Suzanne Lenglen

Background

Suzanne Rachel Flore Lenglen was born on May 24, 1899, in Compiegne, France. She is of French and Flemish ancestry. Her father, Charles, and mother, Anais, reared Lenglen in a pleasant, middle-class home. Lenglen and her father admired tennis players on the French Riviera for their skill and social status. Her father was engrossed in the players’ strategies and moves. When Lenglen requested a racket, he bought her a cheap one, assuming that her desire was a transitory fancy. He bought a more expensive racket and had a custom backboard made for her to practice against within a month. Her father opted to teach her herself because there were few tennis instructors in the area. He felt it wasn’t fit for his active, eager daughter after watching women of the time play a calm, cautious positioning style of game. He chose to teach his daughter in this manner after watching the men’s more aggressive style of play. Her father’s unforeseen consequence was the revolutionization of women’s tennis. He taught his daughter to play with the strength and speed of a man, but with the grace of a lady, because he didn’t have a female role model. Her father had enough faith in his daughter by the fall of 1910 to seek membership at the exclusive Nice Tennis Club. She was the first youngster to be granted temporary membership.

Her father designed a training program that involved not only repeating the same shot until it was mastered but also physical conditioning exercises like jumping rope, performing wind sprints, and swimming. He also sought out male players with whom she might hit. His techniques frequently left his daughter exhausted. World War I broke out soon after, and most tennis competitions were halted. Despite this, Lenglen was able to play with several male tennis stars in Nice who were recovering from their injuries, and she was able to keep up her stringent practice schedule. Lenglen became a national hero and a role model for women in France. Elizabeth Ryan, an American expatriate residing in England who would go on to win 19 doubles titles at Wimbledon, was her only genuine competition before the final round. Lenglen dominated Wimbledon for the next three years.

From 1927 through 1932, Lenglen was in a long-term relationship with Baldwin Baldwin but they never married. Lenglen published four tennis books. Her first book, “Lawn Tennis for Girls,” featured skills and tactics for beginner tennis players. She died on July 4, 1938, at the age of 39, due to pernicious anemia and was laid to rest in the Cimetière de Saint-Ouen, which is located just outside of Paris.