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The relatively unknown Molla Mallory holds the record for the most U.S. Open singles titles—eight. But it was the remarkable Helen Wills Moody who, at the age of just 17, relieved Mallory of her U.S. crown in 1923, and went on to hold the record of 19 singles Grand Slam titles for a third of a century.
This is the second in a short series celebrating some of the most inspiring and influential women to have played tennis.
Look out for more articles from Clarabella, Claudia, and Joan in the coming weeks.
All the signs were that Helen Wills would make a success of her life.
She graduated from one of California’s top schools and won an academic scholarship to study fine arts at the University of California. She went on to be honored as a Phi Beta Kappa, one of the most prestigious liberal arts and sciences awards in the United States.
She was a highly accomplished painter, a successful writer, and an excellent horsewoman.
She rubbed shoulders with kings and prime ministers, was painted by Diego Rivera, and was admired by Charlie Chaplin.
But the early signs did not suggest a career as one of the 20th century’s most successful sportswomen, for she was a small and relatively fragile girl. She was, though, blessed in her parents.
Her father, Clarence Wills, was a doctor, and he got his daughter interested in outdoor activities, particularly swimming and riding. When she was eight, he bought her a tennis racket and played with her every day.
Her physical health improved rapidly, and at just turned 14 she was invited to join Berkeley Tennis Club. Soon, her trademark concentration, power, and speed came to the fore, and she began competing on the national circuits.
In 1921, at just 16 years old and still only 5'0", she went to the east coast for more competition, and saw the most famous tennis player of the day, Suzanne Lenglen, for the first time.
The sick Lenglen was jeered off court by the American crowd, having defaulted against home favorite Mallory. The very next year, Wills was herself up against Mallory in the U.S. Open final, and recorded her last ever loss to her illustrious countrywoman.
Wills made that journey east with her mother, who provided the emotional support that her daughter needed. The teenager was a quiet and reserved girl who admitted in later years that she found relief from an innate melancholy in her painting and her tennis. The presence of her mother provided Wills with both mental strength and friendship.
By the end of 1922, Wills was ranked third among American women. More importantly, she had grown a full seven inches and had gained 25 pounds. She was ready to embark on one of the finest decades of tennis success ever achieved by a man or a woman.
Between 1923 and 1933, Wills won 17 of her 19 singles Slam titles and was runner up in two more. (And this was at a time when players did not take in the Australian championships because of the time and distances involved in reaching them.)
Wills also won gold in both the singles and doubles at the Paris Olympics. She held the No. 1 world ranking throughout, except for 1926, and—most remarkable of all—she achieved a 180-match winning streak between 1927 and 1933, without losing a set.
That gap in 1926 was significant in more ways than one. It marked an absence from her C.V. of all three majors because she needed an emergency appendectomy during the French championships. Wills was forced to withdraw from Wimbledon and, after attempting a come-back prior to the U.S. Open, was advised by her doctor to withdraw from there, too.
The Wills appendix, it transpired, was to deprive tennis of one of the most fascinating head-to-heads of the century.
Wills and Lenglen dominated the inter-war years, between them winning 30 grand slam titles between 1919 and 1938. Yet they played each other only once, and it was not in one of those majors. Billed as “the match of the century”, it took place in Cannes in February 1926.
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