late 1926 and early 1927. Browne said in her book that she specifically asked Lenglen about the story. Lenglen laughed, saying that this story and many others about her were fantasy.
9. This was the only complete match Lenglen lost until the end of her career. Her other loss was a mid-match retirement against Molla Bjurstedt Mallory.
10. Battle of the Sexes: Who Wears the Pants / Trailblazers in Trousers
11. "The First Tennis Celebrity at Olympic.org". Retrieved 6 March 2007.
12. Manr K. Brown
13. Billie Jean King with Cynthia Starr (1988). We Have Come a Long Way: The Story of Women's Tennis. New York: McGraw-Hill. pp. 40–41. ISBN 0-07-034625-9.
14. Le Journal from 5 July 1938
15. "CNN: Suzanne Lenglen – The first diva of tennis". Retrieved 16 August 2015.
16. Collins, Bud (2008). The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book. New York, N.Y: New Chapter Press. pp. 695, 701. ISBN 0-942257-41-3.
17. "Wimbledon.org". Retrieved 6 March 2007.
18. "Beauty icon". Retrieved 6 March 2007.

External links

• Suzanne Lenglen at the International Tennis Hall of Fame
• Suzanne Lenglen at the International Tennis Federation
• Suzanne Lenglen at Sports Reference
• Suzanne Lenglen at the Internet Movie Database
• Official Wimbledon website profile