Two of the four majors
Two of the four Grand Slam tournaments are held in Europe: Wimbledon in London and the French Open in Paris. The first women’s singles champion at Wimbledon is well documented. Maud Watson won the ladies’ event in 1884, the first year it was played, and she won again in 1885. The French women’s event also dates back to the 1890s, but its early winners were local players and the records are less widely known, so this article does not name a first champion there.
In 1967, the last amateur year, Billie Jean King of the United States won Wimbledon and Françoise Durr of France won at the French Championships.
Wimbledon and the early field
Wimbledon began as a men’s tournament in 1877 and added a ladies’ singles event seven years later. The early fields were small and mostly British. Watson’s title came in a draw of only a handful of players. Lottie Dod won in 1887 as a teenager and became one of the sport’s best-known early figures. Dorothea Lambert Chambers won seven titles between 1903 and 1914, setting the standard that later champions were judged against.
The tournament was played on Worple Road until 1922, when the club moved to Church Road. A larger ground, with a centre court built to hold crowds, arrived just as the sport’s most famous European champion was reaching her peak.
The French Championships
The French national championships were, for most of their early history, a domestic event restricted to members of French clubs. That changed in 1925, when the tournament opened to players from other countries. A year later it formed part of what became understood as the sport’s top tier of events.
The tournament moved to the Stade Roland Garros in 1928. The stadium was built so that France’s famous men’s team, the “Four Musketeers”, could defend the Davis Cup, and it carries the name of an aviator rather than a tennis player. The surface is red clay, which makes the game slower and rewards patience; the words Roland Garros clay are shorthand for that style.
Suzanne Lenglen
Suzanne Lenglen, born in Paris in 1899, was the first woman in the sport who could fill a stadium on personality as well as skill. She was coached from childhood by her father, Charles. She won her first Wimbledon title in 1919, beating Dorothea Lambert Chambers in the final, and she went on to win the singles in 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923 and 1925, six titles in all. She also won the French titles in 1925 and 1926 once the event was open to foreigners. At the 1920 Antwerp Games she won gold in singles, back when tennis was part of the Olympic movement.
Her style was as much part of her fame as the results. She wore short pleated skirts and a bandeau headband, and the dresses were designed for her by Jean Patou. They were considered daring in their day. She also played an athletic, attacking game, with a great deal of footwork, which her father had drilled into her.
She is perhaps best remembered for one match. In February 1926 she met the American champion Helen Wills at Cannes in a much-publicised contest, and Lenglen won in two sets. Later that year she turned professional and toured the United States. Because professionals were not allowed into the majors, that ended her career at the top events.
She died in 1938 aged 39. The French Open’s women’s trophy is named for her, and one of the show courts at Roland Garros carries her name.
Other European champions
Lenglen was followed by a long line of Europeans. Germany’s Steffi Graf won twenty-two Grand Slam singles titles in the 1980s and 1990s, including seven at Wimbledon. Britain, France, Czechoslovakia and later the Czech Republic, Spain and Poland all produced champions at the two European majors.
The continent in 1967
By the summer of 1967 the sport was moving fast. Wimbledon coverage that year was among the first colour programmes on BBC2, as color television was introduced in Britain. The Wimbledon championships at the time were still amateur, and the tournament that had begun with Watson in 1884 would, within a year, be open to professionals.