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Helen Wills

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Helen Wills Moody
File:Wills moodyphoto.jpg
Born(1905-10-06)October 6, 1905
Fremont, CA
DiedJanuary 1, 1998(1998-01-01) (aged 92)
Carmel, CA
NationalityUnited States
Olympic medal record
Women's Tennis
Gold medal – first place 1924 Paris Singles
Gold medal – first place 1924 Paris Doubles

Helen Newington Wills Roark (October 6, 1905 – January 1, 1998), also known as Helen Wills Moody, was an American tennis player. She has been described as "the first American born woman to achieve international celebrity as an athlete."[1]

Wills was born Helen Newington Wills in Centerville, California, now part of Fremont, California, and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley. She was already quite famous when she married Frederick Moody in December 1929. She won approximately one-half of her major championships as Helen Wills and one-half as Helen Wills Moody. Wills divorced Moody in 1937 and married Aidan Roark in October 1939.

Sporting achievements

Wills won 31 Grand Slam titles (singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles) during her career, including seven singles titles at the U.S. Championships, eight singles titles at Wimbledon, and four singles titles at the French Championships. Excluding her defaults at the French Championships and Wimbledon in 1926, she reached at least the final of each Grand Slam singles event she played during her career.

Wills also won two Olympic gold medals in Paris in 1924 (singles and doubles), the last year that tennis was an Olympic sport until 1988. Wills was the U.S. girls' singles champion in 1921 and 1922. She won her first women's national title at the age of 17 in 1923, making her the youngest champion at that time. From 1919 through 1938, she amassed a 398–35 (0.919) match record,[citation needed] including a winning streak of at least 158 matches, during which she did not lose a set.[2] She was a member of the U.S. Wightman Cup team in 1923, 1924, 1925, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, and 1938.

Wills was reported to be an introverted and detached woman. On court, she rarely showed emotion, ignored her opponents, and took no notice of the crowd.[3] Kitty McKane Godfree, who inflicted the only defeat Wills suffered at Wimbledon during her career, said, "Helen was a very private person, and she didn't really make friends very much."[3] Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman said, "Helen was really an unconfident and awkward girl — you have no idea how awkward.... I thought of Helen as an honestly shy person who was bewildered by how difficult it was to please most people."[4] Because of her unchanging expression, Grantland Rice, the American sportswriter, bestowed on Wills the nickname "Little Miss Poker Face".[5] As her success and, ironically, unpopularity with the public increased, she was called "Queen Helen" and "the Imperial Helen".[4] In her own defense, Wills said in her autobiography, "I had one thought and that was to put the ball across the net. I was simply myself, too deeply concentrated on the game for any extraneous thought."[3]

She typically wore a white sailor suit having a pleated knee-length skirt, white shoes, and a white visor.

On February 16, 1926, the 20-year-old Wills met Suzanne Lenglen, six-time Wimbledon champion, in the final of a tournament at the Carlton Club in Cannes. It was the only time they played each other. Public anticipation of their match was immense, resulting in high scalper ticket prices. Roofs and windows of nearby buildings were crowded with spectators, including the King of Sweden. Both players were nervous, with Lenglen drinking brandy and water at one point to calm her nerves.[6] Lenglen won the match 6–3, 8–6 after being down 2–1 in the first set and 5–4 in the second set. Wills had a set point in the second set and believed she had won the point that would have won her the set, but a linesman disagreed. In one of the few times she showed emotion on court, she spoke angrily to the linesman over the call.[6] After the match, Lenglen's father advised her that she would lose her next match to Wills if they met again soon, and Lenglen avoided Wills for the remainder of the spring.[7] Wills did not get a second chance to meet Lenglen. Wills had an emergency appendectomy during the 1926 French Championship,[8] which caused her to default her second round match and withdraw from Wimbledon, which also was considered a default. Lenglen turned professional after the 1926 season.

