"The Goddess of Tennis" is the heading of a chapter
on Suzanne Lenglen in the sport's leading reference work,
The Ultimate Book of Tennis.
Although some way short of being beautiful, Lenglen fulfilled every other requirement of a sporting goddess — ethereal, all-conquering and a leader in setting trends and fashions. However, she was not just tennis' first prima ballerina, she was its first prima donna too. Lenglen won six Wimbledons and was never beaten in competition at the All England Club. She also won six championships of her native France and was such a magical attraction in her revealing dresses and flowing tulle headbands that she revitalised and reformed the game in the seven years of her dominance until turning professional, disappearing from the then strictly amateur scene before dying of leukaemia, aged only 39, in 1938. Suzanne was relentlessly coached by her father Charles, a Paris bus company owner and thanks to hours of such rigorous practice as learning to hit a handkerchief laid on court time after time, had already become a champion when hardly into her teens. Lenglen was only 20 when she made her initial visit to Wimbledon for the 1919 Championships, the first to be held after the Great War. Despite making her acquaintance with grass court tennis, she swept to the final, or the Challenge Round as it was then known, without dropping a set. Her opponent, Dorothea Lambert Chambers, the defending champion and a seven-time Wimbledon winner, was, at 40, exactly twice her age. It was a stark contrast, not only in terms of years but also in playing style and clothing. While Mrs Chambers went on court in the sort of constricting dress regarded as the norm in those days, Suzanne wore lightweight, diaphanous clothing which allowed her the sort of athletic movement she had learned early at ballet classes. Aided by another first in women's tennis, sips from a brandy
flask provided by her father between sets, Lenglen outlasted
Chambers 10-8, 4-6, 9-7. The measure of Lenglen's subsequent
advance to the stage of invincibility was shown at Wimbledon
a year later, when against the same opponent she won In 1925, she won Wimbledon for the loss of a mere five
games, this coming after she had been forced to miss the
1924 Championships because of illness, early signs of the
stress which was undermining her health. Someone who could
not bear to be beaten, she had consequently lost the ability
to enjoy winning. Lenglen's only tournament defeat occurred in her one bid
for the US title in 1921. She travelled to New York, intending
not to play tennis but to raise funds for the regions of
France devastated by the war. Having lost the first set 6-2 Lenglen collapsed with a coughing fit and defaulted, jeered off court. She was later diagnosed as having whooping cough. Lenglen's last Wimbledon in 1926 ended in similar turmoil, but just prior to that she played perhaps her most famous match, in the Cannes tournament against Helen Wills, who would become her rival for the crown of greatest player between the wars. Lenglen won that one 6-3, 8-6. It was the only time they met. At Wimbledon Lenglen progressed serenely into the third round, when Queen Mary turned up to watch. Due to a mix-up, Lenglen was not informed of her starting time and kept the Queen waiting for an hour. The All England Club wanted to default her, but other players managed to persuade them to allow her to remain in the draw. However, when she was booed for a perceived insult to the monarchy, Lenglen decided to withdraw. It was her farewell, and a wretched one, from a tournament she had dominated so effortlessly. Written by Ronald Atkin SUZANNE LENGLEN Singles Champion: 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1925 |
