Suzanne Lenglen
Encyclopedia
Suzanne Rachel Flore Lenglen (24 May 1899, Compiègne
, Oise
– 4 July 1938) was a French tennis
player who won 31 Championship titles between 1914 and 1926. 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.
, department of the Oise
, north of Paris. During her youth, she suffered from numerous health problems including chronic asthma
, which also plagued her at a later age. 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.
Only four years after her first tennis strokes, Lenglen played in the final of the 1914
French Championships, aged only 14 (the tournament was only open to members of French clubs until 1925). She lost to reigning champion Marguerite Broquedis
in the final 5–7, 6–4, 6–3. That same year, she won the World Hard Court Championships
held at Saint-Cloud
, turning 15 during the tournament. 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.
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.
Not only her performances on the court 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. Staid Brits 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. 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.
. 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 U.S. 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.
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 U.S. Open winner 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.
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 U.S. 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 criticized 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?"
. Only three weeks later, she went blind. She died of pernicious anemia
on 4 July 1938. She is buried in the Cimetière de Saint-Ouen
at Saint-Ouen
near Paris.
, 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.
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).
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.
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.
NH = tournament not held.
A = did not participate in the tournament.
SR = the ratio of the number of championship singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.
1Until 1924, the French Championships were open only to French nationals. A separate tournament, the World Hard Court Championships (WHCC), actually played on clay in Paris or Brussels, began in 1912 and were open to all nationalities. The results from that tournament are shown here for 1914 and from 1920 through 1923. The Olympics replaced the WHCC in 1924, as the Olympics were held in Paris. Beginning in 1925, the French Championships were open to all nationalities, with the results shown here beginning with that year.
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. 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 sport 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.
Compiègne
Compiègne is a city in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise.The city is located along the Oise River...
, Oise
Oise
Oise is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise.-History:Oise is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
– 4 July 1938) was a French tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
player who won 31 Championship titles between 1914 and 1926. 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.
Early life
A daughter of Charles and Anaïs Lenglen, Suzanne Lenglen was born in CompiègneCompiègne
Compiègne is a city in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise.The city is located along the Oise River...
, department of the Oise
Oise
Oise is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise.-History:Oise is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
, north of Paris. During her youth, she suffered from numerous health problems including chronic asthma
Asthma
Asthma is the common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and bronchospasm. Symptoms include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath...
, which also plagued her at a later age. 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
Marest-sur-Matz
Marest-sur-Matz is a small village in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise.-References:*...
. 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.
Only four years after her first tennis strokes, Lenglen played in the final of the 1914
1914 in sports
-American football:College championship* College football national championship –Auburn Tigers, Army Black Knights, Illinois Fighting Illini and Texas Longhorns -Association football:England...
French Championships, aged only 14 (the tournament was only open to members of French clubs until 1925). She lost to reigning champion Marguerite Broquedis
Marguerite Broquedis
Marguerite Broquedis was a French female tennis player.She was born in Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques and died in Orléans.Broquedis won the Gold Medal at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics....
in the final 5–7, 6–4, 6–3. That same year, she won the World Hard Court Championships
World Hard Court Championships
World Hard Court Championships, frequently considered as the precursor to the French Open was held from 1912 till 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. The venue, was the clay courts of the Stade Français in Saint-Cloud, with one exception, namely 1922, when they were held at the Royal Leopold...
held at Saint-Cloud
Saint-Cloud
Saint-Cloud is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris.Like other communes of the Hauts-de-Seine such as Marnes-la-Coquette, Neuilly-sur-Seine or Vaucresson, Saint-Cloud is one of the wealthiest cities in France, ranked 22nd out of the 36500 in...
, turning 15 during the tournament. 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
1920 in sports
-American football:NFL championship* 17 September — the National Football League is founded as the American Professional Football Association at Canton, Ohio; it is a coalition of teams primarily from the Ohio League, New York Pro Football League, the Chicago football circuit, and other teams in...
, but Wimbledon was, again, organised for 1919. Lenglen entered the tournament — her first on grass
Grass court
A grass court is one of the four different types of tennis court. Grass courts are made of rye grass in different compositions depending on the tournament...
— 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
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
and Queen Mary
Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V....
. 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.
