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| ISBN-13: | 9781937559182 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | New Chapter Press, Incorporated |
| Publication date: | 06/01/2012 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 520 |
| File size: | 4 MB |
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The Greatest Tennis Matches of All Time
By Steve Flink
New Chapter Press
Copyright © 2015 Steve FlinkAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-937559-18-2
CHAPTER 1
Suzanne Lenglen vs. Helen Wills
CANNES, FRANCE, FINAL, FEBRUARY 16, 1926
A mythic Frenchwoman plays a young American in what was to be their only meeting. It would never be forgotten.
PROLOGUE
No tennis match played between two women across the storied history of the game has been more eagerly anticipated than the extraordinary meeting between Helen Wills of California against the Frenchwoman, Suzanne Lenglen, at Cannes on February 16, 1926. They were the two leading players of their era, and they also would be recognized by the cognoscenti as the best in the first half of the century. When they clashed for the only time in their distinguished careers that morning in Cannes, Lenglen was fast approaching twenty-seven and had suffered only a single defeat in the decade. She was a tightly-strung woman, entirely conscious of her fame and popularity, ruled by her deep emotions, as theatrical and graceful as any tennis player has ever been. As the renowned dress designer and historian Ted Tinling observed, "Suzanne was treated like Cleopatra in those days."
Wills was hardly less celebrated, but decidedly more understated as a personality. She was twenty and still a student at the University of California when she took a semester off to travel to France for appearances in a series of tournaments leading up dramatically to a showdown with Lenglen. Wills had already secured three consecutive U.S. Championships at Forest Hills (1923-25) and had established herself unequivocally as the lone authentic threat to Lenglen's enduring supremacy. While Lenglen was known to display her emotions vividly and unrestrainedly, Wills was stoic and stern, unwilling to reveal much about her feelings. She was classified by sportswriters as "Little Miss Poker Face."
The two protagonists were brought up on opposite sides of the ocean by parents with contrasting plans and priorities. Lenglen's father Charles was a wealthy pharmacist who drove his daughter forcefully in the direction of technical and tactical excellence. From the outset, he demanded that Suzanne demonstrate unerring accuracy with her ground strokes. She was admonished that hitting any stroke into the net was an unforgivable mistake, an automatic loss of a point, a self-inflicted wound. Charles Lenglen insisted it was much less a risk to hit within inches of the baseline because you might get the benefit of a good call on a shot that was possibly out.
Charles Lenglen was a perfectionist, placing handkerchiefs at specific locations just inside the baseline and sidelines, testing Suzanne's patience and precision, making her strive for difficult targets. She was unmistakably groomed for success, trained to be a champion by a parent who believed unabashedly that she should settle for nothing less than the best. She responded favorably to his large goals and made them her own.
Wills was guided by parents who were pleased by the prospect of her playing tennis, but she developed an interest in the competitive game largely on her own. Her father, Dr. Clarence Wills, practiced medicine in Berkeley, California. The family lived modestly and did not want to stand in the way of her immense talent once she blossomed on the court as a teenager. But they did not anticipate her worldwide fame and prestige in that arena, not by a longshot. Helen Wills recalled in 1986, when she was eighty, that it was a considerable struggle to get her parents' consent to make the journey to France for the Lenglen confrontation sixty years earlier. "My father didn't see much point in it," she reflected. "And my mother did not want me to go. I don't know why they thought it was the end of the world to leave college for a term and go to the south of France. I almost cried I wanted to go so much. I begged and begged until my parents gave in, and looking back all that fuss doesn't make any sense at all."
Those strong sentiments were released six decades after the shining occasion, when perhaps some of the luster had been lost. But when Wills left California in January 1926 on a one week journey by boat to face a formidable world-class adversary for the first time, she knew she was on a mission, and recognized the need to follow her instincts and widen the range of her tennis aspirations. Neither Wills nor Lenglen could possibly predict how long their imminent contest would live in the public imagination, nor could they know that this would be a solitary experience, a one-time battle for supremacy that would not be repeated.
