Long before Serena Williams, Martina Navratilova, or Chris Evert, a Frenchwoman named Suzanne Lenglen took the world of women’s tennis by storm.
Lenglen thrilled crowds with many never seen before moves. (getty)
Not only did Lenglen dominate her fellow competitors to the tune of 241 titles and a career-winning percentage of 98, but she revolutionized the sport. From the way she played, the way she dressed, and how she comported herself, no one had ever seen a tennis player like Lenglen. Taking sips of Cognac during matches and refusing to bow to British royalty, no tennis player ever, man or woman, blazed a trail quite like Lenglen.
The Arrival Of Lenglen
Lenglen changed tennis for better and for always.
Usually, when a rookie enters the fray of sports, there’s a steep learning curve. Not so for Lenglen. At the precocious age of 20, she defeated Dorothea Lambert Chambers, a titan of sport, in the Wimbledon final of 1919. The performance shocked the crowd of 8,000, including King George V and Queen Mary. She also ruffled more than a few feathers along the way.
Sporting a one-piece cotton dress that scandalously revealed her forearms and ended above her calves, Lenglen announced her presence to the tennis world. During the stunning upset of Chambers, Suzanne took a swig of what was later to be revealed as cognac. Sitting courtside her father also tapped his umbrella “secretly”, coaching her during the match, a brazen sidestepping of the rules. Nevertheless, her 10-8, 4-6, 9-7 victory made her a hero in France.
A French Treasure
Lenglen displaying her impressive athleticism. (getty)
Lenglen’s victory came right on the heels of World War I when France desperately needed a hero. The French press nicknamed her la Divine, the Goddess. She became a symbol of national pride and gained celebrity status equal to just about anyone in Europe be it a movie star, singer or politician. While adulation and acclaim came quickly, the skills that took her to the top did not. Her father, Charles Lenglen, pushed the game upon his daughter until she became a star.
American author Larry Engelmann, who wrote a biography on the star, detailed, "It was a brave journalist who dared to write one word of criticism concerning her activities. And whenever some journalist did make a rare error in judgment and published something even slightly unflattering about the Goddess, he was immediately denounced by other journalists and his story passionately refuted. Such a newsman was ridiculed not simply as a fool, but as an enemy of Suzanne Lenglen, of sport and of France."
Through Blood, Sweat, And Tears
Her dominance over her peers was never replicated again.
He described her father as “Suzanne's father, teacher, trainer, advisor, coach, agent, manager, protector, mentor and, at times, even her tormentor.” During training sessions, he would scream "Fille stupide!" at missed shots, which doesn’t exactly translate into encouragement. Still, the Goddess gained an emotive style of play that spellbound crowds.
Unlike other women, Lenglen served overhand, leaped about like a ballerina, and screamed like an eagle when frustrations arose. However, at the time, even more shocking than her style of play, was the way she dressed.
A Trailblazer
Lenglen's attire helped inspire the fashion of the '20s. (artphotolimited)
People of a bygone era like Bill Tilden remarked, "Her costume struck me as a cross between a prima donna and a streetwalker." “Vogue” on the other hand, described her dress as "extraordinarily chic in the freedom, the suitability, and the excellence of its simple lines." Lenglen let criticism from dinosaurs like Tilden roll off her back.
She would play in full makeup, ermine scarfs, and occasionally fur coats! The tennis queen subscribed to a popular contemporary euphemism, “look good, play good,” and boy, did she ever. Her final record tallied 341-7 over 12 years.
The Lenglen Way
No woman before her dared to show that much skin.
When she came to America in 1921 to play, prohibition had taken effect the year before. However, Lenglen enjoyed a tippling before playing. When tournament officials explained that alcohol was illegal, she refused to play and threatened to return to France. To keep her happy officials supplied her with contraband booze. Her blatant sipping between matches only grew her legend. When she would default a match during the day and be seen out dancing the night away, her star grew to outrageous levels.
On one occasion she lost a set to American star Molla Mallory and began coughing, which led to her retiring from the match. The crowd viciously booed her and officials fumed. A year later at Wimbledon, she faced Mallory again. This time she wiped the floor with her 6-2, 6-0, recording the shortest match in history. Afterwards, she told her opponent, "Now, Mrs. Mallory, I have proved to you today what I could have done to you in New York last year."
Going Pro
Lenglen played with speed and agression previously unknown in women's tennis. (getty)
Back then tennis was considered mostly an amateur sport, played by rich people who considered it above the pettiness of “professionalism.” Lenglen eschewed that ridiculous and ancient belief, turning pro in 1926. At the time she spoke eloquently on the subject:
"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?"
Mysterious Death
The first true counterculture superstar in tennis.
After retiring from tennis, she retired to a villa in Nice. Her mother said she was, "fed up with newspaper talk about her and only wants to be left in peace." Tragically she died in her sleep in 1938; she was only 39 years old. The cause of death was given as pernicious anemia. However, pernicious anemia comes from deficiency in a specific protein. A cure for the ailment was well known by the ‘20s.
As dermatologist Sctot Dinehart put it, "There's no way they wouldn't know to give her liver or liver extracts. It would be like Beyoncé having pernicious anemia and not getting B12—that's not going to happen." Anemia expert Janis Abkowitz explained that she “could make 15 different diagnoses with the paucity of data here." Most likely Lenglen’s death occurred, thanks to her famous love of alcohol.
