Strange But True: Father Knows Best

Charles Lenglen was a wealthy Frenchman, and like all doting fathers, he wanted his daughter, Suzanne, to be accepted socially. He noticed that tennis stars who came to the Riviera were always well treated. Mr. Lenglen was determined to see his daughter become a tennis champion. He decided to teach her himself.

But Papa Lenglen knew little about tennis, so first he had to learn the game. He became a passable player. He also observed how the best players used their strokes. He borrowed their methods, imitating the service technique of one player, the backhand of another, and the forehand of someone else. He drilled his daughter in footwork and volleying.

Suzanne was only 11 years old when her father began to train her. Sometimes he would bribe Suzanne to keep the child on her toes. He would place a handkerchief on the court and offer her five francs if she could hit it with her serve.

Young Suzanne rose through the tennis ranks rapidly. From 1917 to 1926 she lost just one match, and then only because she was sick. From 1919 to 1923 she won the singles championship at Wimbledon. She defaulted because of illness in 1924, but returned to Wimbledon in 1925. It was then that Suzanne Lenglen played the kind of game that stunned the world of tennis.

She won both of the first two preliminary matches by scores of 6-0, 6-0. Neither of her opponents won a single game. In the quarterfinals her opponent fell, 6-0 and 6-0. In the semifinals the scores were no different.

In the finals she played Joan Fry of England. Fry won two games in the first set, but that was the best she could do. Suzanne won, 6-2, 6-0.

Suzanne Lenglen had won her sixth Wimbledon championship without losing a single set!