After she returned to the United States, Wills attempted a comeback from her appendectomy, lost two matches, and on the advice of her doctor, withdrew from that year's U.S. Championships. Apart from those two losses, beginning with the 1923 U.S. Championships, Wills lost only four matches in three years: once to Lenglen, twice to Kathleen McKane Godfree, and once to Elizabeth Ryan. Wills had winning overall records against the latter two. In 1927, a revived Wills began her streak of not losing a set until the 1933 Wimbledon Championships.

In an exhibition match in San Francisco on January 28, 1933, Wills defeated Phil Neer, the eighth ranked American male player, 6–3, 6–4.[5] [9]

During the 17 year period from 1922 through 1938, Wills entered 24 Grand Slam singles events, winning 19, finishing second three times, and defaulting twice as a result of her appendectomy. Her streak of winning U.S. Championships seven times in seven attempts ended when she defaulted to Helen Hull Jacobs during the 1933 final because of a back injury. At the time, Jacobs was leading in the third set. Because she felt the press and fans treated her harshly at the U.S. Championship, Wills decided never to play there again. After taking a year off to recuperate, Wills came back to win the 1935 and 1938 Wimbledon titles before retiring permanently, beating Jacobs both times.

When asked in 1941 about whether Wills or Lenglen was the better player, Elizabeth Ryan, who played against both of them in singles and partnered both in doubles, said, "Suzanne, of course. She owned every kind of shot, plus a genius for knowing how and when to use them."[5] Godfree, who played both Wills and Lenglen several times and was a two time Wimbledon champion during Lenglen's absence, also stated that Lenglen was "by far" the better player.[citation needed]

Analogizing Wills's game to poker, George Lott, a 12 time winner of Grand Slam doubles titles and a contemporary of Wills, once said, "Helen’s expression rarely varied and she always tended strictly to business, but her opponents were never in doubt as to what she held: an excellent service, a powerful forehand, a strong backhand, a killer instinct, and no weaknesses. Five of a kind! Who would want to draw against that kind of hand?"[5]

Charlie Chaplin was once asked what he considered to be the most beautiful sight that he had ever seen. He responded that it was "the movement of Helen Wills playing tennis."[10]

According to Wallis Myers of The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail, Wills was ranked in the world top ten from 1922 through 1925, 1927 through 1933, and in 1935 and 1938. She was World No. 1 in those rankings nine times, from 1927 through 1933 and in 1935 and 1938.[11] Wills was included in the year-end top ten rankings issued by the United States Lawn Tennis Association from 1922 through 1925, 1927 through 1929, and in 1931 and 1933. She was the top ranked U.S. player from 1923 through 1925 and 1927 through 1929.[12]

Wills was named Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year in 1935[citation needed] and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1959.[13] In 1981, Wills was inducted into the (San Francisco) Bay Area Athletic Hall of Fame. In 1926 and 1929, Wills appeared on the cover of Time magazine.[14]

Grand Slam singles finals

Wins (19)

Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
1923 U.S. Championships United States Molla Bjurstedt Mallory 6–2, 6–1
1924 U.S. Championships (2) United States Molla Bjurstedt Mallory 6–1, 6–3
1925 U.S. Championships (3) United Kingdom Kathleen McKane Godfree 3–6, 6–0, 6–2
1927 Wimbledon Spain Lili de Alvarez 6–2, 6–4
1927 U.S. Championships (4) United Kingdom Betty Nuthall Shoemaker 6–1, 6–4
1928 French Championships United Kingdom Eileen Bennett Whittingstall 6–1, 6–2
1928 Wimbledon (2) Spain Lili de Alvarez 6–2, 6–3
1928 U.S. Championships (5) United States Helen Hull Jacobs 6–2, 6–1
1929 French Championships (2) France Simone Mathieu 6–3, 6–4
1929 Wimbledon (3) United States Helen Hull Jacobs 6–1, 6–2
1929 U.S. Championships (6) United Kingdom Phoebe Holcroft Watson 6–4, 6–2
1930 French Championships (3) United States Helen Hull Jacobs 6–2, 6–1
1930 Wimbledon (4) United States Elizabeth Ryan 6–2, 6–2
1931 U.S. Championships (7) United Kingdom Eileen Bennett Whittingstall 6–4, 6–1
1932 French Championships (4) France Simone Mathieu 7–5, 6–1
1932 Wimbledon (5) United States Helen Hull Jacobs 6–3, 6–1
1933 Wimbledon (6) United Kingdom Dorothy Round Little 6–4, 6–8, 6–3
1935 Wimbledon (7) United States Helen Hull Jacobs 6–3, 3–6, 7–5
1938 Wimbledon (8) United States Helen Hull Jacobs 6–4, 6–0

