Suzanne Rachel Flore Lenglen (1899 – 1938), French tennis player nicknamed the Divine, was the first international female tennis star. One of the main courts of the Roland Garros stadium bears his name.
First tennis championships
Daughter of Anaïse Dhainault and Charles Servais Adolphe Lenglen, Suzanne Lenglen was born in Paris on May 24, 1899. In 1910, when Suzanne was in fragile health, her father gave her a racket so that she could play sports and have fun on the family tennis court. In view of his obvious talent and his pleasure in playing, his father decided to train him. Thanks to intensive training and by joining the Nice tennis club, she progressed rapidly and, very quickly, her career took off.
In 1912, at age 13, she played her first senior tournament. In 1913, she teamed up in mixed doubles with world champion Anthony Wilding. In 1914, she reached the final of the Roland Garros tournament. The same year, she won the world clay court championships in Saint-Cloud.
The First World War put an end to most tournaments but Suzanne continued her training, playing in particular with male partners and progressing physically and technically.
Victory at Wimbledon and Roland Garros
In 1919, the Wimbledon tournament resumed. Suzanne Lenglen meets six-time title winner Dorothy Lambert Chambers there. In front of an audience of 8,000 people including the King and Queen of England, she plays an epic and fierce match during which she saves two match points and ends up winning. That year, she also made headlines by drinking brandy between sets and wearing short skirts while the other players wore long outfits.
In 1920, at the Summer Olympics in Antwerp (Belgium), she won the gold medal in singles and mixed doubles as well as the bronze medal in doubles. From 1919 to 1926, she won 241 titles including 81 in singles, including 6 times Wimbledon, 7 times Roland Garros and 5 times the international championships on clay. During this period, she only lost one match, by abandonment. She also plays exhibition matches in the United States to raise funds for the war-torn regions of France.
In 1926-1927, Suzanne went on a professional tour of the United States. In February 1927, she returned to Paris where she opened a tennis school, recognized as a federal training center by the French Tennis Federation in 1936. In June 1938, the press announced that Suzanne Lenglen had leukemia. She died on July 4, 1938.