Not only her performances on the court 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. Staid Brits also were in shock at the boldness of the French woman who also casually sipped brandy
Brandy
Brandy is a spirit produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35%–60% alcohol by volume and is typically taken as an after-dinner drink...
between sets.
At the 1920 Summer Olympics
1920 Summer Olympics
The 1920 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event in 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium....
in Antwerp (Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
), 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
Dorothy Holman
Edith Dorothy Holman was a British tennis player who competed in the 1920 Summer Olympics.Holman was born in Kilburn, London. In 1920 she won the silver medal in the singles event as well as in the doubles competition with her partner Geraldine Beamish...
of Britain. She then teamed up with Max Décugis
Max Décugis
Maxime "Max" Omer Decugis was a male tennis player from France who holds the French Championships/French Open record of winning the tournament eight times and his three Olympic medals at the 1900 Summer Olympics and the 1920 Summer Olympics...
to win another gold medal in the mixed doubles. She was eliminated in a women's doubles semifinal (playing with Élisabeth d'Ayen
Élisabeth d'Ayen
Élisabeth d'Ayen Macready was a French tennis player who competed in the Olympic games in 1920. She won the bronze medal, along with Suzanne Lenglen, in the women's doubles competition in Antwerp.-References:...
) 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. 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
Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Simone Mauresmo ; is a French former professional tennis player, and a former World No. 1. Mauresmo won two Grand Slam singles titles at the Australian Open and at Wimbledon....
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 U.S ChampionshipsU.S. Open (tennis)
The US Open, formally the United States Open Tennis Championships, is a hardcourt tennis tournament which is the modern iteration of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, the U.S. National Championship, which for men's singles was first contested in 1881...
. 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
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
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 U.S. Championships. Because of immense public pressure, she agreed to play in the tournament despite suffering from what was diagnosed later as whooping cough
Pertussis
Pertussis, also known as whooping cough , is a highly contagious bacterial disease caused by Bordetella pertussis. Symptoms are initially mild, and then develop into severe coughing fits, which produce the namesake high-pitched "whoop" sound in infected babies and children when they inhale air...
. 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.
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 19261926 in sports
-American football:NFL championship* Frankford Yellow Jackets win the National Football League championship with a league record of 14–1–1College championship...
tournament at the Carlton Club in Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
, she played her only match against Helen Wills
Helen Wills Moody
Helen Newington Wills Roark , also known as Helen Wills Moody, was an American tennis player. She has been described as "the first American born woman to achieve international celebrity as an athlete."-Biography:...
. The 20-year-old American was already a two-time U.S. Open winner 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
Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V....
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
Aristocracy
Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...
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 $United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
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 U.S. 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
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
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
Stade de Roland Garros
Le Stade de Roland Garros is a tennis venue located in Paris, France. It hosts the French Open tennis tournament , a Grand Slam event played annually in May and June. The facility was constructed in 1928 to host France's first defense of the Davis Cup...
, 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 criticized widely for her decision to turn professional, and the All England Club at Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
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?"
Later life
In June 1938, the French press announced that Lenglen had been diagnosed with leukemiaLeukemia
Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
. Only three weeks later, she went blind. She died of pernicious anemia
Pernicious anemia
Pernicious anemia is one of many types of the larger family of megaloblastic anemias...
on 4 July 1938. She is buried in the Cimetière de Saint-Ouen
Cimetière de Saint-Ouen
The Saint-Ouen Cemetery is located just north of Montmartre at Saint-Ouen, near Paris, France. The cemetery consists of two parts. The first, located on Rue Adrien Lesesne opened in 1860 and the second at 2 Avenue Michelet was opened on September 1, 1872....
at Saint-Ouen
Saint-Ouen, Seine-Saint-Denis
Saint-Ouen is a commune in the Seine-Saint-Denis department. It is located in the northern suburbs of Paris, France 6.6 km from the centre of Paris....
near Paris.
Achievements
According to Wallis Myers of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily MailDaily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
, 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.
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).