Runners-up (3)

Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
1922 U.S. Championships United States Molla Bjurstedt Mallory 6–3, 6–1
1924 Wimbledon United Kingdom Kathleen McKane Godfree 4–6, 6–4, 6–4
1933 U.S. Championships (2) United States Helen Hull Jacobs 8–6, 3–6, 3–0 retired

Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

Tournament 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 Career SR
Australian Championships A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A 0 / 0
French Championships1 A A NH A 2R A W W W A W A A A A A A 4 / 5
Wimbledon A A F A 1R W W W W A W W A W A A W 8 / 10
U.S. Championships F W W W A W W W A W A F A A A A A 7 / 9
SR 0 / 1 1 / 1 1 / 2 1 / 1 0 / 2 2 / 2 3 / 3 3 / 3 2 / 2 1 / 1 2 / 2 1 / 2 0 / 0 1 / 1 0 / 0 0 / 0 1 / 1 19 / 24

NH = tournament not held.

A = did not participate in the tournament.

SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

1Through 1923, the French Championships were open only to French nationals. The World Hard Court Championships (WHCC), actually played on clay in Paris or Brussels, began in 1912 and were open to all nationalities. The results from that tournament are shown here for 1922 and 1923. The Olympics replaced the WHCC in 1924, as the Olympics were held in Paris. Beginning in 1925, the French Championships were open to all nationalities, with the results shown here beginning with that year.

Education

Wills attended Head-Royce School for her high school education.

Wills attended the University of California, Berkeley on an academic scholarship, but did not graduate.[15] At Berkeley she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa honor society.

In 1998, Wills bequeathed US $10 million to the University of California, Berkeley to fund the establishment of a Neuroscience institute. The resulting institute, the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, began in 1999 and is now home to more than 40 faculty researchers and 36 graduate students.

Personal life

Wills was born in Centerville, now Fremont, California, near San Francisco. She had family and lived in Point of Timber, a small river landing along Indian Slough, San Joaquin River, near Byron, California.[citation needed]

Wills wrote a coaching manual, Tennis (1928), her autobiography, Fifteen-Thirty: The Story of a Tennis Player (1937), and a mystery, Death Serves an Ace (1939, with Robert Murphy).[16] She also wrote articles for the Saturday Evening Post and other magazines.

Senator James D. Phelan befriended Wills and invited her as a frequent guest to his estate, Villa Montalvo. Wills wrote poetry as a hobby, and presented two of her works, "The Awakening" and "The Narrow Street", to a literary competition hosted by Phelan in 1926. Wills settled laurel wreaths over the heads of the winners. Phelan himself wrote a poem dedicated to Wills.[17] In 1928, Phelan commissioned Haig Patigian, sculptor and fellow member of the Bohemian Club, to create a likeness of Wills. Patigian completed a marble bust of Wills in October 1928, and Phelan donated it to the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum. At his death in 1930, Phelan left Wills $20,000 ($364,781 in current dollar terms) in his will, "in appreciation of her winning the tennis championship for California."[18]

Wills met painter Diego Rivera and his wife Frida Kahlo at the San Francisco studio of her friend sculptor Ralph Stackpole in 1930. Rivera sketched Wills and asked her to model as the main figure of "California" for the 30-foot-high mural Allegory of California he was painting for the City Club of the San Francisco Stock Exchange. The committee of the Stock Exchange found out that Wills was being portrayed and insisted that no living person be represented in the mural. Subsequently, Rivera darkened the hair, broadened the eyes, changed the corners of the mouth and angled the jawline to remove any specific resemblance to Wills. A portrait of Stackpole's son Peter Stackpole holding a model airplane remained unnoticed in the mural.[19]

Wills painted all her life, giving exhibitions of her paintings and etchings in New York galleries. She personally drew all of the illustrations in her book Tennis. Wills remained an avid tennis player into her 80s.

