Speaker 1: Long before Serena Ash and Naomi, women's tennis was dominated
Speaker 1: by one name. She's been called the world's first female
Speaker 1: sporting celebrity, and in her native France, was known as
Speaker 1: La Devine the Goddess. Her name was Suzanne Longlan. Any
Speaker 1: mention of fashion trends in tennis, a topic that gets
Speaker 1: talked about a lot, inevitably mentioned Suzanne. She was labeled
Speaker 1: indecent and shameless for choosing to swap her corsets and
Speaker 1: bloomer for a one piece cotton dress with a hemline
Speaker 1: sitting just above the calf. But although her ability to
Speaker 1: challenge the sexist norms of tennis outfits was impressive, Suzanne
Speaker 1: deserves recognition for much more than that. Hey, I'm Tony Armstrong.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the pool room. This is where we celebrate
Speaker 1: the winners, losers and the weird stuff between. Like many
Speaker 1: tennis stars, Suzanne Longland's introduction to the sport was largely
Speaker 1: driven by her father, Charles Longland. After watching a few
Speaker 1: tournaments on the Riviera circuit, he bought his daughter a
Speaker 1: toy tennis racket so they could play together on the
Speaker 1: lawn of their family home. Suzanne was just eleven years old,
Speaker 1: but as the sort of kid who was good at
Speaker 1: almost any sport she tried, it was no surprise that
Speaker 1: she turned out to be a natural at tennis. That
Speaker 1: toy racket didn't last long. Charles soon had a proper
Speaker 1: racket made for Suzanne and began training her. Mere months
Speaker 1: after first picking up the sport, she made the finals
Speaker 1: of a competitive local junior tournament, finishing runner up. It
Speaker 1: was clear that Juzsanne was something of a prodigy, and
Speaker 1: her training schedule intensified. Her father, Charles took on the
Speaker 1: role of coach, and he was as strict as they come.
Speaker 1: He pushed her so much that Suzanne would often be
Speaker 1: left in tears by the end of a training session.
Speaker 1: In the early days of tennis, women often played a
Speaker 1: much gentler game, but Charles wasn't having it.
Speaker 2: He trained her to play with aggression.
Speaker 1: The only time Suzanne got a break was when she
Speaker 1: suffered bad bouts of asthma, which became a recurring problem
Speaker 1: throughout her tennis career.
Speaker 2: It was so bad that she'd have periods of illness
Speaker 2: where she couldn't take to the court at all.
Speaker 1: By fifteen years old, Suzanne had won the nineteen to
Speaker 1: fourteen World Hard Court.
Speaker 2: Championships in Paris.
Speaker 1: This was a big deal and she seemed destined for
Speaker 1: success just four years after picking up a tennis record,
Speaker 1: but then the First World War broke out and sports
Speaker 1: were put on hold along with Suzanne's career. She continued
Speaker 1: to train, though, and in nineteen nineteen tennis resumed once again.
Speaker 2: For some players, a five year break.
Speaker 1: From competitive matches could have spelled the end of their ambitions,
Speaker 1: but not Suzanne. She stormed out of the blocks, winning
Speaker 1: her first major title at Wimbledon as a twenty year old.
Speaker 1: It was an epic match, as Suzanne defeated the seven
Speaker 1: time defending champion Dorothea Lambert Chambers in forty four games.
Speaker 1: In the post war period, when people looked to sport
Speaker 1: for symbols of hope and inspiration, Suzanne Longland was that figure,
Speaker 1: and her rise to national and global prominence was swift.
Speaker 1: Much of that had to do with her incredible form.
Speaker 1: She was practically unstoppable. Following her first Wimbledon crown, Suzanne
Speaker 1: lost just one singles match and only dropped three sets
Speaker 1: total for.
Speaker 2: The remainder of her career.
Speaker 1: The key to her dominant stem from her strict training
Speaker 1: regime and the playing.
Speaker 2: Style her father had drilled into her from a young age.
Speaker 1: You see, most women of the era served underhand, but
Speaker 1: Suzanne played like the men, with an overhand serve, the
Speaker 1: normal we see across the game today. It gave her
Speaker 1: a huge advantage.
Speaker 2: She was also becoming a style like on on and
Speaker 2: off the court.
Speaker 1: She was known to turn up for matches looking like
Speaker 1: a nineteen twenties movie star, wearing fur coats and makeup
Speaker 1: and sipping cognac during changeovers, and she pioneered a whole
Speaker 1: new look for women.
Speaker 2: Tennis players, sporting fancy headscarves and.
Speaker 1: Stockings, but most controversially, for the time she exposed her
Speaker 1: calves and forearms. On occasion, Suzanne's asman would return and
Speaker 1: force her to forfeit a match. Given her growing reputation
Speaker 1: as both a star athlete and a rebellious person, the
Speaker 1: crowds in the press didn't take too kindly to these
Speaker 1: moments of illness. She was even accused of faking it,
Speaker 1: sometimes being spotted drinking and dancing later that evening. I
Speaker 1: guess it was the Roaring twenties and all, but she
Speaker 1: also had plenty of fans, sometimes matches even had to
Speaker 1: be moved to accommodate the huge crowds that were desperate
Speaker 1: to watch Suzanne play. Naturally, being the best means you
Speaker 1: always have a target on your back, and a promising
Speaker 1: young American named Helen Wills, who was considered the.
Speaker 2: New rising star of tennis, was set to take her on.
Speaker 1: Suzanne and Wills faced off in nineteen twenty six in
Speaker 1: what was billed the.
Speaker 2: Match of the century.
Speaker 1: The two players couldn't have been more different, six years apart,
Speaker 1: and complete opposites.
Speaker 2: In playing style and demeanor, but.
Speaker 1: Suzanne went on to win the close encounter in what
Speaker 1: would be their only meeting. The profile and success of
Speaker 1: Suzanne Longlan helped to usher in a new era of tennis.
Speaker 1: She played most of her twelve year career as an amateur,
Speaker 1: which was the norm in those days, but she was
Speaker 1: also the first woman to turn professional. However, she never
Speaker 1: profited much from her incredible talent. She won eighty one
Speaker 1: career titles, including eight majors. Her overall record stands at
Speaker 1: three hundred and forty one wins and only seven losses.
Speaker 1: Suzanne died on the fourth of July nineteen thirty eight
Speaker 1: at the age of thirty nine. She lived life her way,
Speaker 1: and she left a legacy for sport and fashion worlds
Speaker 1: that continue to collide even today. You've been listening to
Speaker 1: an iHeart production The Ballroom with Me Tony Armstrong.
Speaker 2: Catch you next time.