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 The Championships, Wimbledon The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors... |
(6) 1919/1920/1921/1922/1923/1925 | (6) 1919/1920/1921/1922/1923/1925 | (3) 1920/1922/1925 |
Wins (12)
| Year | Championship | Opponent in final1 | Score in final1 |
| 1914 | World Hard Court Championships World Hard Court Championships World Hard Court Championships, frequently considered as the precursor to the French Open was held from 1912 till 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. The venue, was the clay courts of the Stade Français in Saint-Cloud, with one exception, namely 1922, when they were held at the Royal Leopold... |
 Germaine Golding |
6–3, 6–2 |
| 1919 | Wimbledon |  Dorothea DouglassDorothea Douglass Chambers Dorothea Katherine Lambert Chambers was an English female tennis player who was born in Guayamas, Ealing in the United Kingdom.-Biography:... |
10-8, 4–6, 9–7 |
| 1920 | Wimbledon (2) | Dorothea Douglass |
6–3, 6–0 |
| 1921 | World Hard Court Championships (2) |  Molla Bjurstedt Mallory |
6–2, 6–3 |
| 1921 | Wimbledon (3) | Elizabeth Ryan Elizabeth Ryan Elizabeth Montague Ryan was an American tennis player who was born in Anaheim, California but lived most of her life in the United Kingdom. Ryan won 30 Grand Slam titles. Nineteen of those titles were in women's doubles and mixed doubles at Wimbledon, an all-time record for those two events... |
6–2, 6–0 |
| 1922 | World Hard Court Championships (3) | Elizabeth Ryan |
6–3, 6–2 |
| 1922 | Wimbledon (4) | Molla Bjurstedt Mallory |
6–2, 6–0 |
| 1923 | World Hard Court Championships (4) | Kathleen McKane Godfree Kathleen McKane Godfree Kathleen "Kitty" McKane Godfree was a British female tennis and badminton player.... |
6–2, 6–3 |
| 1923 | Wimbledon (5) | Kathleen McKane Godfree |
6–2, 6–2 |
| 1925 | French Championships (5) | Kathleen McKane Godfree |
6–1, 6–2 |
| 1925 | Wimbledon (6) | Joan Fry Lakeman |
6–2, 6–0 |
| 1926 | French Championships (6) | Mary Browne Mary Browne Mary Kendall Browne was the first American female professional tennis player, a World No. 1 amateur tennis player, and an amateur golfer... |
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.
Championship 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 French Open (tennis) The French Open |Roland Garros]]) is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks between late May and early June in Paris, France, at the Stade Roland Garros. It is the premier clay court tennis tournament in the world and the second of the four annual Grand Slam tournaments – the other three are... 1 |
W | NH | NH | NH | NH | NH | 1R | W | W | W | NH | W | W | 6 / 7 |
| Wimbledon The Championships, Wimbledon The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors... |
A | NH | NH | NH | NH | W | W | W | W | W | SF | W | 3R | 6 / 8 |
| United States U.S. Open (tennis) The US Open, formally the United States Open Tennis Championships, is a hardcourt tennis tournament which is the modern iteration of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, the U.S. National Championship, which for men's singles was first contested in 1881... |
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 |
NH = tournament not held.
A = did not participate in the tournament.
SR = the ratio of the number of championship singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.
1Until 1924, the French Championships were open only to French nationals. A separate tournament, the World Hard Court Championships (WHCC), actually played on clay in Paris or Brussels, began in 1912 and were open to all nationalities. The results from that tournament are shown here for 1914 and from 1920 through 1923. The Olympics replaced the WHCC in 1924, as the Olympics were held in Paris. Beginning in 1925, the French Championships were open to all nationalities, with the results shown here beginning with that year.
Legacy
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
International Tennis Hall of Fame
The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. The hall of fame and honors players and contributors to the sport of tennis and includes a museum, grass tennis courts, an indoor tennis facility, and a court tennis facility.-History:The hall of fame and...
in 1978
1978 in sports
1978 in sports describes the year's events in world sport.-Alpine skiing:* Alpine Skiing World Cup** Men's overall season champion: Ingemar Stenmark, Sweden** Women's overall season champion: Hanni Wenzel, Liechtenstein-American football:...
, 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 finalTennis performance timeline comparison (women)This article presents in a tabular form the career tennis Grand Slam, World Hard Court Championships and Olympic singles results of every woman who has reached the singles final of at least one Grand Slam, World Hard Court Championships or Olympic tournament during her career...