As the reigning queen of international tennis, Lenglen was prepared for her collision with Wills, and determined to stage this crucial event in her own country, on the slow red clay courts that she preferred. It was no accident that Wills was required to confront Lenglen in France rather than in the United States, or in a neutral place. Wills was forced to endure the long week of travel and then gradually adjust to her foreign surroundings while practicing for the Cannes tournament. Lenglen was right where she wanted to be, in her home land, on her favorite slow courts, bolstered by the notion of appearing in front of an audience who would bathe her in the warm fountain of sustained applause.
The dramatic buildup in the several weeks preceding Cannes was palpable. Here was Lenglen, a ferocious yet fragile competitor, a woman with a strong need to control her environment, to set the agenda in every sense. She had appeared only once at the U.S. Championships, coming to Forest Hills in 1921, leaving the courts in tears and turmoil after losing the first set of her match with Molla Mallory, defaulting the match as a severe cold weakened her stamina. Lenglen was so shattered by that experience that she never returned to Forest Hills despite the undeniable significance of that championship.
Wills, meanwhile, had played the vast majority of her tournaments in the United States, competing at Wimbledon only once, in 1924. She had yet to make her mark at that fabled place where Lenglen had succeeded so handsomely over the years. The stylish Frenchwoman moved about the court like a ballerina, and had been victorious on the Wimbledon grass courts during six of the previous seven years.
Both women had performed brilliantly on different continents, but their paths had not yet crossed anywhere in the world. Now, in the winter of 1926, at a time when the game of tennis was clearly on the ascendancy, the imperious Lenglen and the quietly imposing Wills had made an appointment to share a court at last. Neither woman would experience anything quite like this confrontation again.
THE MATCH
The stage was set at the Carlton Club tournament on the well-kept red clay courts in Cannes. The players were ready. But, as if by design, raising the level of the drama surrounding the proceedings to nearly impossible heights, nature intervened. After Lenglen and Wills easily recorded semifinal victories to reach the final without the loss of a set, rain fell steadily for two days and postponed the alluring match-up. By then, the battle and its significance had reached almost mythical proportions in the worldwide press, and with the football season finished and baseball not yet underway, America attached immense curiosity and passion to the match. It was a story that virtually wrote itself in the sports sections of newspapers all across the United States.
The small club in Cannes could only accommodate about one-thousand spectators, but others looked down from trees surrounding the facility and still more crowded near the fence behind the court to get at least a partial view of the play. With a scarcity of tickets available for afficionados, an Englishwoman bought up a bundle of them and sold them for as much as $50 apiece — an exorbitant sum in those days.
Ultimately, the weather cleared and the sun was shining as Lenglen and Wills walked on the court at 11 a.m. on a Saturday morning in February of 1926, for their historic showdown. The officials for this important contest were chosen carefully with the full consent of both participants, and the linesmen included Lord Charles Hope and Cyril Tolley, a revered golf champion from Great Britain. Commander George Hillyard — a distinguished veteran who had called many Wimbledon finals — was given the great honor of presiding as umpire. The presence of these Englishmen gave the occasion an air of essential integrity, providing at the very least the appearance of impartiality in the decision making.
Briefly, at the outset, Wills gave Lenglen cause for consternation. The American broke serve for a 2-1 lead by exploiting her superior strength and power off the ground, but then Lenglen retaliated, displaying better ball control than her adversary. With a concentrated run of superb backcourt craft, Lenglen moved to a 4-2 lead. Wills stood her ground stubbornly and took the seventh game to close the gap. At that critical stage Lenglen asserted herself, conceding only two more points in the next two games to seal the set, 6-3. But playing this remarkable brand of tennis against such an accomplished rival was already taking its toll on Lenglen, who sipped brandy at the changeovers to calm her nerves.
