Local History: Jazz Age Tennis Star Visits South Orange

In 1873, lawn tennis was formally organized in the United States. Seven years later, the Orange Lawn Tennis Club was founded in the Montrose Section of South Orange. In 1916, the thriving Club moved to its present location on Ridgewood Road.

At the same time tennis was growing in popularity locally, it had become an international sensation. One reason for the attention the sport gained was Suzanne Lenglen. Born in 1899 in France, Lenglen won the world hard-court singles and doubles titles in 1914. She was champion of French women's singles (1920–23, 1925–26) and one of the winners of women's doubles (1925–26); and from 1919 to 1923 and again in 1925, she won the British women's singles crowns and was also a doubles champion.

In 1920 she took the tennis honors at the Olympic games at Antwerp. However, she is remembered for more than her playing.  Pierre de Coubertin, the French aristocrat and father of the modern Olympic movement, opposed female participation at the games in their early years as '”impratique, inintéressante, inesthétique et incorrecte.”  But Lenglen was a product of the Jazz Age, which was the backdrop for women's suffrage and a general sea change in social mores after World War I. When Lenglen appeared on the Olympic courts, she wore simple dresses and even a skirt and jersey set. Such clothes not only allowed her to move freely, but they revealed her bare arms and calves. She was a sensation.

The next year, still the talk of the tennis circuit, Suzanne Lenglen brought her powerful game and celebrity status to South Orange. The New York Times reported that “Mlle. Lenglen” would “take the Court at South Orange” on Sept. 10, 1921. The sports pages of the Times covered the event, reporting the following day that “the temperamental French girl was the start of the afternoon’s play.” 

With her partner, Mrs. David C. Mills, Lenglen beat the doubles team of Miss Leslie Bancroft and Miss Martha Bayard, 7-5, 9-7. Lenglen’s strokes “bordered on the the amazing and her playing as a whole was a beautiful thing to watch.”

Lenglen’s appearance at the Orange Lawn Tennis Club was a prelude to her successful future; she turned professional in 1926 and authored "Lawn Tennis" (1925), "Lawn Tennis for Girls" (1930), and "Tennis by Simple Exercises" (1937). It also heralded an era of success for the Orange Lawn Tennis Club.  

However, Lenglen came to South Orange for more than a game. The ticket sales at the Orange Lawn Tennis Club were donated to the American Committee for a Devastated France. Even in 1921, South Orange was looking forward to a prosperous future, and beyond its borders to help others.

Sources:

• Welk, Naoma. Images of America: South Orange. Arcadia, 2002.
• (1921, September 9.) Mlle. Lenglen Will Play.; To Take the Court at South Orange Tomorrow in Doubles. The New York Times.