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Suzanne Lenglen If you think Bunny Austin caused a stir when he was the first male player to wear shorts in the 1930s, think of how a Wimbledon crowd from a bygone age would think to see a flash of a female players ankle and calf. Suzanne Rachel Flore Lenglen was the first female number one when rankings started in 1925 and 1926 she amazed crowds as she defeated all who stood in her way.
Born in Paris on the 24th May 1899, Lenglen excelled, moving with grace, placing the ball with extreme accuracy through her classical strokes. Later day stars such as Maria Bueno and Evonne Goolagong has been likened to her style and anticipation to know where an opponent would hit a ball.
The right-hander came to the public's attention when she made her way through to the Wimbledon Challenge Round in 1919. There, she faced 40-year-old and seven-time champion Dorothea Douglass Chambers, dressed in a high-necked dress, which swept the floor. The 20-year-old Lenglen was in a revealing ankle and forearm dress. After the second set the Parisian took comfort in some brandy, rescuing two match points in her 10-8, 4-6, 9-7 victory. She often wept openly on court, some called her shocking and indecent but she was simply ahead of her time, bringing France global sporting glory along with the Four Musketeers during the 1920s. She was tennis' greatest drawing card and her matches were made into box-office attractions. During a 1926 tournament match in Cannes against rival Helen Wills (later Moody), crowds attempted to catch glimpses of the game from roofs, trees and apartment windows as the courtside tickets were being bought as scandalous prices. Lenglen rested all morning as she felt ill and throughout the match looked set to collapse from exhaustion. In a tense match Lenglen defeated the 20-year-old Wills 6-3, 8-6. As the first international superstar Lenglen won Wimbledon six times from 1919 to 1925, with the exception of 1924 when illness led to her withdrawal after the fourth round. On another occasion for fear of losing Lenglen had lost the first set badly against Molla Mallory in their 1921 U.S. Championship match. Weeping and coughing towards the umpire, she insisted she couldn't continue and defaulted from the match.
Having won the French Championships in 1925 and 1926, unbeaten since 1922, Lenglen cause outrage at Wimbledon as she kept Queen Mary waiting in the Royal Box. Through a misunderstanding in communication the ghastly error was too much; Lenglen fainted and withdrew from the tournament. It was the last Wimbledon saw of her as a competitor. Later that year she turned professional, touring around the United States under the management of C. C. Pyle, winning all 38 matches against Mary K. Browne. When the great star died of pernicious anaemia on the 4th July 1939, it was thought that, hours of practice as a youngster had undermined her health. In her career she had brought glamour to the game, popularised the sport and started a new dress code for the modern day game. She won 81 singles titles, seven without the loss of a game, 73 doubles and eight mixed titles. Grand Slam Record French Championships Singles winner 1925-26; Doubles winner 1925-26; Mixed winner 1925-26 Wimbledon Singles winner 1919-23, 1925; Doubles winner 1919-23, 1925; Mixed winner 1920, 1922, 1925 Tournament Record Olympics Gold Medal singles winner 1920;
Gold Medal Mixed doubles winner 1920 |