In the second set, the pattern of play shifted in this engrossing spectacle. Wills began to rule the rallies with her potent strokes off both wings, forcing her foe into mistakes and coming up with the winner when she had the opening. The American grew visibly more confident and became much bolder in the process as she built a 3-1 lead, but then temporized and lost her edge. With Wills drifting dangerously into caution, Lenglen reestablished her authority and drew level at 3-3, seemingly within striking distance of victory. But the strain was increasingly evident in her demeanor and she walked to her chair at the side of the court to take sips of brandy after psychologically strenuous points, no longer waiting for the changeovers.
Wills was well aware that she was still very much in the match, and recognized that a third set could prove fatal for her fragile foe. The American moved ahead 4-3, then held her penetrating and skillfully placed serve again to reach 5-4. Lenglen was in an agitated state during this stretch, admonishing a boisterous audience to keep quiet, advertising her instability with her actions. But remarkably Lenglen lifted her game once more to take a 6-5, 40-15, double-match-point lead. Not afraid to lose and still believing she could prevail, the imperturbable Wills walloped a forehand crosscourt for an apparent winner. Both players heard an emphatic cry of "Out!" from the corner of the court. They assumed the ball had gone beyond the line and believed their battle was over.
An exhilarated Lenglen threw a ball in the air in celebration as she came forward to shake Wills's hand, feeling certain she had completed her mission. To her considerable chagrin, she had not. Linesman Hope came forward, pushing his way through the flocking fans, urgently trying to get the attention of Commander Hillyard. When he finally reached the chair umpire, Hope explained that he had not made that call on the sideline, that in fact it had been an overly excited spectator who had screamed "Out." Hope confirmed that Wills's scorching shot had been just inside the sideline for a winner.
Hillyard clarified the situation for the players and bewildered fans, and after a brief uproar, play resumed with a shaken Lenglen now at 40-30, still at match point. Wills was neither euphoric nor distracted by her second chance to succeed; she simply got on with her task, calm and resolute. She produced a crackling forehand that Lenglen could not return, and moments later was back in business at 6-6.
Lenglen's legion of supporters, and indeed the champion herself, were apprehensive as a revived Wills served. The American sensed the possibility of bringing about a third set. In a long and extraordinarily hard-fought game, Wills had a point for 7-6. She seemed to have gained the upper hand. She believed she was heading toward a sparkling triumph.
But Lenglen was not willing to let go. She fought valiantly to hold Wills back, and broke serve for 7-6. With that burst of effective shot-making, Lenglen successfully negotiated a second chance to serve for the match. She thoughtfully probed the Wills arsenal, breaking down the American's backhand, arriving at 40-30 and a third match point. Then a first-serve fault. Lenglen paused before hitting her second serve, then tossed. It was a double fault.
Had she squandered too many pivotal chances? Was the game's greatest match player losing her renowned ability to play her best under pressure? She answered those questions without hesitation, moving back to match point for the fourth time, then opening up the court with a deep forehand crosscourt, following with a clean winner into a wide open space.
That last perfect placement gave Lenglen a 6-3, 8-6 triumph — in precisely one hour. This time Lenglen knew her victory was official as she ran up to the net to greet Wills. The Frenchwoman seemed to float on the sounds of an ovation, surrounded by friends and admirers, clutching flowers like a ballerina. Wills — so gallant and poised in defeat, able to detach herself and witness the wild jubilation around Lenglen with fascination rather than frustration — picked up her belongings a few minutes later and departed, almost unnoticed by the swarming Lenglen fans. Wills understood this was France, where Lenglen was larger than life. The American was not feeling sorry for herself, and she unreluctantly admired the persistence and artistry her opponent had exhibited.
"It had to be the most dramatic match I've ever seen," said Tinling, who was fifteen when he witnessed this clash, and subsequently saw more great matches (before his death in 1990) than any other authority. "There will never be anything quite like it again with the whole tra-la-la of the buildup. Suzanne and Helen was the first big show business match in the history of tennis, a sort of precursor for Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in 1973. If there was one match I could go back and see again, Lenglen-Wills would be it."