She died in Carmel, California of natural causes, aged 92. She had no children.

In 1994 in an interview with William Simon, Inside Tennis reporter, in Carmel California, she gave this rendition of what ended her career:

Helen Wills Moody-Roark: Well, it was during the war and my husband was at Fort Reilly, Kansas...It was the middle of winter, and I was walking my big police dog, Sultan. A little dog came barking wildly out of a house and grabbed my dog by the throat. Those little fox terriers have no sense. They’re just wild. So my poor dog was being chewed to pieces and wasn’t able to respond. But I wasn’t going to have a dogfight under my feet so I let go of his collar. And then Sultan took this little dog and shook him, which he deserved. But in the fight, my index finger on my right hand was bitten...

William Simon: By the terrier?

HWMR: I don't know. Fury! Wild, stupid animal! But my poor old finger, the finger next to the thumb. The thumb is very important in tennis. So that was the end of my career. I couldn’t manage. I never mentioned this before to anyone.[20]

See also

References

  1. ^ Finn, Robin (1998-01-03). "Helen Wills Moody, Dominant Champion Who Won 8 Wimbledon Titles, Dies at 92". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-07-06.
  2. ^ Billie Jean King with Cynthia Starr (1988). We Have Come a Long Way: The Story of Women's Tennis. New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 31. ISBN 0-07-034625-9.
  3. ^ a b c Billie Jean King with Cynthia Starr (1988). We Have Come a Long Way: The Story of Women's Tennis. New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 32. ISBN 0-07-034625-9.
  4. ^ a b Billie Jean King with Cynthia Starr (1988). We Have Come a Long Way: The Story of Women's Tennis. New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 33. ISBN 0-07-034625-9.
  5. ^ a b c d Fein, Paul (2006). "Who is the greatest female player ever?" ([dead link‍] – Scholar search). Inside Tennis. Retrieved 2007-04-26. {{cite journal}}: External link in |format= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  6. ^ a b "Wills v. Lenglen". Time Magazine. 1926-03-01. Retrieved 2008-07-06.
  7. ^ New York Times, February 18, 1926
  8. ^ Billie Jean King with Cynthia Starr (1988). We Have Come a Long Way: The Story of Women's Tennis. New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 39. ISBN 0-07-034625-9.
  9. ^ "This Day in Sports: January 28". USA Today. January 31, 1999. Retrieved 2007-04-26.
  10. ^ My Autobiography (1964) - Charlie Chaplin, page 358
  11. ^ Collins, Bud (2008). The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book. New York, N.Y: New Chapter Press. pp. 695, 701–2. ISBN 0-942257-41-3.
  12. ^ United States Tennis Association (1988). 1988 Official USTA Tennis Yearbook. Lynn, Massachusetts: H.O. Zimman, Inc. p. 260.
  13. ^ "Helen Wills Moody Roark, Tilden in Net Hall of Fame", Newport Daily News, August 17, 1959, page 12
  14. ^ Time magazine cover search results
  15. ^ UC Berkeley alumni
  16. ^ Los Angeles Times. January 3, 1998. Julie Cart. Tennis Legend Helen Wills Moody Dies
  17. ^ A Day In The Hills, September 18, 1926, Villa Montalvo. Archive at San Jose State University.
  18. ^ San Francisco Chronicle, item from August 16, 1930. Laura Perkins, August 12, 2005, "San Francisco hotel workers ratify three-year contract." Retrieved on August 4, 2009.
  19. ^ Poletti, Therese (2008). Art Deco San Francisco: The Architecture of Timothy Pflueger. Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN 1568987560. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  20. ^ Inside Tennis. April 2006. For the Love of the Game: 25 Years in Tennis. Bill Simons


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