Suzanne Lenglen vs Helen Wills - 1926 Cannes, France

Suzanne Lenglen and Helen Wills played only once, at a small tournament in the south of France in 1926. It was billed as the Match of the Century, and 3000 spectators and media from all over the world crammed into the stands at the Carlton Club. Lenglen won the first set 6-3 and led 6-5 40-15, and on the next point she thought she won the match when she heard an "Out" call on one of Wills' drives. As spectators crowded the court and bouquets of flowers were given to the victor, a linesman made his way through the crowd to tell the chair umpire that the "Out" call came from someone in the stands, and that the ball was actually good. When Lenglen heard this she was mortified but said, "Then we must continue playing." The court was cleared, and play resumed. Wills won the game to tie the set at 6-6, then Lenglen needed to call on all of her reserves to win the next two games for the match. In this video, you will see Lenglen (left side of screen) shake hands with Wills as photographers crowd the court. Then you will see Wills put on her dark sweater, and then remove it. There is then another sequence of photographers coming onto the court, and if you look closely you will see that Lenglen is now on the right side of the screen when the two players shake hands (for the seond time). For a great book on Lenglen and Wills and this match, read Larry Engelmann's The Goddess and the American Girl.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Lenglen
• Wills

[kalipono1]

Thank you for posting this on youtube. I am a direct descendant of Helen Wills and am part Hawaiian living in Hawaii. My grandmother is Wills. Such an honor and in awe of seeing this footage. Many thanks.

[frozerox04]

LOVE IT! <3

[tobilinooo]

@SRWB10

a lenglen and a moody today would play with the modern technic,modern rackets etc...the players from today like williams etc. would play in the 20s with wood-rackets and with the old technic...we are children of our time.

[the1musiclad]

@SRWB10 - with modern equipment and training they could have. It was a different game then. You wouldn't catch modern female tennis players playing in long skirts either would you?

[SRWB10]

Lenglen & Wills are certainly legends but would have had no chance on court against even the #100 female tennis player in the world today

[skorpyon75000]

0_o ...

[ROOOOOOSx3]

wow see how she NOT uses her legs!

[BCNbananas]

...and just think if Babe Didrikson Zaharias had been allowed to play amateur tennis. She was deemed professional because she had been professional in another sport. I think she would've smoked 'em all.

[yagl0urt]

@chrisrei10

for me she was not uglier than any english woman

(see her picture on wikipedia)

[gurranes1]

Love the costume. Interesting how she hardly uses her legs at all to power the stroke. But the upper body part - the big follow through - looks very modern.