EPILOGUE
The consensus among the experts of the time was that Lenglen and Wills would renew their rivalry frequently, and perhaps rekindle some of the magic evident in their Cannes showdown. But the two superb performers never faced each other again. Wills remained in Europe that winter and spring of 1926, and it seemed inevitable that she would confront Lenglen in the final of the French Championships in June. That would have been another tense encounter on red clay, but this time the stakes would have been even higher with a major championship on the line. As fortune would have it, in the middle of the tournament Wills was stricken with severe stomach pain and sent to the hospital, where she had an emergency appendectomy.
That setback kept Wills out of action for the rest of the major tournaments that season, and removed her from the circuit altogether. Lenglen, meanwhile, went through a crisis of her own. After winning that French Championship easily, with Wills not in her path, she went to Wimbledon in search of a seventh singles title. She was scheduled for an early-round match with Queen Mary in attendance, but a major misunderstanding occurred and Lenglen did not turn up at the scheduled hour. When she was informed later that afternoon that she had kept the queen waiting, a disconsolate Lenglen could not bear the pain of her mistake, and fainted. She pulled out of the tournament, humiliated by what had happened, unable to get over the embarrassment. That summer, Lenglen signed a contract to play on the first professional tennis tour in the United States, winning all thirty-eight of her head-to-head contests with Mary K. Browne of the United States. But with Wills remaining an amateur and still competing for the great traditional prizes, it was no longer possible for the two superstars to meet each other in official competition.
Wills arrived at the peak of her powers in the years ahead. Between 1927 and 1938, she won eight Wimbledon singles titles — a record until Martina Navratilova broke it in 1990 — and collected fifty match victories in a row. That mark has never been equaled in men's or women's play on the fabled lawns of the All England Club.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Greatest Tennis Matches of All Time by Steve Flink. Copyright © 2015 Steve Flink. Excerpted by permission of New Chapter Press.
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Table of Contents
Contents
1 SUZANNE LENGLEN vs. HELEN WILLS,2 BILL TILDEN vs. HENRI COCHET,
3 HELEN WILLS MOODY vs. HELEN JACOBS,
4 FRED PERRY vs. ELLSWORTH VINES,
5 DON BUDGE vs. BARON GOTTFRIED VON CRAMM,
6 JACK KRAMER vs. DON BUDGE,
7 MAUREEN CONNOLLY vs. DORIS HART,
8 LEW HOAD vs. TONY TRABERT,
9 PANCHO GONZALES vs. LEW HOAD,
10 MARIA BUENO vs. MARGARET SMITH,
11 ROD LAVER vs. TONY ROCHE,
12 PANCHO GONZALES vs. CHARLIE PASARELL,
13 BILLIE JEAN MOFFITT KING vs MARGARET SMITH COURT,
14 ROD LAVER vs. KEN ROSEWALL,
15 STAN SMITH vs. ILIE NASTASE,
16 BILLIE JEAN KING vs. EVONNE GOOLAGONG,
17 ARTHUR ASHE vs. JIMMY CONNORS,
18 JIMMY CONNORS vs. BJORN BORG,
19 BJORN BORG vs. JOHN MCENROE,
20 CHRIS EVERT vs. MARTINA NAVRATILOVA,
21 JOHN MCENROE vs. MATS WILANDER,
22 MARTINA NAVRATILOVA vs. CHRIS EVERT,
23 STEFFI GRAF vs. MONICA SELES,
24 BORIS BECKER vs. PETE SAMPRAS,
25 MARTINA HINGIS vs. STEFFI GRAF,
26 ANDRE AGASSI vs. PETE SAMPRAS,
27 JENNIFER CAPRIATI vs. JUSTINE HENIN,
28 SERENA WILLIAMS vs. MARIA SHARAPOVA,
29 ROGER FEDERER vs. RAFAEL NADAL,
30 ANDY RODDICK vs. ROGER FEDERER,
31 RAFAEL NADAL vs. NOVAK DJOKOVIC,
32 HONORABLE MENTION MATCHES,
33 RANKING THE GREATEST MATCHES OF ALL TIME,
34 THE BEST PLAYERS OF ALL TIME,
35 THE BEST SHOTS OF ALL TIME,
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS,